Fred Vargas is the pseudonym of the French historian, archaeologist and writer Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau (born 1957 in Paris). Her crime fiction
policiers have won three International Dagger Awards from the Crime Writers Association, for three successive novels: in 2006, 2008 and 2009. She is the first author to achieve such an honor. In each case her translator into English has been Sîan Leonard, who was also recognized by the international award.
Career as archaeologist
Audoin-Rouzeau worked at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), which she joined in 1988. She later joined the Institut Pasteur, as a eukaryotic archaeologist.
She has undertaken a project on the epidemiology of the Black Death and bubonic plague, the result of which was a work considered definitive in the research area:
Les chemins de la peste (Pest Roads) (2003).
Career as novelist
Fred is the diminutive of her given name, Frédérique, while
Vargas derives from the Ava Gardner character in the film The Barefoot Contessa. Her twin sister Joëlle, a painter, adopted the pseudonym of Jo Vargas.
Vargas writes mostly police thrillers (
policiers). She found writing was a way to combine her interests and relax from her job as a scientist. Her novels are set in Paris and feature the adventures of Chief Inspector Adamsberg and his team. Her interest in the Middle Ages is manifest in many of her novels, especially through the person of Marc Vandoosler, a young specialist in the period.
Seeking Whom He May Devour was shortlisted by the British Crime Writers' Association for the last Gold Dagger award for best crime novel of the year in 2005.
In 2006 her next novel, The Three Evangelists, won the inaugural Duncan Lawrie International Dagger. She also won the award in 2008 with Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand. She was the first author to be shortlisted for three successive novels. In 2009 Vargas was again awarded the International Dagger, becoming the first author to receive it for three successive novels. The International Dagger also recognizes the translator, in each case Siân Reynolds.
Fred Vargas took an important part in the defence of Cesare Battisti, a left-wing activist sought by Italian and French justice since 2004 for alleged assassinations committed in the 1970s, during the "Years of Lead".
Principal characters
;Three Evangelists series
*
Marc Vandoosler, known as
Saint-Mark: Historian specialising in medieval life
Lucien Devernois, known as
Saint-Luke: Historian specialising in the Great War (inspired by Vargas's brother Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau)
Matthias Delamarre, known as
Saint Matthew: Historian specialising in prehistory
:*These three characters, christened
the Evangelists, live in the same house,
The Disgrace with
Old Man VandooslerArmand Vandoosler: former police
Commissaire, Marc's godfather, epicurean and oddball
Ludwig Kehlweiler: former policeman with a national network of informants and a toad
Buffo;Adamsberg series
Commissaire
Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg: peripatetic police chief, with Zen research methods
Adrien Danglard: methodical police inspector, Adamsberg's deputy. Divorced, father of five children and conspicuous white wine consumer
Camille Forestier: a musician/plumber who has a turbulent relationship with Adamsberg.
Bibliography
;The Three Evangelists
*1995 -
Debout les morts; English translation: The Three Evangelists, 2006, (Prix Mystère de la critique)
*1996 -
Un peu plus loin sur la droite*1997 -
Sans feu ni lieu;Commissaire Adamsberg
*1996 -
L'Homme aux cercles bleus; English title: The Chalk Circle Man, 2009
*1999 -
L'Homme à l'envers; English title: Seeking Whom He May Devour, 2004, (Prix Mystère de la critique)
*2000 -
Les quatre fleuves; English title:
The Four Rivers. Graphic novel (with Edmond Baudoin).
*2001 -
Pars vite et reviens tard; English title: Have Mercy on Us All, 2003, (Prix des libraires)
*2002 -
Coule la Seine (ill. by Edmond Baudoin). Collection of three novellas:
Salut et liberté,
La Nuit des brutes, and
Cinq francs pièce.
*2004 -
Sous les vents de Neptune; English title: Wash This Blood Clean from My Hand, 2007
*2006 -
Dans les bois éternels; English title: This Night's Foul Work, 2008
*2008 -
Un lieu incertain; English title: A Dubious Place
;Other novels
*1986 -
Les Jeux de l'amour et de la mort (Prix du festival de Cognac)
*1994 -
Ceux qui vont mourir te saluent;Essays and other works
*2001 -
Petit Traité de toutes vérités sur l'existence*2003 -
Critique de l'anxiété pure*2004 -
La Vérité sur Cesare Battisti
References
External links
*[http://fr.isbn.pl/C-8/A-Vargas-Fred/P-1/|ISBN Search]
[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/nov/18/italy.france Interview] with Vargas, The Guardian
, 2004
Category:1957 births
Category:Living people
Category:People from Paris
Category:French crime fiction writers
Category:French novelists
Category:Twin people
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