La cavalcata dei morti

Commissaire Adamsberg #9

by Fred Vargas, Margherita Botto (Translator)

Qualcuno ha bruciato vivo nella sua Mercedes un vecchio magnate della finanza e dell'industria. Forse è stato un ragazzo di banlieu, ma Adamsberg non ci crede. Ha bisogno di prendere tempo. Ed ecco gli arriva, dai boschi della Normandia, un omicidio che sembra scaturire dal medioevo. C'è un cadavere, sul sentiero dove da mille anni i prescelti vedono passare la Schiera furiosa. Ovvero la cavalcata dei morti, che trascinano con sé anche i vivi condannati a morire per i loro peccati. La giovane, luminosa Lina ha visto la Schiera. È solo una visionaria, o le foreste normanne celano segreti più spaventosi di una antica, cupa credenza?

Genres: Mystery, Crime, France, Fiction, Thriller, Detective, French Literature

428 pages, Paperback

First published May 18, 2011

About the author

Fred Vargas is the pseudonym of the French historian, archaeologist and writer Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau (often mistakenly spelled "Audouin-Rouzeau"). She is the daughter of Philippe Audoin(-Rouzeau), a surrealist writer who was close to André Breton, and the sister of the historian Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau, a noted specialist of the First World War who inspired her the character of Lucien Devernois.

Archeo-zoologist and historian by trade, she undertook a project on the epidemiology of the Black Death and bubonic plague, the result of which was a scientific work published in 2003 and still considered definitive in this research area: Les chemins de la peste : Le rat la puce et l'homme (Pest Roads).

As a novelist, Fred Vargas writes mostly crime stories. 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.

She separated her public persona as a writer from her scientific persona by adopting the pseudonym Fred Vargas. "Fred" is the diminutive of her given name, Frédérique, while with "Vargas", she has chosen the same pseudonym than her twin sister, Jo Vargas (pseudonym of Joëlle Audoin-Rouzeau), a painter. For both sisters, the pseudonym "Vargas" derives from the Ava Gardner character in "The Barefoot Contessa".

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.

Reviews

[Agnieszka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another volume from my favourite mystery cycle. As expected I've got everything here what so charmed me up in the previous books. Interesting, if a bit contrived at times intrigue, well drawn protagonists that feel to me like old friends now and additionally some historical details to further exploration.

Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg keeps being chimeric and distracted or as Vargas puts it is shoveling clouds but fortunately has still strong support from his team. Retancourt is very helpful even though seems to perfectly know her boss this time strained the law rather badly. Veyrenc, who frequently speaks in verses - his grandma used to read him Racine in his childhood, and with whom our quirky commissaire clashed in previous tomes finally decided to return to the squad causing rather great anxiety to Danglard. And that in turn allowed Vargas to show that even bestowed with genius mind and always tower of calm and reason inspector has his flaws either. His jealousy put him in great danger what almost costed him life, like his saviour as well.

Fred Vargas is an historian and in the novel conjures up the old legend on ghostly riders, the Furious Army that foretells deaths to ones and big troubles to others. I've found the story very much to my taste and as usual well written and highly entertaining. But I may not be very reliable in this case, I'm afraid. I simply am in love with the series.

[K.J. Charles]

I read a bunch of these a few years ago and had forgotten how completely bananas they are. Detective stories with really quite random detection and intermittent supernatural bits and everyone being extremely odd. This was fun in a 'have I inadvertently fallen asleep and dreamed the plot' way but needed more spectral army of corpses.

[SVETLANA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Commissaire Adamsberg has a visitor from Ordebec who asks him to investigate a case and protect her daughter. He decides to help and soon is involved in a series of deaths in Ordebec.
The story is as usual entertaining and full of twists and historical details.

The mystical element of it is covering a real very clever killer.

[Ana Cristina Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fred Vargas es una autora que ha renovado el género policial, introduciendo elementos de historia – ella es arqueóloga – y con unos personajes – el comisario Adamsberg y su brigada – muy poco convencionales. Hay que decir que, o te gusta o no te gusta, pero en mi caso es pura fascinación.

Si ya me gustaron Fluye el Sena y Tiempos de hielo, esta novena entrega de la serie contiene elementos muy atractivos, ya que parte de la leyenda bretona del Ejército Furioso, una especie de Santa Compaña espectral que va sembrando el terror y la destrucción. Pero los asesinatos son reales y Adamsberg se traslada a Bretaña para averiguar quién está detrás de los extraños sucesos. Ecos de Conan Doyle en El perro de Baskerville…

Unos personajes tan vulnerables que te llegan al corazón, pero que sacan fuerzas de su debilidad para luchar contra el mal. Muy bien escrita y original en sus planteamientos. Soy fan :)

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been jumping around in those series for some time now with a long period between the books. But I enjoyed this story anyhow. It was interesting and had a different kind of feel of a crime novel. Really enjoyed this one.

[Cynnamon · Rating 4 out of 5]

English version below

********************

Band 9 der Adamsberg-Reihe ist natürlich wieder ein abgefahrener und surrealistischer Krimi. Dennoch fand ich die Plotentwicklung bis zu einem gewissen Grad nicht vollkommen entfernt von der Realität.

Wie üblich ermittelt Adamsberg an mehreren Fällen gleichzeitig. Diesmal trifft er auf die mystische Wilde Jagd,begegnet der französischen Landaristorkratie, erlebt den militärischen Stolz eines unmilitärischen Mannes und hat mit unehelichen und Stiefkindern zu tun.

Gegen Ende des Buches dachte ich wieder Mal, dass ich den Täter ausgemacht habe, aber dann hatte mich Fred Vargas (wie nicht anders zu erwarten) doch wieder auf die falsche Fährte geführt.

Mir hats wieder gut gefallen und war vielleicht nicht ganz so abseitig wie einige der anderen Bände aus der Reihe. 4 Sterne.

-----------------------------

Volume 9 of the Adamsberg series is, of course, another whacky and surrealistic crime novel. Nevertheless, I found the plot development not completely removed from reality to a certain extent.

As usual, Adamsberg investigates several cases at once. This time he meets the mystical Wild Hunt,encounters the French country aristocracy, experiences the military pride of an unmilitary man and has to deal with illegitimate and stepchildren.

Towards the end of the book, I thought I had once again identified the culprit, but then Fred Vargas (as was to be expected) had led me on the wrong track again.

I liked the story and it was perhaps not quite as offbeat as some of the other volumes in the series. 4 stars.

[César · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buena novela policiaca. Sin ser yo gran aficionado al género, aprecio la construcción de personajes, la poca presencia de tópicos, la construcción de un misterio consistente y los giros y sorpresas bien dosificados. Las volátiles características mentales del comisario protagonista excusan hábilmente a la autora de dar más explicaciones de las necesarias.

[Mary Bookitsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Τι ωραίο που ηταν ρε παιδια... Ποσο όμορφα ανακάτεψε φονους μυστικά θρύλους πάθη, περίεργους ιδιόρρυθμους ηρωες. Ειδικα ο Ανταμσμπέρ είναι από μόνος του μια ιστορία. Παραμυθι και πραγματικοτητα σε μια απολαυστική μιξη. Πρωτη φορα Vargas. Με τις καλύτερες εντυπώσεις.

[Sabrisab · Rating 4 out of 5]

Titolo comprato a caso in un mercatino per farmi un'idea di Fred Vargas mai letta prima.
Mi sono divertita con una bella trama, bei personaggi e una scrittura molto ironica, credo proprio che cercherò altri titoli.

[Jim Coughenour · Rating 4 out of 5]

As this latest book from Fred Vargas already has over 100 reviews, I'll only say that it's an excellent addition to the Adamsberg series. All the usual elements are there: the slight, persistent suggestion of supernatural forces, the likeable members of Adamsberg's team, each with his or her distinguishing quirk, a Gallic playfulness with words and themes, a solicitous love for animals (in this story a mistreated pigeon and a hound who loves sugar), and a genuine affection for its curious cast of characters. Vargas's stories are all about atmosphere and the mysteries of human personality, starting with the super-intuitive "cloud shoveller" Commissaire Adamsberg. It was a pleasure (and a puzzle) to read from the first page to the last.

By chance I got this book before a recent trip to Montreal, where I picked up the French edition in a bookstore. I took the opportunity to work on my French by reading a chapter at a time in L'Armée Furieuse, before hopping back to the English. Generally one thinks of French requiring more words than English to say the same thing – but Siân Reynold's delightful translation actually amplifies Vargas's swift prose, making it more lucid for the English reader while retaining the whimsy of the original.

[aPriL does feral sometimes · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘The Ghost Riders of Ordebec’ by Fred Vargas is the usual blend of whimsy, murder and atypical characters. I love this quirky series! But none of the French Commissaire Adamsberg mystery novels is standalone. Readers must start with book #1, The Chalk Circle Man. ‘The Ghost Riders of Ordebec’ is possibly #9 in the series, but I can’t say for sure as the lists for this series on Amazon and Goodreads are a bit messed up.

I have copied the book blurb:

A # 1 French and Italian bestseller from the three-time winner of the CWA’s International Dagger Award.

More than ten million copies of Fred Vargas’s Commissaire Adamsberg mysteries have been sold worldwide. Now, American readers are getting hooked on the internationally bestselling author’s unsettling blend of crime and the supernatural.

As the chief of police in Paris’s seventh arrondissement, Commissaire Adamsberg has no jurisdiction in Ordebec. Yet, he cannot ignore a widow’s plea. Her daughter Lina has seen a vision of the Ghost Riders with four nefarious men. According to the thousand-year-old legend, the vision means that the men will soon die a grisly death. When one of them disappears, Adamsberg races to Ordebec, where he becomes entranced by the gorgeous Lina—and embroiled in the small Normandy town’s ancient feud.”

Adamsberg is puzzling over a number of peculiar crimes. One involves a woman who has died in her bed, with a trail of bread crumbs on her bedroom floor in an apartment which is otherwise spotless, and another is a pigeon who is near death from having its legs tied together. The cruelty behind the pigeon’s torture and the husband’s lack of feeling about his wife’s death occupy Adamsberg for a short while, until a more unusual crime is brought to his attention.

A widow, Valentine Venderbot from Ordebec, is desperate for Adamsberg’s help. She tells him an amazing story! Her daughter Lina has seen The Furious Army, otherwise known as The Ghost Riders! Whenever they show up, four people are going to die! One of the four townsmen she saw at midnight being carried away by the ghosts in her vision is missing. The town is feeling mean about Lina, wondering about her apparent prescience. But Ordebec is out of Adamsberg’s jurisdiction. He dismisses Venderbot from his mind.

Another case is also being investigated by Adamsberg’s unit. A body was discovered inside a burnt-up vehicle. Once it is determined it is a murder, it is the responsibility of Adamsberg’s team to solve it.

As usual with Adamsberg, his head in the clouds, the case in Ordebec is the one that is calling to him for no particular reason he understands himself. He sets his team to work on the Paris car arson/murder while telling them he’s going to take a little time off. He will be in Ordebec for awhile…

Such enormous fun in reading this series!

[Vicky Ziliaskopoulou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Κοίτα να δεις που μερικές φορές το να δίνεις δεύτερη ευκαιρία σε συγγραφείς αποδεικνύεται εξαιρετική ιδέα. Είχα διαβάσει τους καιρούς των παγετώνων και δεν μου άρεσε καθόλου, αλλά η Μανιακή στρατιά είναι σαν να γράφτηκε απ�� άλλο άτομο. Οι διάλογοι είχαν πλάκα, η υπόθεση ήταν ενδιαφέρουσα, δεν βαρέθηκα ούτε για μια σελίδα και συμπάθησα πολύ τον Ανταμσπέρ και όλη του την ομάδα . Μπράβο της, νομίζω θα διαβάσω κι άλλο δικό της τελικά.

https://kiallovivlio.blogspot.com/

https://thematofylakes.gr/

[Effie Saxioni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Εξαιρετικό παραμύθι,φοβερό αστυνομικό,υπέροχος Adamsberg,λατρεμένη συγγραφέας,5⭐ για την απολαυστική γραφή και το μοναδικό background στο οποίο εκτυλίχθηκε κι αυτή η ιστορία.

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super book, on the shortlist for this year's International Crime Dagger award.

as always, my overly-wordy self got the better of me, so if you want a longer version of this discussion, you can find it here -- otherwise, here's the shorter one:

As our hero Adamsberg is pondering the strange case of a man who killed his wife with breadcrumbs, a woman from Ordebec, a small town in Normandy, comes to him with an even stranger tale, prefaced with the words "People are going to die." He has to pry the story out of her, but eventually it comes down to the fact that a man in Ordebec had disappeared some three weeks earlier, on the night her daughter Lina saw The Furious Army, known also as the Ghost Riders. She saw this "army of the dead, of the putrified dead, an army of ghostly riders, wild-eyed and screaming, unable to get to heaven," which "carry along some living men or women, who are heard shrieking and lamenting in suffering flames."

As it turns out, Lina had seen the missing Herbier with the Ghost Riders, and now he's gone. While unenthusiastic at first, Adamsberg eventually decides to go to Ordebec and see what's up with this ghostly army -- which encompasses the bulk of this very compelling mystery -- but in the meantime, he also has to deal with a local pyromaniac named Momo who is in the hot seat for allegedly setting fire to a car with someone inside. When it's discovered that the dead man is the head of a leading industrial group and evidence points toward Momo, the pressure is on from high for an arrest. Adamsberg knows this is not Momo's work, and likely a frame, but he has to discover the identity of the real guilty party before Momo is sent to prison and enlists the help of his newly-discovered son.

A compelling set of mysteries to be solved can be found in this novel, but what really makes this book is the characters, including a family of "geniuses" Adamsberg meets in Ordebec. The author's imagination must have been running on overdrive in dreaming up these people. And Adamsberg's newly-found son is also an interesting character as well.

The solution is a wee bit rushed, but it's the getting there that will keep you reading. Highly recommended, although maybe a bit on the lighter side for avid crime readers who enjoy more edgy mystery novels.

[Camille · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pourquoi, dans les romans policiers, quand une victime se réveille après un long coma, le premier mot qu'elle prononce n'est jamais le nom de son agresseur, mais quelque chose qui n'a rien à voir, et qui est sensé nous aider obscurément à deviner qui est le coupable ? Si la lecture des romans de gare m'aura appris une chose, c'est bien que si, un jour, je me fais poignarder par un dénommé Jean-Claude, ma première parole en me réveillant du coma sera bien "Jean-Claude", et non pas "caramel" ou "antipuces" - et ce, oui, même si Jean-Claude est un chat qui sent le caramel. Sinon ensuite c'est vraiment la merde pour les enquêteurs et pour les lecteurs du bouquin. On trouve jamais le meurtrier, on est obligés de le désigner au pif. Pas vrai, Fred ?

Oui, ça me fait un peu de peine de voir Vargas sortir ces grosses ficelles. En général, j'ai trouvé ce neuvième opus de la série Adamsberg en deçà des autres volumes. Si les personnages habituels de la série sont au rendez-vous, ils sont tout de même plus effacés ; et les protagonistes de cette enquête particulière sont presque des caricatures des autres : ce ne sont plus les caractères farfelus et attachants que l'auteure sait si bien inventer et mettre en scène, ce sont des personnages grotesques et irréels. Franchement je n'aurais jamais même envisagé qu'un de ces protagonistes en papier mâché puisse être le meurtrier. J'avais raison : made to be cute.
L'aspect mythique des enquêtes Adamsberg, qui sont une des forces de la série, est moins poussé ici. En fait, j'ai fini le livre sans pouvoir décrire précisément le phénomène de l'armée furieuse. Je ne sais même pas si c'est basé sur la réalité, et franchement elle ne m'a pas donné envie de le découvrir.
Le texte est parcouru de longueurs. Je me suis perdue, j'ai tourné les pages trop vite, je me suis ennuyée.
Et finalement, le tueur, c'est le même que d'habitude.

Neuvième volume, on s'essouffle ?
C'est toujours une lecture agréable, ceci dit. Je ronchonne, je ronchonne.

[Murren Boets · Rating 4 out of 5]

Die stomme titel slaat nergens op. Onorigineel, betekenisloos en ook nog eens inaccuraat (er verdwijnt helemaal niemand?). Een onbegrijpelijke keuze van de vertaler, die geen recht doet aan de spanning, humor en spitsvondigheid van de roman.

[Ends of the Word · Rating 3 out of 5]

Over the past couple of decades, French author Fred Vargas (real name Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau) has emerged as one of the leading international writers of crime fiction, thanks to her two sets of novels featuring, respectively, the reluctant amateur sleuths known as "The Three Evangelists" and Commissaire Adamsberg and his team of Paris detectives.

One may get an idea of Vargas's quirky style from the opening chapter of this 2011 Adamsberg novel, which could well work as a stand-alone short story. Adamsberg starts his day with an investigation involving the death of an old woman who apparently chokes on a piece of bread. However, things are not what they seem and the Commissaire finds himself suspecting the dead woman's husband. The chapter combines bittersweet humour and wry insights into human foibles with a neat little puzzle which will delight traditionally-minded crime readers.

The novel "proper" is a darker affair. An unprepossessing widow from Ordebec calls on Adamsberg and pleads with him to investigate some mysterious goings-on at her native village. Her daughter Lina has had a terrifying vision of four local men being carried away by the mythical "Furious Army": a horde of undead horsemen who, since medieval times, have wrought vengeance for unpunished crimes. The Commissaire is sceptical until he travels to the Normandy village and the body of the first victim of the otherwordly horsemen is discovered. He becomes increasingly embroiled in the investigation, as the Ghost Riders strike again.

It is no spoiler to reveal that there is a very human agency at work behind the gruesome deaths. Nonetheless, the novel successfully taps into medieval Northern myths to build an atmosphere of supernatural dread. It is at its best when the action is set amongst the mists of Normandy, a bleak yet haunting landscape peopled by eccentric and grotesque characters. Indeed, sometimes it feels like a Southern Gothic novel transplanted from the "New World" to a very old one.

As is typical in such works, the Commissaire and his team solve a couple of "side" mysteries along the way. The subplots flesh out the narrative, and allow for the development of the secondary characters. Nevertheless, they do dampen the momentum somewhat. I also had reservations about the solution when it eventually arrived.

This is a cut above your average crime caper, and a deserved winner of the 2013 CWA International Crime Dagger (jointly with Pierre Lemaitre's "Alex"). Siân Reynolds provides a fine and idiomatic translation. However, ultimately "The Ghost Riders of Ordebec" is one of those reads in which the journey is more enjoyable than the destination itself.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adamsberg finds his way through to the end of another intrigue, with the perspicuity of Sherlock Holmes, the natural genius of Miss Marple and the eccentricity of Hercule Poirot.( Mind you, as Vargas presents him, he is probably more of a Columbo in his idiosyncratic fashion sense rather than a fashionably dapper Poirot.) The end result is always charming, for I can find no other words that suit the peculiar charisma that Adamsberg sports -- and indeed that are imbued in all the main, and recurring, characters. I can do no better justice to Adamsberg (and inherently Vargas) than to offer her own words:

"I'll be back," he always said, as if it was highly possible that one day he would go away and never come back. He went out of the room with a lighter step than usual and escaped into the street. He knew that he had been struck stock-still all of a sudden, like one of the Ordebec cows, and had lost about five or six minutes of the meeting. Why, he couldn't say, and that was what he set out to discover by walking the pavements. He wasn't troubled by these sudden gaps in his consciousness, he was used to them. He didn't know the reason for this one, but he knew the cause. Something had passed through his mind, like the bolt from a crossbow, so fast that he hadn't had time to get hold of it. But it had been enough to turn him to stone. It was an experience like that time he had seen the sparkle on the waters in the port of Marseille, or the poster on a bus shelter in Paris, or when he'd been unable to sleep on the Paris-Venice express. And the invisible image which had flashed across had drained the watery morass of his brain, bringing along with it other imperceptible images attached to each other as if in a magnetic chain.

The magnetic chain which falls into place for Adamsberg happens, inevitably, after he's walked his way through it, quite literally walking through an entire Paris night, bouncing his intuitions back and forth in his entire body, like some crazy, bedevilled pin-ball wizard. At the end of it all, sure of mind, and slightly rumpled of body, he emerges with his prey firmly grasped in his sights. Just unbelievably delightful to follow Vargas's process!

This is the best-one-yet in the Adamsberg series.

[Ubik 2.0 · Rating 3 out of 5]

il fantasma della ripetitività.

…eppure ci sarebbero tutti i migliori ingredienti dei romanzi della Vargas con protagonista il Commissario Adamsberg: l’ambientazione in un villaggio francese (in Normandia, nella fattispecie), i caratteri della stralunata truppa parigina di Adamsberg, una vicenda che affonda le radici in un’antica leggenda con un sottofondo di soft horror (donde il titolo), lo stile un po’ straniante “à la Pennac”, ecc.

Eppure verso la metà – due terzi del romanzo ho cominciato a provare un po’ di disinteresse, che non mi ha impedito, beninteso, di arrivare facilmente alla fine, ma mi ha lasciato un retrogusto di insoddisfazione.

Mi è venuto allora da riflettere che questi polizieschi molto ben radicati nel territorio e nei quali la vicenda “gialla” è chiaramente subordinata all’approfondimento dei luoghi e dei caratteri, meglio ancora se un po’ bislacchi come sono ad ogni effetto Danglard, Retancourt, Veyrenc e tutti gli altri gendarmi di cui Adamsberg è degno commissario, alla lunga cominciano a stancare soprattutto se l’autore ne colleziona una serie.

Almeno a Nord di Vigata, ci sono pochi commissariati che possano vantare una simile densità di teste matte e allora, come corollario al ragionamento di cui sopra, non c’è poi tanto da meravigliarsi quando l’autore decide di abbandonare gli investigatori che gli hanno dato la fama e intraprendere un nuovo persorso. Scelta difficile e certamente poco remunerativa, perché lo zoccolo duro dei lettori-fans continua a volere ancora un tipico “Montalbano” (o Scarpetta o Adamsberg o quel che volete…), ma che evita all’autore dotato di un certo amor proprio (e che magari abbia già conseguito, perché no…, una certa sicurezza economica!) il fantasma della ripetitività.

[Tanja Berg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this book took an extra-ordinary amount of time to get through and had some boring strecthes, the ending was utterly satisfying.

Detective inspector - or whatever the French equivalent is - Adamsberg has three cases going in addition to the one at the start of the book. There is the case of the tortured dove, the industrial magnate that has been burned to death and an infamous arsonist framed for the murder and the main story, which is the ghostriders of Ordebec. The witness of the ghostriders sees victims riding with them and these victims then die untimely deaths. Four people with a poor track record are expected to die in Ordebec and Adamsberg must stop the avenging horde, or rather, a modern-day murderer. Quite fascinating. There is certainly a lot going on, I could quite frankly have done with fewer plots. I did like the dove a lot though. It was probably the most endearing of the characters presented.

My main problems with this book was translation. I read it in Swedish since I can't read French. The translation was stilted and felt wrong most of the time. I know this book is supposed to funny, but it simply didn't come across because of the language. Some paragraphs I didn't understand at all and since reading comprehension is one of my strong suits, it's probably not me. This book is probably fantastic in French and considerably better in English than what I experienced in Swedish. This is a common fault though, and the reason I avoid translations if I can help it, particularly translations to Swedish. The quality can be dismal since the volumes are so small.

[Cynthia Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[LJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

First Sentence: A trail of tiny breadcrumbs led from the kitchen into the bedroom, as far as the spotless sheets where the old woman lay dead, her mouth open.

Comm. Adamsburg travels to Ordebec in response to a woman’s plea. Her daughter, Lina, has seen the Ghost Riders with four men. According to legend, this mean each of these men will meet a violent death. Adamsburg takes with him a young man he believes innocent of the murder for which he is accused, and his 18-year-old son, whom he recently met. Although entranced by the lovely Lina, one of the envisioned men does die and it’s time for Adamsburg to get to work.

There is nothing ordinary about a Fred Vargas book. It begins with a unique murder, quickly solved by Adamsberg, which quickly displays his understanding of people and their behaviors.

The Serious Crime Unit, of which he is the head, is a collection of strange and unusual individuals. It’s hard to imagine how they solve crimes, but solve them they do. Vargas even keeps the characters from her book “The Three Evangelists” included in this series.

Legends, ghost stories, witchcraft, and the supernatural are included in the story, but don’t overtake the fact that this is, at its core, a police procedural. Yet her books are definitely character-driven focusing not only on their physical presence, but their personal characteristics.

There is something mercurial and wise about Vega’s writing that can make you stop and think…”The world’s full of details, have you noticed? And since no details is ever repeated in exactly the same shape and always sets off others details, there’s no end to it.”

“The Ghost Riders of Ordebec” started off just a bit slowly but quickly made up for it. It is, as are all her books, wonderfully weird and very French. You’ll either be completely entranced by Vargas' writing, or she’ll just not quite be your cup of tea. Me? I’m firmly in the former group.

THE GHOST RIDERS OF ORDEBEC (Pol Proc-Comm. Adamsberg-France-Contemp) – VG+
Vargas, Fred – 7th in series
Penguin Books, 2013

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have never read any other Commissaire Adamsberg mysteries, though Goodreads tells me that this is the ninth (!) book in the series. I also have very, very little familiarity with the mystery genre. But I had loads of fun reading this book and I got rather attached to its weird cast of characters. At first glance they seem almost too eccentric: Adamsberg's crack team is made up of a narcoleptic, an intellectual who spontaneously comments on the situation in rhyming verse, an intellectual who's mostly drunk and can quote 11th century manuscripts from memory, and a woman who is so imposing in her impressiveness that all the characters feel the need to mention it any time she comes up in conversation. This should probably be ridiculous. But for some reason it works, largely because Vargas takes her characters (and their quirks) very seriously: they're not used for comic relief, and she's clearly thought about the negative side-effects of their eccentricities as well. This makes them feel like real people, regardless of how weird the lot of them are.

It's not high literature, and there are a couple of occasions where the pacing dragged or felt a bit rushed. But on the whole it's very well done, a lot of fun, and is a good place to turn if you're looking for a solid, character-driven mystery. I'd like to read another from the series at some point.

[Jose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vargas continúa revisando las viejas leyendas populares europeas. Si antes fueron el hombre lobo y los vampiros, ahora le toca el turno al Ejército Furioso, la versión normanda de la gallega Santa Compaña. Adamsberg ni niega ni reafirma la creencia popular sino todo lo contrario pero, eso sí, termina por descubrir al responsable de los crímenes que investiga (se entrecruzan tres y hasta cuatro tramas en la novela): todos seres de carne y hueso. Muy recomendable, pero ya sabeis que yo soy fan de Adamsberg y de Vargas.

[Sue Dix · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have reached the end of another amazing Commissaire Adamsberg mystery. Once again, I am faced with the challenge of describing the indescribable. We start with murder by bread and advance to pigeon abuse, a ghost army, a six fingered man, deception on a massive scale, fire, sugar, and so much more. You will not be disappointed. This is my favorite series because it is so, so odd and so, so well written.

[Crissy · Rating 5 out of 5]

"OK," said Danglard. "I fell in the shit. And I'm in it up to my neck."
"It happened to me before you, remember that?"
"Yes."
"So you're not the only one. The difficult bit isn't falling in, it's cleaning oneself up afterwards."
-Adamsberg

(Metaphorical shit, by the way).
Fred Vargas nails another amazingly quirky and absorbing Adamsberg novel with a great translation by Sian Reynolds. I love the quirky characters who all have their own little "thing" or characteristic that they repeat, both the recurring characters and the new ones. The two storylines were balanced perfectly and connected just enough. I had not a clue who the Ordebec murderer would turn out to be and was left guessing the entire time. You really get absorbed into the world of the book.
S/Os to St. Therese of Lisieux too, represent!!

[Peggy Warren · Rating 4 out of 5]

A group of eccentric characters combined with a network of sub-plots weaving throughout the main storyline create a slightly long-winded but entertaining murder mystery. I especially enjoyed the funny, dry and sometimes dark humor quips that would pop up at most unexpected moments.

[Juan Fuentes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Las novelas de Fred Vargas más que presentar un caso y pistas para resolverlo se dedican a mostrarnos personajes muy atractivos y a hacerlos interaccionar.


https://liblit.com/fred-vargas-el-eje...

[Lune · Rating 5 out of 5]

C'était génial. L'ouverture avec la mie de pain, le sucre, le folklore, les personnages tellement excentriques et vivants, puis l'écriture intelligente et pleine d'humour. Un super moment de lecture.

[Frédéric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Encore une fois charmé par le style imcomparable de Fred Vargas.
Je ne suis pas certain que je serais un ami d'Adamsberg, mais en tant que protagoriste d'un roman policier, j'adore!