Fred Vargas

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Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau

Fred Vargas, 2009
Born June 7, 1957 (1957-06-07) (age 52)
Paris
Pen name Fred Vargas
Occupation Medieval historian and archaeologist; writer
Nationality French
Genres Crime fiction

Fred Vargas is the pseudonym of French historian, archaeologist and writer Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau, born in 1957 in Paris.

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[edit] Career as archaeologist

She worked at the French National Scientific Research Centre (CNRS), which she joined in 1988. She later joined the Institut Pasteur, as a eukaryotic archaeologist.[1] 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 (2003).[2]

[edit] Career as novelist

Fred is the diminutive of her given name, Frédérique, while Vargas derives from the Ava Gardner character in The Barefoot Contessa and is the pseudonym adopted by her twin sister, Joëlle Jo Vargas, a painter.

She mostly writes police thrillers (policiers). They take place 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, and the following year The Three Evangelists won the inaugural Duncan Lawrie International Dagger. She also won the award for the second year-running with Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand.

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".

[edit] Principal characters

Three Evangelists series
  • Marc Vandoosler, known as Saint-Mark: Cleaning lady by day, medievalist by night
  • 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 Rotten Hut with Old Man Vandoosler
  • Armand 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.

[edit] 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
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

[edit] References

  1. ^ Longhito, Susan. "Vocation meets avocation". The FASEB Journal. http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/full/20/10/1587. Retrieved on 2007-04-01. 
  2. ^ Reisz, Matthew J.. "Digging up the past". The Independent. http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/features/article344361.ece. Retrieved on 2007-04-01. 

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Vargas"
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