My Weekly Book

Have Mercy On Us All - Fred Vargas

Another book I stumbled across thanks to Passport to Murder and one that proved to have almost everything I like in a novel – erudition, humour, suspense, a series of very well-laid red herrings, superb characterisation, a wonderful off-the-wall quirkiness and lightness of touch and a plot that’s not scared to deal with the big things. Its author is well-known on the continent and has roughly 14 novels to her name as well as being a highly-respected historian and archaeologist (her day job, so to speak). This and another work, Seeking Whom He May Devour, were first published in English a couple of years ago, introducing her to readers in this country for the first time. A couple more appear to have been translated since. On the strength of this I will definitely be seeking out more of her work.

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The book itself nearly defies description, especially if you are trying to avoid spoilers. So instead of struggling with it I’m going to quote the synopsis from Amazon.com:

Each day, in honour of a Parisian tradition, a town crier calls out the local news to all who will listen. Over the course of a few days a number of disturbing messages are slipped in to his box, messages of portentous and malicious intent referring to the Black Death. Strange marks have also appeared on the doors of several buildings: symbols once used to ward off the plague. Detective Commissaire Adamsberg begins to sense a connection, even a grotesque menace. Then charred and flea-bitten corpses are found. The press seizes on their plague-like symptoms, and the panic sets in…

This is the kind of book that you can get so immersed in that you wish it didn’t have to end. As well as its quirky originality and convincing harking-back to a not-so-distant past that somehow still manages to feel like centuries ago, there’s also a good dose of the kind of gritty noir hyperrealism you would expect from an author who sets out to explicitly write romans policiers. And a huge slice of tolerant humanity as well. This comes thoroughly recommended and an extra bit of praise also has to go to the translator for getting it into a humour-laden, idiomatic English that the eye runs over seamlessly.

Incidentally, Fred Vargas herself is a pretty interesting character. Learn more about her here:

• Wikipedia: Fred Vargas (includes bibliography)
• The Guardian: True Crime