The Ghost Riders of Ordebec
A Commissaire Adamsberg novel
Fred Vargas author Siân Reynolds translator
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Vintage Publishing
Published:27th Feb '14
Currently unavailable, our supplier has not provided us a restock date
France's bestselling crime writer, and three-time winner of the CWA International Dagger, sends the quirky and original Commissaire Adamsberg far outside his jurisdication in a chilling tale of evil-doers who disappear after visitations from a band of ghostly horsemen
‘People will die,’ says the panic-stricken woman outside police headquarters.
Soon after the young woman’s vision a notoriously vicious and cruel man disappears. Although the case is far outside his jurisdiction, Adamsberg agrees to investigate the strange happenings in a village terrorised by wild rumours and ancient feuds.
‘People will die,’ says the panic-stricken woman outside police headquarters.
She refuses to speak to anyone besides Commissaire Adamsberg. Her daughter has seen a vision: ghostly horsemen who target the most nefarious characters in Normandy. Since the middle ages there have been stories of murderers, rapists, those with serious crimes on their conscience, meeting a grisly end following a visitation by the riders.
Soon after the young woman’s vision a notoriously vicious and cruel man disappears. Although the case is far outside his jurisdiction, Adamsberg agrees to investigate the strange happenings in a village terrorised by wild rumours and ancient feuds.
This latest outing for the offbeat Commissaire Adamsberg is [Vargas'] best * Independent *
After decades in which crime fiction in French was dominated by the Belgian author Georges Simenon, it has an indisputable new star in Fred Vargas -- Joan Smith * Sunday Times *
Vargas depicts brilliantly a rural community riven with superstition, where class distinctions have existed for centuries * The Times *
An early contender for outstanding crime novel of the year * Sunday Times *
A glorious mix of myth, quirky observation and gallic humour * Sunday Telegraph *
Her novels about the kindly, quixotic Commissaire Adamsberg are unique, presenting us with a France that resembles Simenon’s in its concreteness but with a fantastical, even surreal, twist: werewolves, vampires and, in her latest novel, an army of ghosts on horseback… Her work is like a baked Camembert among the smorgasbord of chilly Scandinavian realism that dominates the foreign crime fiction market here, delicious comfort food for the sophisticated palate -- Jake Kerridge * Daily Telegraph *
There are, it seems, two types of people: those who have discovered the quirky bliss of Fred Vargas's novels and those who don't know a good thing when they see it on the shelf * Independent on Sunday *
A celebration of love and camaraderie among the unlikeliest allies * Metro *
- Winner of CWA International Dagger 2013 (UK)
ISBN: 9780099569558
Dimensions: 196mm x 128mm x 32mm
Weight: 300g
432 pages