The Three Evangelists, by Fred Vargas

March 31, 2009 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: book review, crime book, Fred Vargas, French writer, Prize winning novel 

This is not a Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg mystery. The sleuths in The Three Evangelists are instead somewhat unusual – actually a trio of 30-something historians under the auspices of a retired policeman.

This odd group lives together The Three Evangelists, by Fred Vargasin an old, ugly house in Paris known as “the disgrace”. The evangelists are Medievalist Marc Vandoosler, Great War historian Lucien Devernois and prehistory specialist Matthias Delamarre, three down-on-their-luck historians. In this book, they join forces to solve the mysterious disappearance of their neighbor, former opera singer Sophia Siméonidis.

The first little mystery in the book is sudden appearance of a beech tree in the garden of Madame Siméonidis. The tree – planted under cover of darkness – worries her, and she doesn’t know who planted it or why, so she asks the historians to dig it up and investigate. Nothing suspicious is found under the beech.

Then Madame Siméonidis disappears, and a few days later her body is found in a burned out car. Now the Evangelists launch a full-scale investigation, aided by Marc’s godfather Vandoosler, the former policeman. There are plenty of possible suspects, but there is little evidence to go by.

This book, with a plot that twists and turns, was awarded the Duncan Lawrie International Dagger in 2006. Even so, The Three Evangelists is a strange crime novel, with eccentric, lovable characters. As usual in Vargas’ books, there are lots of interesting and odd conversations, and the book is intelligently and humorously written. Reading it is a complete delight if you like intelligent, well written mystery novels. If you are looking for fast paced action, on the other hand, this is probably not the book for you.

Praise for the works of Fred Vargas:

“A Vargas novel is as good as a trip to Paris.”
–Daily Express

“Fred Vargas is a wonderful writer. Much of the joy of reading this book lies in Vargas’s wonderful use of language, her subtle characterizations and her superb sense of place.”
–Margaret Cannon, The Globe and Mail

“Joyous, enchanting, amazing, fantastic, unclassifiable, beyond-brilliant. Readers will not hold back praise for Fred Vargas.”
–Elle (France)

“Vargas is clearly an author who will rank alongside Henning Mankell. .. Creepy, sophisticated and wonderfully off-beat.”
–Scotland on Sunday

Links to Fred Vargas’ books at amazon US, amazon UK, and amazon CAN.

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