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Product Description
Review
"Like legions of other devoted readers, I've become addicted to the adventures of Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg. . . . If you've already discovered Adamsberg, this novel is essential reading. If you haven't, this is the perfect place to begin."
— Margaret Cannon, The Globe and Mail
"If you haven't cottoned on to Vargas's brilliant Adamsberg detective stories, you're missing a treat."
— Scotland on Sunday
"The Chalk Circle Man showcases Vargas' charms as a crime writer — it's hauntingly written, with intensely drawn characters and a plot that smoulders with psychological suspense."
— The Age
From the Hardcover edition.
— Margaret Cannon, The Globe and Mail
"If you haven't cottoned on to Vargas's brilliant Adamsberg detective stories, you're missing a treat."
— Scotland on Sunday
"The Chalk Circle Man showcases Vargas' charms as a crime writer — it's hauntingly written, with intensely drawn characters and a plot that smoulders with psychological suspense."
— The Age
From the Hardcover edition.
Product Description
Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg is not like other policemen. His methods appear unorthodox in the extreme: he doesn’t search for clues; he ignores obvious suspects and arrests people with iron-clad alibis; he appears permanently distracted.
The Chalk Circle Man is the first book featuring Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, one of the most engaging characters in contemporary detective fiction.
When strange, blue chalk circles start appearing overnight on the pavements of Paris, the press take up the story with amusement and psychiatrists trot out their theories. Adamsberg is alone in thinking this is not a game and far from amusing. He insists on being kept informed of new circles and the increasingly bizarre objects which they contain: empty beer cans, four trombones, a pigeon’s foot, four cigarette lighters, a badge proclaiming “I Love Elvis,” a hat, a doll’s head. Adamsberg senses the cruelty that lies behind these seemingly random occurrences. Soon a circle with decidedly less banal contents is discovered: the body of a woman with her throat savagely cut. Adamsberg knows that other murders will follow.
From the Hardcover edition.
The Chalk Circle Man is the first book featuring Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, one of the most engaging characters in contemporary detective fiction.
When strange, blue chalk circles start appearing overnight on the pavements of Paris, the press take up the story with amusement and psychiatrists trot out their theories. Adamsberg is alone in thinking this is not a game and far from amusing. He insists on being kept informed of new circles and the increasingly bizarre objects which they contain: empty beer cans, four trombones, a pigeon’s foot, four cigarette lighters, a badge proclaiming “I Love Elvis,” a hat, a doll’s head. Adamsberg senses the cruelty that lies behind these seemingly random occurrences. Soon a circle with decidedly less banal contents is discovered: the body of a woman with her throat savagely cut. Adamsberg knows that other murders will follow.
From the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pure Brilliance,
By
This review is from: The Chalk Circle Man (Hardcover)
Wow! I think I've really been missing something by not reading European crime novels earlier. This is the first in the series of Commissionaire Adamsberg and the latest to be translated into English. While working on and wrapping up another case Adamsberg becomes interested in the latest talk around Paris of mysterious blue chalk circles appearing all over the city several times a week and inside each circle is a common ordinary item, or sometimes just a little strange. They've found a watch, a doll's head, a pen, a dead cat, a pigeon's foot, an 'I Love Elvis' button and many more items. No one except the press is really concerned about this but Adamsberg feels right away that there is something dead wrong about this. And he is proven correct when the first circle to contain a dead body turns up.Beautifully written, the characters are exquisitely written. In such a short book all the characters, including the secondary ones, are fully developed and real. They are an eccentric bunch of people right from Adamsberg down to the blind man who loves to ask people if they'd like help crossing the street. The crime itself is wonderfully twisty and was impossible for me to figure out. Really an absolutely amazing crime novel crossed with psychological suspense. The characters remind me of Christie and the psychological aspects remind me of Simenon. Brilliance! Only one thing that bothers me is that the books are not being translated in order. There are already 4 books translated before this, the first one. Strange...
4.0 out of 5 stars
An intriguing new series...,
By
This review is from: The Chalk Circle Man (Hardcover)
I always enjoy discovering the first in a new series. The Chalk Circle Man is the first Adamsberg novel.Commissionaire Adamsberg has recently been posted to Paris. His new Inspectors are not quite sure what to make of him. Quite frankly no one is. He always seems distracted, constantly doodles and often just sits there staring into space. And yet - "...he had solved , one after another, four murders in a way that his colleagues had found uncanny..." The local press has taken note of chalked blue circles that are popping up accross the city. They encircle discarded rubbish- hats, lighters, whatever seems to be lying around. Adamsberg has a feeling about these circles and instructs his team to photograph and note all of them. His premonition is proven right when a woman's body is found circled in blue chalk. A local oceanographer and her lodgers - a blind man and an older woman obsessed with personal ads seem to have some connection to the mysterious circles, but they are less than forthcoming. And this is where the character of Adamsberg shines. He waits for things to happen, for connections to show themselves, all to the consternation of his Inspectors. The Chalk Circle Man is populated by odd and unsettling characters whose minds operate in distinctly non linear fashion. The conversations between these characters is nimble and thought provoking. I was captivated throughout the entire novel. Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg is a delightful, quirky, outside the lines sleuth. I will be waiting for the second in this series. Oh, and Fred Vargas is an award winning female author!
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.1 out of 5 stars (21 customer reviews) 32 of 33 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The first of a great series,
By J. Gabrielson - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Chalk Circle Man (Hardcover)
The first novel in a great series by Fred Vargas, who has created a most unique "hero" in the person of Inspector Adamsberg. I love the way his mind works( or doesn't:-). I love the secondary characters who act as foils for the intuitive Adamsberg. They reason logically and most know a great many more details about the world than does Adamsberg. Yet, it is the seemingly bumbling Adamberg who reaches the correct conclusion through his superb ability to associate many disparate details and use pattern thinking to find the truth. I cannot wait for more of these wonderful novels to be translated into English. I have all that are currently available and I highly recommend each and every one of them.
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Commissaire Adamsberg : The early days,
By Carol Karas - Published on Amazon.com
I became an enthusiastic fan of Fred Vargas and Commissaire Adamsberg after I picked up and read This Night's Foul Work. I have been working my way backwards though the series and discovering the source of the relationships between the main characters. While The Chalk Circle Man introduces Commissaire Adamsberg and his unique approach to solving crimes, it lacks the rich and clever language that makes the later Adamsberg novels sparkle. I enjoyed it for the background of the characters and now appreciate the fantastic growth of Fred Vargas as a writer. Don't miss this series, it is a gem.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Stand-Out from an Outstanding French author,
By Lisa Marie - Published on Amazon.com
Another customer reviewer summed it up best: this series and especially this book is "a gem". I've heard of Fred Vargas for a long while but kept resisting trying her novels (perhaps it was the dreary black and white cover art?). My only complaint is that I waited so long. I started with The Three Evangelists, a stand-alone novel, then picked up the Chalk Circle Man, the first in her series. The main character, Paris Commissaire Adamsberg, is an endearing oddball of sorts. In both his personal and professional lives, people have a difficult time figuing him out which naturally sets him apart from the crowd and often makes life lonely.I was impressed with the characters, plotting, writing style (including the excellent translation) and the realistic depiction of French people and culture. For fans of international crime fiction, or Simenon/Maigret, do yourself a favor and read The Chalk Circle Man. |
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