The Chalk Circle Man
  • Published: 1 April 2010
  • ISBN: 9780099488972
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 256
  • RRP: $24.99

The Chalk Circle Man

Buy from…
The Nile Mighty Ape BookHub Whitcoulls The Warehouse Paper Plus Fishpond
Find local retailers

The Chalk Circle Man is the first book featuring Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, one of the most engaging characters in contemporary detective fiction.

Winner of The Crime Writers' Association Duncan Lawrie International Dagger

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 cast-iron alibis; he appears permanently distracted. In spite of all this his colleagues are forced to admit that he is a born cop.

When strange blue chalk circles start appearing overnight on the pavements of Paris, only Adamsberg takes them - and the increasingly bizarre objects found within them - seriously. And when the body of a woman with her throat savagely cut is found in one, only Adamsberg realises that other murders will soon follow…

‘The hottest property in contemporary crime fiction’ Guardian
  • Published: 1 April 2010
  • ISBN: 9780099488972
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 256
  • RRP: $24.99
Categories:
Share…

About the author

Fred Vargas

Fred Vargas was born in Paris in 1957. A historian and archaeologist by profession, she is now a bestselling novelist. Her books have sold over 10 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 45 languages.

portrait photo of Fred Vargas

Also by Fred Vargas

A Climate of Fear
The Accordionist
An Uncertain Place
This Poison Will Remain
The Ghost Riders of Ordebec
This Night's Foul Work
Have Mercy on Us All
See all

Praise for The Chalk Circle Man

Witty, inventive and vaguely surreal, this novel should win over the most diehard crime fiction fans

Melissa McClemets, Financial Times

Rich and witty

Independent

She wants to surprise, unsettle, frustrate and amuse - and succeeds in writing a gripping novel that takes readers out of their comfort zones

The Scotsman

The hottest property in contemporary crime fiction

Guardian

The novel shows Vargas in riveting form right from the start of her writing career

The Times

Cunningly constructed... Vargas is everything Grisham is not: witty, intriguing, disconcerting and seductively romantic

Arminta Wallace, Sunday Telegraph

It is Vargas's eerie, sensuous portrait of Paris, at once a place of romance and dread, which resonates most hauntingly in this novel

Dan Sheehan, The Irish Times

A flavoursome translation, it shows her [Vargas'] dark charm from the off

Boyd Tonkin, Independent on Sunday