Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand
  • Published: 1 March 2008
  • ISBN: 9780099488965
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $32.99

Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand

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1 May 2010
Paperback
1 Mar 2008
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'Riveting reading... Vargas writes novels that won't let you go, disturb and linger long' - The Times

Between 1943 and 2003 nine people have been stabbed to death with a most unusual weapon: a trident. In each case, arrests were made, suspects confessed their crimes and were sentenced to life in prison. One slightly worrying detail: each presumed murderer lost consciousness during the night of the crime and has no recollection of it.

Commissaire Adamsberg is convinced all the murders are the work of one person, the terrifying Judge Fulgence. Years before, Adamsberg's own brother had been the principal suspect in a similar case and avoided prison only thanks to Adamsberg's help.

History repeats itself when Adamsberg, who is temporarily based in Quebec for a training mission, is accused of having savagely murdered a young woman he had met. In order to prove his innocence, Adamsberg must go on the run from the Canadian police and find Judge Fulgence.

Winner of the 2007 Duncan Lawrie International Dagger for The Three Evangelists.
  • Published: 1 March 2008
  • ISBN: 9780099488965
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $32.99
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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 Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand

It's her winning blend of empathy, humour and moral determination that places her books in the best-seller charts

Christian House, Independent on Sunday

Elegant plotting and misfit characters, gives US blockbusters a run for their money

Saga magazine

Vargas's weightiest and most ambitious tome, but shot through with that nervy and sardonic Gallic humour that is her métier

Good Book Guide

No one writes crime novels quite like the French author Fred Vargas... another compelling read by this most original of novelists

Susanna Yager, Sunday Telegraph

Establishes Vargas beyond doubt as a cool, clever, original and deeply humane crime writer

Heather O’Donoghue, Times Literary Supplement

It is enthralling and great fun from start to finish... all done with great verve, wit and invention

Allan Massie, Scotsman

There is a haunting quality to Vargas's writing

Kath Murphy, Scotland on Sunday

Vargas has a wonderfully offbeat imagination that makes each of her novels a refreshing delight

Peter Guttridge, Observer

A rising star within the narrow field of good, intellectual crime novels... Vargas has a marvellous way with landscape and secondary characters

Carrie O’Grady, Guardian

Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand firmly demonstrates why Vargas is spoken of in such warm terms by admirers... universal in its cutting psychology, and the personalities of her characters are rendered with off-kilter skill

Barry Forshaw & Laura Wilson, The Times, The best crime novels of the decade