The Ghost Riders of Ordebec: A Commissaire Adamsberg novel - Softcover

Vargas, Fred

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1846555868 ISBN 13: 9781846555862

Publisher: Harvill Secker, 2013

Synopsis

'People will die,' says the panic-stricken woman outside police headquarters. She has been standing in blazing sunshine for more than an hour, and 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 grizzly end following a visitation by the riders. Soon after the young woman's vision a notoriously cruel man disappears, and the local police dismiss the matter as superstition. 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.

About this title

Review:

"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 "Adamsberg is as delightful, absurd and irritating as ever. One of Vargas's best" -- Marcel Berlins Times "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.For those who haven't picked Vargas off the shelf, I highly recommend sitting on a wall with Adamsberg this spring" -- Christian House Independent on Sunday "A glorious mix of myth, quirky observation and Gallic humour" -- Mark Sanderson Sunday Telegraph "An early contender for outstanding crime novel of the year" -- Joan Smith Sunday Times

Book Description:

France’s bestselling crime writer, and four-time winner of the CWA International Dagger, sends the unorthodox Commissaire Adamsberg far outside his jurisdication in a chilling tale of evil-doers who disappear after visitations from a band of ghostly horsemen

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvill Secker
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1846555868
• ISBN 13: 9781846555862
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368