AN UNCERTAIN PLACE: FRED VARGAS

"You get some weird goings-on in France too, don't you?" remarked Detective Chief Inspector Radstock, in English, to his Parisian colleagues.

The chief of the Serious Crimes Squad in Paris Commissaire Adamsberg, his walking encyclopedia colleague Commandant Danglard, and young Estalere are in London for a jolly/seminar. On an evening stroll with DCI Radstock they are called to Highgate Cemetery to examine shoes left outside the gates. The problem being the shoes have severed feet left inside them.

On their journey back to Paris Danglard tells them the story of Highgate Cemetery, Lizzie Siddal, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his friend Bram Stoker, creator of Count Dracula.

Once home the squad are called to a horrific crime scene in the leafy suburb of Darche, where Pierre Vaudel, a reclusive semi-retired legal-journalist, has been obliterated, his body crushed to pieces.

A disaggregated body, which did not even arouse disgust, in the sense that it was impossible to associate these elements with anything resembling a human being.

Vaudel had disinherited his son and left his fortune to his gardener, a man with a history of violence.

Adamsberg's investigation will lead him to a Serbian village, and into great danger from both the mysterious perpetrator, and from those in power who don't want the case to be solved.

Fred Vargas, and her translator Sian Reynolds, have blended humour, folklore, horror, witty dialogue, bizarre plot, and eccentric characters and the end result is a brilliant reading experience. An Uncertain Place is designed to be read slowly because you won't want it to end; the literary equivalent of slow cooking, or sipping a fine whisky or wine. A tasty French bouillabaisse of a novel to be enjoyed and savoured by gourmets of crime fiction.

The crime squad characters are uniquely quirky creations, the forgetful scruffy Adamsberg, the alcoholic walking encyclopedia Danglard, the goddess like Retancourt, and Froissy, who has a panic attack when she misses a meal. You don't have to like the strange Adamsberg to enjoy this series, because although the Commissaire is central to the stories his team, and the supporting cast, are so eccentric there is always something to amuse the reader.

'I'm not going to ask you about women. I can see. Lack of confidence.'

'In them?'

'No, in yourself.'

Fred Vargas has explored the murder mystery turned it into a horror story, and then turned it back again into the quirkiest of crime stories. There are so many wonderful passages including one in which a colleague explains to Adamsberg why he alone among police officers cannot be bought by the "great snake", but I will resist the temptation to quote this one.

But one more gem from Adamsberg's time in the Serbian village:

'Show photos? Bad idea. Very bad. Hereabouts they don't like people who ask questions, cops journalists, nosy parkers. You'll have to think of something else. But they don't like historians either, or film-makers or sociologists, anthropologists, photographers, nutters or ethnologists.'

'That's a lot of people they don't like. Why don't they like nosy parkers? Because of the war?'

Fred Vargas is the pen name of Frederique Audoin-Rouzeau, a medieval historian and archaeologist, who has along with translator Sian Reynolds won the CWA International Dagger three times.

An Uncertain Place would in my opinion be a very worthy winner of a fourth award, but this year Fred Vargas, and her French eccentricity, may face challenges from Scandinavia and further afield.

We shall have a better idea when the CWA International Dagger shortlist is announced on Friday evening at Crime Fest.

The rest of the Commissaire Adamsberg series [English publication date in brackets]:

1996 The Chalk Circle Man*** and here [2009]

1999 Seeking Whom He May Devour [2004]

2001 Have Mercy on Us All [2003]

2004 Wash this Blood Clean from My Hand** [2007]

2006 This Night's Foul Work [2008]

Fred Vargas and Sian Reynolds have also won the International Dagger with The Three Evangelists*.

CWA International Dagger winner. *2006, ** 2007, ***2009.

FRED VARGAS WINS AGAIN!

I was somewhat surprised that The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas won the 2009 CWA International Dagger.

The French writer's third win in four years and a French author's fourth straight win; Dominique Manotti won last year with Lorraine Connection.

I reviewed The Chalk Circle Man here and here, and despite my misgivings about this book chose a Fred Vargas book as one of my five best reads of 2008.

I am definitely a Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg fan, but nevertheless I was stunned, as in my humble opinion and more importantly that of several far more literate and erudite bloggers than I, this Vargas was not as good as several of the Nordic contenders.

I would expect that the judge's deliberations were confidential, but I would be interested to know their reasons from anyone else who thought this Vargas was better than the other nominated books.

I note that people from the blogosphere were invited to the awards ceremony at a cost of £45 per ticket. This was to include the announcement of the shortlists for the Gold Dagger, the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger and the John Creasy [New Blood] award for first novels, unfortunately this was postponed till October and if I had paid my £45 I would have been slightly miffed.

Click here and scroll down for all my posts on Fred Vargas, and for a discussion of the contenders click here and here.

Commissaire Adamsberg books by Fred Vargas in order.

INTERNATIONAL DAGGER SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

The shortlist for the CWA International Dagger was announced at Crime Fest 2010 tonight.

Badfellas by Tonino Benacquista, translated by Emily Read (Bitter Lemon Press)
August Heat by Andrea Camilleri, translated by Stephen Sartarelli (Picador)
Hypothermia by Arnaldur Indriðason, translated by Victoria Cribb (Harvill Secker)
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest by Stieg Larsson, translated by Reg Keeland (MacLehose Press)
Thirteen Hours by Deon Meyer,, translated by K.L. Seegers (Hodder and Stoughton)
The Darkest Room by Johan Theorin, translated by Marlaine Delargy (Doubleday)

Thanks to Karen at Euro Crime and Crimeficreader at It's a Crime [or a Mystery] for the information.

The winner will be announced on 23 July so I do have time to read the two remaining books that I have not started [Thirteen Hours and Badfellas] and finish Hypothermia, which I have just begun.

My first reaction is that I would not like to have to choose between such a formidable lineup of books, as from my reading experience, all these authors are superb writers. But I will give my opinion for what it is worth, and pick my winner before the judges give their verdict.

Secondly I am surprised that The Snowman by Jo Nesbo translated by Don Bartlett, and The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell translated by Laurie Thompson have not made the list.

But with books from France, Italy, Iceland, Sweden, South Africa and Sweden we have a nice range of countries.

The past winners of the International Dagger since its inception in 2006 have been all French, and Fred Vargas has won three times:

2006-The Three Evangelists: Fred Vargas translated by Sian Reynolds

2007-Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand: Fred Vargas translated by Sian Reynolds

2008-Lorraine Connection: Dominique Manotti translated by Roz Schwartz and Amanda Hopkinson

2009-The Chalk Circle Man: Fred Vargas translated by Sian Reynolds

My posts relating to last year's International Dagger Award:

Who will win the International Dagger?

The Impossible Choice

Fred Vargas Wins Again!

Back to reading for now, but I will be most interested to see if the French monopoly will be broken this year. [Sorry this is a bit difficult to read but I am blaming blogger]

TRUE GLOIRE: FRED VARGAS

France [26-21 victors over Ireland this weekend] now has a rugby team to match its President.

Brilliantly eccentric, very fast and with a slightly off beat selection policy that favours the beautiful over safe reliability.

If there was ever a crime writer, who also could be considered beautifully eccentric it is the two time Duncan Lawrie International Dagger award winner, Fred Vargas.

From Eurocrime:

Fred Vargas' latest in the Commissaire Adamsberg series, 'This Night's Foul Work', was published this week in the UK. To celebrate, this week the new reviews on Euro Crime are all of the Adamsberg series, including the new one, at:

http://eurocrime.blogspot.com/2008/02/theres-something-about-vargas.html

They include my own review of This Night's Foul Work at:

http://www.eurocrime.co.uk/reviews/This_Nights_Foul_Work_2.html

All the Euro Crime reviewers agree Fred Vargas is an author not to be missed.

There is also an excellent interview with the translator of the Vargas books, Sian Reynolds at:

http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/search/label/Sian%20Reynolds

"True Gloire does not flit like a butterfly; it is only achieved by solid actions." Vauban (1633-1707)

FRENCH MISTRESS

I am rather ashamed to admit that this is the first book by Fred Vargas that I have read, but it won't be the last.

Fred Vargas is the pseudonym of French historian, archaeologist and writer Frédérique Audouin-Rouzeau, born in 1957 in Paris, she works at the French National Scientific Research Centre .

Fred is the diminutive of her given name, Frédérique, while Vargas derives from the Ava Gardner character in The Barefoot Contessa, and is the pseudonym adopted by her twin sister, Joëlle Jo Vargas, the painter.

She mostly writes police thrillers (policiers). They usually take place in Paris and feature the adventures of Commissaire Adamsberg and his team.

Earlier this year she won the 2006 Duncan Lawrie International Dagger with The Three Evangelists, and has been described by the Guardian as "the hottest property in crime fiction."

Her latest book, Sous les Vents de Neptune, was published earlier this year and has already passed the quarter-million mark, a huge success in France.

Sous les Vents de Neptune is to be published in 2007 in the UK as Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand, and has been translated from the French by Sian Reynolds.

Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, unlikely head of the Serious Crime Squad, located in the 13th arrondisement of Paris is preparing to go on an expedition. The eight designated members of the Quebec mission will be soon investigating the scientific mysteries of genetic fingerprints, sweat, urine, semen, maple leaves, caribou and computers under the tutelage of the Gendamerie Royale du Canada.

But when a murder is reported near Strasbourg it reawakens in Adamsberg an obsession with a series of similar murders.

"Eight murders, eight people stabbed with three wounds in a row..........All eight murders solved, eight culprits easily caught, virtually weapon in hand. Seven poor sods in jail, as well as my brother, gone to perdition. Fulgence always escapes. The devil always escapes."

If Adamsberg had not intervened 30 years ago his brother would have been convicted of one of these murders. He is certain that the Strasbourg murder, and all the others going back over 50 years are the work of the terrifying and powerful Judge Fulgence. There is just one snag, Fulgence has been dead for 16 years.

While the squad are in Canada a savage murder occurs, and Adamsberg has to go on the run in a desperate race to prove his innocence, and to find Judge Fulgence.
What do I want in a crime novel? Well it has firstly to include a crime, then a sense of location, interesting characters, a good plot, and hopefully a solution.

This book certainly fits the bill, especially with its fascinating convoluted plot, and some characters who are that little bit eccentric, including an octogenarian computer hacker, and of course the menacing Judge Fulgence.
Little bit eccentric is probably an understatement, but Vargas has the charm and style to make them all seem believable.
The translation has worked excellently because the book is an easy read, it flows, and the contrast between the French and Quebecois characters is handled well.

Adamsberg is an intuitive Paris flic, who inspires loyalty in his subordinates, despite his many flaws. He makes mistakes, some very big mistakes, and this makes him seem very real, and very human. Fred Vargas has created a character with real depth in Adamsberg.

He has an assistant Capitaine Danglard, a quietly intelligent man, with a drink problem and five children. Another member of the squad is Violette Retancourt a fat, plain, large policewoman, who watches over Adamsberg and everything around her with a very shrewd eye.
Without their help, and his surprising "miracle women" the insecure detective would be lost.

The entire book is like a jigsaw that fits elegantly together, and I found myself both rushing through the pages to see what happened, while at the same time wanting the book to go on and on because of my immersion in, and enjoyment of the story.

I am definitely looking forward to reading her earlier books.

"The Quebecois," interrupted Danglard, in his gentle voice," consider France as their mother country, but they don't much like the French, or trust them. "

THE FIRST ADAMSBERG: FRED VARGAS

In order to give my opinion and vote in the two Euro Crime polls here I am now reading The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas, the only non Nordic nomination for the International Dagger this year. 

After that I will move on to read Shadow by Karin Alvtegen.

I have gone from Bill James to Fred Vargas which is a short journey from the quirkily unique to the uniquely quirky. 

The Chalk Circle is the first Adamsberg novel and was published in French in 1996. It is good to know that Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg was a weird in the first book as he is in the more recent offerings. 

Both with her plots and her characters Fred Vargas gives the reader the different, the bizarre, the strange, the grotesque, the unconventional and the quirky. Perhaps one reason they seem so different from Nordic or Anglo-Saxon characters is they have a very French view of civilization.

The difference between this situation and Adamsberg's early days in the Pyrenees was that nowadays his reputation made things a bit easier. However that didn't alter the fact that he was an outsider. The day before, he had overheard the oldest Parisian in the team saying in a low voice:

"Ah well, he's from the Pyrenees-pretty much the edge of the known world." 

WHO WILL WIN THE INTERNATIONAL DAGGER?

There are some interesting polls at Mysteries from Paradise on how many of the six International Dagger nominated books you have read [now closed], and two polls running till 14 July at Euro Crime one about who you think will win and one about who you want to win.

I have now read all of the six nominated books and you can read my reviews if you follow the appropriate links:

Echoes From The Dead: Johan Theorin, translated by Marlaine Delargy

Arctic Chill: Arnaldur Indridason, translated by Bernard Scudder and Victoria Cribb

The Chalk Circle Man: Fred Vargas, translated by Sian Reynolds

The Girl Who Played with Fire: Stieg Larsson, translated by Reg Keeland

The Redeemer: Jo Nesbo, translated by Don Bartlett

Shadow: Karin Alvtegen, translated by McKinley Burnett

How will the judges decide between such an outstanding collection of novels?

I would not like to have to make such a difficult choice but I would start by eliminating the weakest book or books from consideration.

This process is helped by the fact that first Adamsberg novel by Fred Vargas , The Chalk Circle Man [translated out of order], is not up to the standard of her later books. Fred Vargas of course won the International Dagger in 2006 with The Three Evangelists and in 2007 with Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand, a later Adamsberg novel.

I would then eliminate Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indridason, which might seem a bit harsh because this is a very good straightforward police procedural, but it lacks the twists and turns that would make it stand out. It simply is not as good a story as his previous novels, The Draining Lake, or Voices.

Now with four brilliant Scandinavian books to choose from the elimination process gets even more difficult.

[To be continued]

THE DUNCAN LAWRIE INTERNATIONAL DAGGER ?

Perhaps this award should be renamed 'The beat Fred Vargas if you can' Award, because once again the quirky French writer is nominated.

The short list is:

Andrea Camilleri- The Patience of the Spider translated from the Italian by Stephen Sartarelli.

Stieg Larsson- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo translated from the Swedish by Reg Keeland.

Dominique Manotti- Lorraine Connection translated from the French by Amanda Hopkinson and Ros Schwartz.

Martin Suter- A Deal with the Devil translated from the German by Peter Millar.

Freed Vargas- This Night's Foul Work translated from the French by Sian Reynolds.

My review of The Patience of the Spider can be seen here. 

In my opinion it is not the best of the Montalbano series but then any Camilleri can be considered a contender, some more reviews here and here.

My review of This Night's Foul Work is here, and some more reviews here and here.

This is definitely a book that could bring Fred Vargas and Sian Reynolds a hat trick of wins. 

The Martin Suter, Dominique Manotti and the Stieg Larsson sit on my shelf unread as yet, and I must remedy that situation in the next few weeks.

My impression from reading other blogs and websites is that the winner this year will be Stieg Larsson.

BEST CRIME FICTION NOVELS OF THE DECADE?

Update: Please join me at my new blog Crime Scraps Review where you can read all the old posts and a lot of new stuff.

http://crimescraps2.wordpress.com

The Times has recently produced a list of the ten Best Crime Fiction Novels of the Decade chosen by Laura Wilson and Barry Forshaw.

I usually love lists especially when I can enjoy myself criticising the choices made by the panel. But when they attempt to choose 'crime novels of the decade' I am at a complete loss.

How can anyone narrow down to ten all the excellent crime fiction novels that have been published in a decade?

That said I have read only three of the chosen ten, one more sits on my TBR pile, one I started but because of the small print and the writing style I abandoned, two more I watched as television adaptions, and one I went to the movie.

I might even agree with two of the ten choices:

The Broken Shore by Peter Temple

Wash This Blood Clean From My Hands by Fred Vargas

The problem with the article was that the authors seemed to have second thoughts and listed numerous honourable mentions. This is rather like saying these are the best, but I know that many readers will hate some of these choices, so here is another lot I might have chosen.

The criteria were that the books should exhibit good writing and storytelling, and be innovative and individual, as well as "bloody good examples of their type".

The ten authors whose books were chosen were Arnaldur Indridason, Frances Fyfield, Fred Vargas, David Peace, Dennis Lehane, Sarah Waters, Andrew Taylor, Don Winslow and Cormac McCarthy.

What do you think of the Times list here? Which books and authors would be on your own list? Who do you think are the most innovative and individual authors of the decade? Have such lists any merit?

LOST IN TRANSLATION

Peter of Detectives beyond Borders reminded me that there is an award for translators. The Duncan Lawrie International Dagger is awarded by the British Crime Writer's Association for translated crime fiction.

But this is a joint award for both author and translator of a specific book and the author gets top billing, both literally and financially.

"The Duncan Lawrie International Dagger for the best crime novel translated into English, with £5000 going to the author and £1000 to the translator."

Past winners of the International Dagger have been:

2006 Fred Vargas and Sian Reynolds for The Three Evangelists

2007 Fred Vargas and Sian Reynolds for Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand

There should be a separate award for a body of work, or a lifetime achievement in translating such as the Cartier Diamond Dagger of the CWA, The Eye of the Private Eye Writers, or the Grandmaster from the Mystery Writers of America.

EVEN MORE QUIZ ANSWERS

6] An Irish port, a trailing woody stemmed plant and a heavy load are linked in crime fiction, how?

The plant is a 'vine' so Barbara Vine aka Ruth Rendell. 

The Irish port Wexford. Ruth Rendell's detective Reg Wexford.

A heavy load... a burden.... Mike Burden, Wexford's number two in the books.

7] Which crime writers were/are:

a) a railway engineer: Freeman Wills Croft

b) a civil engineer: Yrsa Sigurdardottir or Herbert Resnicow

c) an engineer born in a prison: 

This one gave everyone trouble but there was a clue to this in question 11.

Herman Cyril McNeile took the name 'Sapper' because he served in the Royal Engineers [known as sappers] and had started writing in France during the Great War when serving officers were not allowed to write under their own names.

He was born in 1888 at the Naval Prison in Bodmin, Cornwall where his father was the Governor. Sorry about that one it was just plain sneaky.

8] Which fictional detective was:

a) born in Santa Rosa, California: Philip Marlowe created by Raymond Chandler

b) changed his name from Charalambides: Nick Charles created by Dashiell Hammett

c) was educated at Eton, Balliol and Harvard and was awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour:   Dr Gideon Fell created by John Dickson Carr.

d) was the son of a polish stage hypnotist: John Rebus created by Ian Rankin

e) was born in Santa Teresa, California: Kinsey Milhone created by Sue Grafton 

9] Which crime writers are involved with:

a) a large semi-aquatic reptile: Massimo Carlotto his unlicensed ex con private detective Marco Buratti is known as the 'alligator'.

b)  a barefoot contessa: Fred Vargas who borrowed the name via her twin sister Jo Vargas, a painter, from Ava Gardner's character in The Barefoot Contessa.

c) Montelusa: Andrea Camilleri uses the name for the Sicilian city of Agrigento in his Montalbano novels.

10] From what book does the following sentence come:

He compressed his lips and asked: "You know of Barbarossa, Redbeard , Khair-ed -Din?"

 The Maltese Falcon

[to be continued]  

OLD MONEY TRASH AND TWO PRIZES

Earlier in the month I posted about this years Crime Writer's Association Dagger winners.

"The Duncan Lawrie Dagger for 2007 has been won by Peter Temple for his book The Broken Shore, while the writer /translator team of Fred Vargas and Sian Reynolds won the International Dagger for the second year running for Wash this Blood Clean from my Hand."

I did not mention that both the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, and the New Blood Dagger had been won by Gillian Flynn for her novel Sharp Objects.

So I have decided on a change of scene from Sicily and Puglia, and that I had better read this double prize winner set in southern Missouri.

One thing Southern Italy, and the heartland of the USA have in common is that is that there are plenty of very quirky characters, and strange situations for crime writers to explore.

"It's near the Mississippi, so it was a port city at one point. Now its biggest business is hog butchering...........Old money and trash."

"Which are you?"

"I'm trash. From old money."

A promising start, I think I am going to enjoy this one.

TOO MANY AWARDS?

The Web site Mystery Ink is out with its nominees for the 7th Annual Gumshoe Awards.

This year’s contenders are as follows:Best Mystery:• Tin Roof Blowdown, by James Lee Burke (Simon & Schuster)• The Unquiet, by John Connolly (Atria)•Mistress of the Art of Death, by Ariana Franklin (Putnam)• The Shotgun Rule, by Charlie Huston (Ballantine)• What the Dead Know, by Laura Lippman (Morrow) [info from The Rap Sheet]

This is an incredibly strong lineup and I have three of these on my shelf and one on order.

But as usual I like to look for something controversial to get my teeth, such as they are, into, and David Montgomery of Crime Fiction Dossier was kind enough to supply me some raw meat.

After a great deal of discussion, we decided to eliminate the category for Best European Crime Novel. It was never a strength of the Gumshoes, and I'm not a fan in general of that type of niche award. (Same thing goes for Best Paperback, etc.)

Well after reading the phrase "It was never a strength of the Gumshoes" I just had to look up who had won the Gumshoe Best European Crime Novel in the three years it was awarded.

Henning Mankell, Karin Fossum and Robert Wilson were the winners, and nominees included Arnaldur Indridason, Fred Vargas and Gianrico Carofiglio.

It seems to me that the judges for that Gumshoe Award really knew their stuff and this is one award that should have been retained.

Are there too many awards for crime fiction?

What about niche awards?

I am in favour of these as long as the niche is strictly defined, and "historical" mysteries are not set in the 1950s or 1960s in order to make me feel very old.

So it is well done to Ariana Franklin for setting her historical novels in the 12th century.

What do you think are there now too many awards so that it would take weeks just to read the winners yet alone the nominees?

Or is it all the more the merrier, and eventually will we have a Best Mystery Novel written by a Male over the age 60 set north of Watford Gap prize?

[The photo shows that while Devon is a great holiday destination and a lovely place to live occasionally the tide comes in.]

INTERNATIONAL DAGGER: A WINNER?

Update: This blog is now dormant but you can read all the posts here and my new posts at Crime Scraps Review. [http://crimescraps2.wordpress.com]

I have now read all of the 2011 CWA International Dagger Shortlist. My previous posts on this year's books are:

The 2011 CWA International Dagger Shortlist

International Dagger Who Will Win?

I think we can simply dismiss:

The Saint-Florentin Murders by Jean- Francois Parot and River of Shadows by Valeri Varesi neither of which has so far collected a single vote in either of Karen's polls at Eurocrime.

The Parot overwhelms the reader with historical detail, and complex intrigue and is just too long.

The Varesi had atmosphere, but I was not inspired by the character of the protagonist and the action was limited and repetitive.

Of the remaining five books The Wings of the Sphinx by Andrea Camilleri is the eleventh of the twelve books translated so far into English by Stephen Sartarelli. I have read and enjoyed them all, and this Montalbano mystery is one of the best for some time, but I don't think it has that extra special factor that would make it stand out from the shortlist.

Death on a Galician Shore by Domingo Villar is another very good police procedural, and with a combination of humour, social comment, and the interesting location it would be a worthy winner, but for the slightly one paced plot which lacks any twists and real surprises.

Three Seconds by Anders Roslund and Borge Hellstrom has already won Best Swedish crime novel of 2009. It is a fast paced thriller, an exciting read that would make a great movie, but the characters lack depth and the plot predictable.

An Uncertain Place by Fred Vargas, translated by Sian Reynolds, is another outstanding Commissaire Adamsberg investigation full of all the quirkiness, bizarre plots, and eccentric characters that have brought this French author three International Dagger wins. I loved it but surely we need a new face on the winner's rostrum, especially when there is another outstanding novel among the shortlist.

Needle in a Haystack by Ernesto Mallo, translated by Jethro Soutar, is a brilliant book set in Argentina during the 1970s. When I reviewed this novel exactly a year ago I wrote:

This book is a lesson for those authors who think you need to write 600 pages to produce a complex book.

One hundred and ninety pages of great narrative, and cleverly manufactured dialogue, have produced a novel that is a mini-social history of a rotten to the core Argentina, as well as being a very tense thriller.

There is no question in my mind that Ernesto Mallo, and Jethro Soutar, should win the 2011 International Dagger, but nothing would surprise me.

STARTING SHADOW

I have finished The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas which had some nice twists and turns at the end and a few red herrings along the way. This novel exhibited all the quirkiness of the later Adamsberg mysteries but I don't think the plot was as strong as Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand or This Night's Foul Work.

Now on to read the last of the six nominees for the International Dagger, Shadow by Karin Alvtegen translated by McKinley Burnett [aka Steven Murray] and highly rated here by Maxine of Petrona.

PURELY PEDANTIC

I may be wrong but with some reviews I get the impression that they are written from the publisher's notes and blurbs, and rushed out at the last minute.

Wash This Blood Clean from My Hand by Fred Vargas was reviewed in todays Daily Telegraph [Saturday 16th December] and I quote:

"is a bit of a departure in that it is set in Canada"

The book starts and ends with Adamsberg in France, only about half of the story is set in Quebec.

"Adamsberg has to deal with that old chestnut of being accused of the murders"

Adamsberg is a suspect in only one murder that occurs in Quebec. Most of the book concerns a series of murders in France, which Adamsberg suspects were perpetrated by the same man.

Pedantic the definition: "overly concerned with minute details or formalisms, esp. in teaching." That's me.

THE FRENCH CONNECTION

The Crime Writer's Association made their annual awards on Thursday at a black tie dinner at the elegant Four Seasons Hotel on Park Lane. Not having either a black tie or evening attire that I can squeeze into Crime Scraps was not present. 

The Duncan Lawrie Dagger went to Frances Fyfield for Blood from Stone. I have never read Ms Fyfield, and as two of the other contenders Laura Lippman's What the Dead Know and James Lee Burke's The Tin Roof Blowdown sit unread on my TBR shelf  I am not qualified to comment, although I have read some surprise at the choice.

But I have read another of the nominees A Vengeful Longing by Roger Morris and really enjoyed his very intelligent novel, see review here.

Tom Rob Smith won the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Child 44, and is yet another author educated at Dulwich College. He donated his prize money cheque to the National Library for the Blind.

Matt Benyon Rees won the John Creasey New Blood Dagger for The Bethlehem Murders, for which Child 44 was also nominated. Matt's first book was published in the USA under the title The Collaborator of Bethlehem, a change of title which must say something about the different political stances on either side of the Atlantic. Matt who lives in Jerusalem was worried about how he as going to get a 'dagger' through airport security. Another book on the Everest I call the TBR mountain.

The Duncan Lawrie  International Dagger was the award that I was particularly interested in as a registered European translated crime nut. 

I have read two and three quarters of the five nominees which I think is probably more than most apart from the judges. 

This Night's Foul Work by Fred Vargas, review here, was suitably quirky, full of character and plot to be a possible winner but  I assumed the judges would give someone else the prize after two successive wins by the medieval archaeologist.

Despite my admiration for Andrea Camilleri, and his brilliant creation Salvo Montalbano, it was clear that The Patience of the Spider was not quite up to his usual standard, see review here, and did not deserve to win.

The highly rated Stieg Larsson and the Martin Suter books sit unread on that TBR mountain, but I am engrossed at the moment in the winner Lorraine Connection written by Dominique Manotti and translated from the French by Amanda Hopkinson and Ros Schwartz.

Unfortunately Dominique Manotti [photo from CWA website] had not recovered fully  from a fall from her horse, which caused multiple injuries, earlier in the year. Co-translator Ros Schwartz, who was one of the stars of Crime Fest 2008 in Bristol, accepted the award on Dominique's behalf.

Lorraine Connection is a very hard hitting taut crime thriller that covers a lot of ground with all the ingredients you expect from a French writer. 

I have about eighty pages to go and so far it appears to be a worthy winner. I will post a review next week. 

RESPECT FOR AGE

Last month Brian Oliver, Sports Editor of The Guardian, produced a list of the ten best modern European Crime Writers.

It was an idiosyncratic list and immediately had me searching my Oxford English Dictionary for a definition of modern [relating to present or recent past] because of the advanced age of several of those writers on the list. You would have to be an oldie like me to accept that 1975, the date of the last book in the Martin Beck series, as creeping in as recent past.

The list with year of birth:

Pierre Magnan 1922

Andrea Camilleri 1925

Maj Sjowall 1935 and Per Wahloo deceased

Petros Markaris 1937

Manuel Vazquez Montalban deceased

Jean-Claude Izzo deceased

Timothy Willams 1946

Henning Mankell 1948

Fred Vargas 1957

Arnaldur Indridason 1961

My own choice would have included Hakan Nesser 1950, Karin Fossum 1954 and Jo Nesbo 1960, but obviously in Europe the art of crime writing is considered something for the more mature author. Apart from Camilla Lackberg, I cannot think of any other big name crime author from Europe under forty.

But I expect there are some who have not yet been translated into English?

GIVE BOOKS ABOUT DETECTIVES

Giving books as a gift is always tricky especially when your significant other has seemingly almost every book ever published, but I think any crime fiction aficionado would love the books I have selected as potential stocking fillers.

Talking About Detective Fiction by P.D.James is a discussion of the genre which ranges from the 19th century origins to TV's Prime Suspect. At a mere 157 pages it is hardly a comprehensive study, but it has a certain charm in that the reader will feel that Baroness James is naturally much more at home in the cosy villages of England than with the genre's later developments.

One aspect that might concern the modern reader is that the book is very Anglo-American in its viewpoint. There is only the very briefest mention of the explosion of crime fiction writing in Sweden and other non-English speaking countries, with only two authors being mentioned by name; Henning Mankell and Georges Simenon.

'Our planet has always been a dangerous, violent and mysterious habitation for humankind and we are all adept at creating those pleasures and comforts, large and small, sometimes dangerous and destructive, which offer at least temporary relief from the inevitable tensions and anxieties of contemporary life. A love of detective fiction is certainly among the least harmful.'

The Lineup, The World's Greatest Crime Writers Tell The Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives, edited by Otto Penzler, is a wonderful series of astute character sketches that offer interesting insights into writing detective fiction.

So far I have read only the first six out of the twenty one biographical essays, but these have been as good as one would expect from a star studded lineup of Ken Bruen, Lee Child, Michael Connelly, John Connolly, Robert Crais and Jeffrey Deaver.

This is definitely a collection that should not be missed, and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the essays, and learning more about that very personal relationship between a writer and their detective.

Perhaps one day someone will publish a collection of biographical sketches by Jo Nesbo, Fred Vargas, Karin Fossum, Mari Jungstedt, Marek Krajewski, Gunnar Staalesen, Andrea Camilleri, Henning Mankell, K.O.Dahl and other European authors discussing their detectives.

INTERNATIONAL DAGGER POLLS AND FOCUS ON TRANSLATORS

Karen of Euro Crime has two polls up here: one asks "who will win the International Dagger?", and one "who do you want to win the International Dagger?"

These questions may be a bit complicated for us males who can't multitask, but as soon as I have finished reading the last two nominated books I will be over there to vote.

This is the fourth year of the International Dagger award and it is interesting to see how the translators, those lovely people who bring us non-linguists so many great books, are doing.

Sian Reynolds [translator for Fred Vargas] has four nominations and two daggers.

The team of Amanda Hopkinson and Ros Schwartz [translator for Dominique Manotti] have two nominations and one dagger.

Steven T Murray in his various disguises has four nominations [two for Karin Alvtegen and two for Stieg Larsson], while Stephen Sartarelli [Andrea Camilleri], Don Bartlett [Jo Nesbo] and Marlaine Delargy [Johan Theorin and Asa Larsson] have two each.

Steven T Murray has won the big prize a CWA Gold Dagger in 2001 for Henning Mankell's Sidetracked in the days before the International Dagger.

Nominations by country are France 6 [including 3 straight wins], Sweden 7, Italy 2, Algeria 2, Norway 2, Denmark, Spain, Switzerland, Iceland one each.

What astonishes me is that so far there has been no German or Dutch book nominated for this prize.