The Three Evangelists

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Irritating whimsy - Rated
I have to say I struggled with this book. I know the author's reputation, and translations are notoriously fickle, so I shall certainly try others of hers, but I found the central characters, the three evangelists, enormously irritating and oh so pleased with themselves. That really killed the rest of the book for me. The plot was okay, although it took too long to gather momentum, and I certainly didn't see the final twist until it was very close. I certainly wouldn't discourage others from giving it a try, but when you do, please, please, please chuck a bucket of extremely cold water over those self-obsessed historians.

A must read book - Rated
I love all of the Fred Vargas work. However the translation is not amazing. I have read her books in german and english and the german version is so much more enjoyable. Fred Vargas has the ability to make the reader love all her characters. You will start to love Adamsberg and all the characters helping him to solve the cases. If you are lucky enough to read french or german read it in these languages. Otherwise just give her a try and you will soon buy all her work.

Playful polytechnical policier - Rated
This is a playful, mannerist detective story in a long tradition, of which perhaps the classic British exponent was Edmund Crispin. Three disparate, socially marginal historians and their somewhat louche associates unravel a plot of operatic complexity. When a strange lone-wolf investigator intrudes into the story he is of course also murdered and of course leaves a final cryptic message which is of course misinterpreted, and so on (though Vargas doesn't go to Crispin's lengths and have a character suggest turning left because "Gollancz is publishing this book"). It works very well, with a staccato indirect-stream-of-consciouness style which is deftly rendered by Sian Reynolds. It drops to a 4 only because Vargas's trio aren't quite as engaging as she seems to intend, so the story drags slightly until the coils tighten. If you like ludic, you'll like this - if not, not.

Fred Vargas - The Three Evangelists - Rated
One morning in her Parisian house, retired Greek opera singer Sophia Simeonidis wakes to find a beech tree has appeared in her garden overnight. A fully-grown beech tree. Her husband Pierre is unconcerned, but Sophia is distinctly unnerved. How could it have got there? Who could have put it there and why? What possible reason could there be? If it’s a simple practical joke it’s not particularly funny, if it’s a symbolic warning it’s pretty obscure. She seeks help from her hew neighbours, three eccentric young historians down on their luck and an elderly ex-cop who’ve just moved into the ramshackle house next door. The problem intrigues them, and, besides, they need all the cash they can get, so agree to dig around the tree and see if anything’s been buried underneath it. They find nothing. And for a few weeks the bizarre, inexplicable mystery remains exactly that.

Until Sophia disappears. Nobody is greatly worried. Well, at least not until the point when worrying is pretty useless: a few days later her body is found in a burnt-out car. Suddenly, the mysterious tree – though still equally mysterious – seems ever-more sinister. But why? The three historians line up a plethora of mysterious suspects (her husband, her ex-lover, her niece newly returned to the capital with her child, her best friend?) and vow to discover who killed their neighbour.

It’s hard to express how good Vargas’s novels are. At least, without seeming to launch into an overenthusiastic, over-the-top, laudatory rant. Witness one press review: “Joyous, enchanting, amazing, fantastic, unclassifiable, beyond-brilliant. Readers will not hold back praise for Fred Vargas.” A bit OTT, no? Well, no, not really. The Three Evangelists is the best so far, and contains every element that have made critics laud her to the skies: a charming, witty, quirky style, an original and gripping plot constantly fresh with twists, and endearingly eccentric, likeable characters (the three historians – or, “evangelists” are the most quirky and entertaining bunch of protagonists you’ll likely come across; their individual characters and interactions are hugely funny). The best writers are those whose work is incomparable to any other, completely original, and Vargas fits this mould as if she were designed for it.

The Three Evangelists is edgy but humorous, sinister yet light, clever but a huge amount of fun. The characters are odd (sometimes downright weird) but still real. The plots are unlikely but, due to their originality and tone, fascinating to a ludicrous degree. I’ve said this before, but I can’t really describe what makes Vargas’s books so special, so unique. They adhere to loose conventions of a mystery novel, but are unlike any other mystery novels you’ve read, in tone at least, and certainly in style. This might be the crowning feature of Vargas’s work (or maybe just the grounding one, I don’t know), the style, which just bristles with knowing fun, while taking the story itself completely seriously. Too, she garnishes both unusual and everyday events with an itchy sinister atmosphere (the appearance of a tree has never, ever been so unnerving) that, coupled with the quirky fun, puts both in the spotlight in a more pointed, powerful way. You always know when authors had fun writing a book, and this is one of them. Some of the lines, some of the understated ironic asides Vargas offers about her characters, are laugh-out-loud funny in a way more associated with Terry Pratchett

And how is it as a mystery novel? Well, in terms of being a crime novel, The Three Evangelists is the best puzzle, the most well-written and crafted clutch of surprises, that I have read in absolute months. You may think you know what’s going on, guessed what Vargas has up her sleeve, but you are, in the end, wrong. She turns the tables brilliantly several times with a mystery and story that is never as simple as it appears to be. It’s a complete joy to read, and I very much hope you do so. This might, already, be the best crime novel of 2006. I certainly wouldn’t be surprised.