Fred Vargas


Fred Vargas is the pseudonym of Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau, a French historian, archaeologist and novelist.
As a historian and archeologist, she is known for her work on the Black Death. Her crime fiction policiers have won three International Dagger Awards from the Crime Writers Association, for three successive novels: in 2006, 2008 and 2009. She is the first author to achieve such an honour. In each case, her translator into English was Siân Reynolds, who was also recognized by the international award.

Career as archaeologist

Audoin-Rouzeau worked at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, which she joined in 1988. She later joined the Institut Pasteur, as a eukaryotic archaeologist. She has undertaken a project on the epidemiology of the Black Death and bubonic plague, the result of which was a work considered definitive in the research area: Les chemins de la peste .

Career as novelist

Vargas writes mostly police thrillers. She found writing was a way to combine her interests and relax from her job as an academic. Her novels are set in Paris and feature the adventures of Chief Inspector Adamsberg and his team. Her interest in the Middle Ages is manifest in many of her novels, especially through the person of Marc Vandoosler, a young specialist in the period. Seeking Whom He May Devour was shortlisted by the British Crime Writers' Association for the Gold Dagger award for best crime novel of the year in 2005.
In 2006 her next novel, The Three Evangelists, won the inaugural Duncan Lawrie International Dagger. She also won the award in 2008 with Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand. She was the first author to be shortlisted for three successive novels. In 2009 Vargas was again awarded the International Dagger, becoming the first author to receive it for three successive novels. The International Dagger also recognizes the translator, in each case Siân Reynolds.
In 2018 Vargas won the Princess of Asturias Prize for letters.

Principal characters