A woman is found murdered in her bathtub, and the murder has been made to look like a suicide. But a strange symbol found at the crime scene leads the local police to call Commissaire Adamsberg and his team. When the symbol is found near the body of a second disguised suicide, a pattern begins to emerge: both victims were part of a disastrous expedition to Iceland over ten years ago where a group of tourists found themselves trapped on a deserted island for two weeks, surrounded by a thick, impenetrable fog rumored to be summoned by an ancient local demon. Two of them didn't make it back alive. But how are the deaths linked to the secretive Association for the Study of the Writings of Maximilien Robespierre? And what does the mysterious symbol signify?
A # 1 French and Italian bestseller from the three-time winner of the CWA's International Dagger Award
More than ten million copies of Fred Vargas's Commissaire Adamsberg mysteries have been sold worldwide. Now, American readers are getting hooked on the internationally bestselling author's unsettling blend of crime and the supernatural.
As the chief of police in Paris's seventh arrondissement, Commissaire Adamsberg has no jurisdiction in Ordebec. Yet, he cannot ignore a widow's plea. Her daughter Lina has seen a vision of the Ghost Riders with four nefarious men. According to the thousand-year-old legend, the vision means that the men will soon die a grisly death. When one of them disappears, Adamsberg races to Ordebec, where he becomes entranced by the gorgeous Lina-and embroiled in the small Normandy town's ancient feud.
'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.
Glühend steht die Sonne über Paris, als eine verängstigte ältere Dame Kommissar Adamsberg aufsucht: Ihre Tochter Lina hat das WÜTENDE HEER gesehen - der Legende nach kündigt dieser Geisterzug kommende Todesfälle an. Vier Opfer sah Lina in
dem Heer, und als der erste Mann spurlos verschwindet, zögert Adamsberg nicht lange. Er bricht in die Wälder der Normandie auf, geleitet allein von seiner Intuition. Bevor er die Fährte jedoch aufnehmen kann, ruft man ihn nach Paris zurück.
Kaum aber hat er Ordebec verlassen, erfüllt sich Linas Vision erneut. Adamsberg ist sicher: Jemand bedient sich des mittelalterlichen Mythos, um ungestört zu morden. Für den Kommissar beginnt ein Wettlauf gegen die Zeit -
Commissaire Adamsberg leaves Paris for a three-day conference in London. Accompanying him are Estalere, a young sergeant, and Commandant Danglard, who is terrified at the idea of travelling beneath the Channel. It is a welcome change of scenery, until a macabre and brutal case comes to the attention of their colleague Radstock from New Scotland Yard.
Just outside the gates of the baroque Highgate Cemetery a pile of shoes is found. Not so strange in itself, but the shoes contain severed feet. As Scotland Yard's investigation begins, Adamsberg and his colleagues return home and are confronted with a massacre in a suburban home. Adamsberg and Danglard are drawn in to a trail of vampires and vampire-hunters that leads them all the way to Serbia, a place where the old certainties no longer apply.
In Fred Vargas's riveting new novel, Commissaire Adamsberg finds himself in the line of fire as never before.
