Career As Novelist
Fred is the diminutive of her given name, Frédérique, while Vargas derives from the Ava Gardner character in the film The Barefoot Contessa. Her twin sister Joëlle, a painter, adopted the pseudonym of Jo Vargas.
Vargas writes mostly police thrillers (policiers). 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 last 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.
Read more about this topic: Fred Vargas
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