Detective novels about the unique Commissioner Adamberg brought French writer Fred Vargas worldwide fame. The first book with his participation, "The Man Who Draws Blue Circles," was published a quarter of a century ago, and since then this eternally airborne genius has been competing in popularity with Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot.
"The Cold Season," the much-awaited new novel by Vargas, sets Adamberg against a strange mystery: a man and a woman, many kilometers apart, committed suicide—leaving behind, instead of a farewell note, the same mysterious drawing. Even the famous erudite Major Danglars can’t decipher it. The traces vanish in icy spaces and in faraway terrifying times. Adamberg has nothing left to do but give chase to ghosts.
Vargas’s books, marked by prestigious awards, are read in thirty-two languages. Films are made from them, comics are released, and television and radio series are produced. "The Cold Season" was awarded the French prize Landerno.