DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

The Ghost Riders of Ordebec

A Commissaire Adamsberg novel

Fred Vargas author Siân Reynolds translator

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Vintage Publishing

Published:27th Feb '14

Should be back in stock very soon

The Ghost Riders of Ordebec cover

France's bestselling crime writer, and three-time winner of the CWA International Dagger, sends the quirky and original Commissaire Adamsberg far outside his jurisdication in a chilling tale of evil-doers who disappear after visitations from a band of ghostly horsemen

‘People will die,’ says the panic-stricken woman outside police headquarters.

Soon after the young woman’s vision a notoriously vicious and cruel man disappears. 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.

‘People will die,’ says the panic-stricken woman outside police headquarters.

She 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 grisly end following a visitation by the riders.

Soon after the young woman’s vision a notoriously vicious and cruel man disappears. 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.

This latest outing for the offbeat Commissaire Adamsberg is [Vargas'] best * Independent *
After decades in which crime fiction in French was dominated by the Belgian author Georges Simenon, it has an indisputable new star in Fred Vargas -- Joan Smith * Sunday Times *
Vargas depicts brilliantly a rural community riven with superstition, where class distinctions have existed for centuries * The Times *
An early contender for outstanding crime novel of the year * Sunday Times *
A glorious mix of myth, quirky observation and gallic humour * Sunday Telegraph *

  • Winner of CWA International Dagger 2013 (UK)

ISBN: 9780099569558

Dimensions: 196mm x 128mm x 32mm

Weight: 300g

432 pages