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David Bellos has done the English-reading world another great favour by translating Fred Vargas' newer novel SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR following his translation of the plague-centred HAVE MERCY ON US ALL. Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg again has the opportunity to exercise his eccentric reasoning -- or instinctive -- powers in attempting to solve an unusual crime. Adamsberg is something of a ladies' man but over the years his heart, although loaned to several, has remained the true property of Camille, the daughter of the mysterious Queen Matilda, so revered by Adamsberg's sidekick Danglard. The commissaire hears about a story involving the killing of sheep, and then the murder of a sheep owner, and while watching the story on TV catches sight of a woman he is almost sure is Camille. Fortuitously, another woman, Sabrina Monge, is determined to avenge the accidental killing of her boyfriend by Adamsberg, so he flees Paris and interests himself in what appears to be a series of killings of both sheep and humans, by a wolf. Suzanne, the first of the murder victims to be discovered, is a friend of Camille's. Camille has moved from Paris to Saint-Victor-du-Mont and is living with a Canadian who is studying wolves, the fastidious Lawrence Donald Johnstone. Black Soliman is a young man who was found in the village as a baby and cared for by Suzanne. He is determined to discover the murderer of his foster mother, as is Watchee, the shepherd who worked for Suzanne. Somehow, they come to the conclusion that the murderer is Massart, a recluse who has recently disappeared from the area. Massart has no body hair. They decide that he is, therefore, a werewolf. An aspect of the lycanthropy legend I had not previously encountered has werewolves bereft of body hair while keeping their fur inside their skin. Soliman and Watchee order Camille to accompany them as they attempt to track Massart and exact revenge. They have a lorry -- an ill-smelling vehicle which Camille's lover abhors -- in which the three can sleep, but they must have Camille as a driver. So equipped, they set out to travel north, following a trail of corpses both ovine and human. Adamsberg meets with some resistance from fellow law enforcement officers despite his high rank so I was very grateful to the translator for including a note that explained the differences between flics and gendarmes and the customary mutual rivalry and mistrust exhibited by them. This is a truly delightful tale. The characters are whimsical -- Soliman quotes dictionary definitions in appropriate situations and pseudo-African stories in inappropriate ones -- and Watchee (why not 'Watcher', Mr.- Translator? The cutesy translation did not appeal to me) is stoic yet intuitive. Camille, herself, is a musician who does plumbing work on the side and carries, as her favourite reading, a sales catalogue of tools. As ever, Adamsberg pursues an erratic trail seemingly contrary to logic. The story, despite its black overtones, is redolent of gentle humour as well as steaming blood. The resolution of the mystery is not obvious until the final pages of the work, a tribute to Vargas' excellent plotting.
Reviewed by Denise Pickles, November 2004
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