Seeking Whom He May Devour: Chief Inspector Adamsberg Investigates (Chief Inspector Adamsberg Mysteries (Paperback))

First Sentence: On Tuesday, four sheep were killed at Ventebrune in the French Alps.Camille is a composer and plumber living in a small French Alp village where sheep are being killer by an unseen beast. The murder of a townswoman raises suspicion of a werewolf. Residents begin to suspect Massart, a loner who came to the area 20 year ago and has now disappeared. The woman's adopted son and an old shepherd convince Camille to be their driver as they search for Massat. When they find the search impossible on their own, they wish for a very special policeman. Camille, reluctantly, calls upon her former lover, Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsburg, for help.One of the first things I look for in a book is the characters. For me, they must be well conveyed, strong, unique and, yes, I must be able to, if not like, at least empathize with them. Vargas creates just such characters and it is they who drive the story. I was delighted that we get to know Camille in this book as she was previously, something of a mystery herself. The residents of the village, Suzanne, and particularly the old shepherd and Solomon, with home Camille ventures forth, are wonderfully created with affection, humor. There is also great poignancy to the relationship, particularly with the inclusion of Adamsburgh into the traveling trio.And humor there is, but the wry, dry humor of the author's voice. Vargas has a wonderful voice. I love her imagery and descriptions, particularly in the opening when she anthropomorphizes the wolves. She brings the story, location and people to life.If there is a weakness, it is in the plot but only because the characters are so strong. However, I found the further I progressed into the story, the more intrigued I was by the mystery. I knew the killer is not a werewolf; the story is not horror or fantasy. I did suspect the villain but appreciated that being given details as to the motive behind the crimes as well as uncovering the killer. There is also a second thread to the story which adds suspense.There is no question I have become a Vargas fan. I highly recommend giving her a try but start with either her standalone "The Three Evangelists," or "The Chalk Circle Man," the first book in the Adamsberg series.SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR (Pol Proc-Comm. Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg-France-Cont) - VG+Vargas, Fred - 3rd in seriesSimon & Schuster Paperbacks, ©1999, Trade Paperback - ISBN: 9780743284028

Fred Vargas has revitalized the Hound of the Baskervilles and the Beast of Gevaudan in this mystery. This is the second in the Commissaire Adamsberg novel. Adamsberg has a gift for putting puzzle pieces together in ways that others can't fathom. Once again, a collection of well-defined and very quirky characters, including Adamsberg's old love, Camille who takes refuge in an encyclopedia of plumbing tools in the way that others might turn to religion for a sense of peace and order. So glad I've got seven more books to look forward to!

I think the complaint of one reviewer that the author did not turn this novel into a travelogue for the French Alps is bizarre. This is a mystery novel. I read this series for the mysteries and the characters, not for planning a vacation. In fact, one of my complaints about Martin Walker's "Chief Bruno" mystery novels is that there is too much tourist information for the French region where they take place. The Chamber of Commerce like passages in the Bruno novels detract from the mysteries. (My husband is a Bruno mystery series follower. They are around the house so I end up reading them after David is through.) Enough whining from me.Onward to this novel...A town in the French Alps is in a dither because dead bodies are showing up that look like they have been killed by a werewolf. Camille, the woman Adamsberg loves but who has rejected him for good reasons, is staying in the village with a French Canadian boyfriend who is a researcher. He is researching wolves in the Alps whose numbers are declining.I read this a while ago, lost my paperback copy, and had to order a new one. So I do not remember why Adamsberg is in the mountain town when the werewolf fear grips the village, turning it into a frightened armed mob. Of course, the werewolf rumor was planted by the real murderer, but who is it and why the murders are being done needs to be solved. Adamsberg is the one who needs to solve it.This is the third novel, but I read it second. Camille is another interesting character in the Adamsberg series. In this novel we find out Camille loves to read tool catalogs and fixes broken plumbing. A woman of many talents. Just the kind of woman who would appeal to odd duck Adamsberg.

It's difficult to describe anything about this book without giving too much away. Suffice it to say that things are not always what they seem, and once again Commissaire Adamsberg is faced with a series of deaths so unusual that it's hard to know where to begin. One of the aspects of Vargas' work that I like the most is that the setting are always unique, often taking place in parts of France that I have never before even heard of. Great mystery plots with a bit of armchair tourism thrown in.

I believe this book probably deserves 4 stars, however, the translation is so bad I can only speculate. The translator has opted to use out of date British slang and idioms to relate the character and flavor of vargas's work. This book was published in 1999- even then, "old chap" was no longer used in England as a common form of address. A "jotter" may be a word used for "notebook" in the UK, but the English language is used in many more countries, so choosing to use "jotter" for what was probably "cahier" in French is just a mystery to me... As another review says, the jokes constantly fell flat and the problem is the garbled English! I think Vargas wrote several poetic things, because some did make it through the rotten translation, but I would have liked to have read them all, not just those that squeaked by.

This is a translation so it is difficult to comment on whether some aspects of the book are the fault of the author or the narrator but someone must take the responsiblity.The writing is straight forward which should make it an easy read but I found it took a long time as the language and style is very jarring.All through the characters are explained well and they manage to avoid some very stupid plot twists which often happen in this type of book. Has to be said though that I found it hard to find any level of engagement with the characters - Soliman was just impossible, Watchee was interesting but then behaved out of character.Oddly, I struggled to place the time setting of the story. At some points the technology is very advanced but then they have difficulty with a mobile which doesn't fit. There is also a huge opportunity missed with the geographical setting - this area is beautiful and the landscape should be a bigger part of the book than it is, had this happened then the atmosphere would have been more appropriate to the plot. Also more time should have been given to the mountain communities with their beliefs, culture and legends.I thought the translation was terrible, to the point that I had to look up the person who did it as I was convinced that they could not have been a native English speaker, although it turns out she is. Some examples "Nobody said anything, pregnantly." - what is this about??? - "You'll be in the slammer for the rest of your twatty lives" - are we in the London East End in the 1960s?? The plot is OK but completely spoilt by the clumsy language around it.A link is established with Adamsberg early in the plot but then not explored until we almost forget about him. As a character, he stands out from the rest as having some interest (although I was very curious how he could drop his normal day job so easily and what is the distraction with the woman trying to kiil him?). He does bring the book to life when he gets involved and the other characters feed off him. With him in the plot, the book develops into a fairly standard police novel, the final third is much more readable than the rest of the book but I didn't find the procedures believable.At the end there is a full explanation by way of a police statement which was a great way to wind up the story, there should be more endings like this in crime fiction.Reading this for a book club, I had to plod on with it (I'd have put it down after a few pages normally) and eventually got the feeling that there was an interesting story hidden away, trouble is that it was very well hidden. Unless you are already a fan of Fred Vargas I would recommend you pass this one by - I won't pick up any more of hers!!

I have now read all of the Commissaire Adamsberg books and have even ordered the new one ("This Poison Will Remain"), so I do like the series. However, "Seeking Whom He May Devour" is very poor. The story is monotonous for the first 60% of the book (Kindle version) and only really gets going when Adamsberg becomes involved. I do wonder to what extent this book has been ruined by the poor translation and it would be interesting to re-read it if Sian Reynolds ever does a translation

An out of the ordinary detective novel,where the culprit can be guessed very early on and the detective plays a relatively small but vital role.Three amateur sleuths provide the main thread of the story and their developing inter-relationships most of the quirky humour.They are likeable well-written characters and although the story is somewhat far-fetched almost throughout,it certainly does not feel like a wasted journey;leaving the reader satisfied and keen to read more Fred Vargas "Adamsberg"novels.

I read this last in the Adamsberg series because of the translation comments below (with which I totally agree). Camille is a very shadowy offstage character in the other books, which is unusual and really interesting. However, while I wouldn't want this any different for the series as a whole, it was nice to get a single book with her as the central character and to get an impression of her through her own or a narrator's eyes rather than just those of Adamsberg and his colleagues.

I usually like Fred Vargas’s books but found this tedious and poorly constructed. The setup takes an age to wade through and the plot is transparent. An aberration for this usually fine author.