...or, in English, Those Who Are Going to Die Salute You. Henri Valhubert is shown a never-before-seen work by Michaelangelo, and he suspects it's been stolen from the Vatican's library. In Rome, his longtime friend is a Monsignor there, his wife visits Rome frequently, and his son and his two friends - who go by the names of emperors, Claudius, Tiberius and Nero - also live there. Well, Henri goes to investigate where this art came from, and you know that never goes well. Soon enough he's dead, and a guy named Valence is called in to find out who killed him.
Fred Vargas is a pseudonym; the woman writer is a researcher in history and archeology. She's written a whole series with Valence solving murders, and it's Catherine's favorite book series. (Catherine, the mother of my French family.) She's long told me I should read them so when I was there in November I bought this one, which is the first in the series. I proudly showed it to her, knowing she'd be excited; she looked at it and said, essentially, "No, that won't do at all." I was dumbfounded. "That one is not the best. It's not my favorite. And it doesn't have the supporting characters whom I love and who appear in a lot of the books. I'll take care of this." And a few days later, we go off to the bookstore, where she buys her two favorites for me.
Now, my borderline-autistic/OCD side automatically kicks in. "Isn't that other one the first in the series though?"
"Oui," she answers. "But these are the best." Apparently she doesn't understand that I can't just read books out of order! It's...it's...unthinkable!
This one was the first in the series and thus I went in knowing that it's not Catherine's favorite. I have to say, though, that I enjoyed it! It's a relatively short read at 189 pages. And it was more complex than I thought it would be, with art thieves, smuggling and other things. And it didn't come together the way I thought it would, which is kind of cool. So now...I have two more by Fred Vargas that I'll read at some point, even though they aren't 2 and 3 in the series...
UPDATE: Later that same evening...
I sort of lied above. Okay, I didn't actually lie. I presented the information as I had it in my head. That's not lying, is it? But after further research - which perhaps I should have done before I wrote the entry - I have learned that I am incorrect with some of my information. So I didn't really lie. I did really accidentally shoplift a magazine from Wegman's this past weekend, but that's another story and it really was completely accidental. I swear. Anyway...
So this detective guy, Valence, is only in this one novel. And Catherine got me three other novels, not two. One is with her favorite detective, Adamsberg, and the other two are in the "Three Evangelists" series - I think those are the other characters she loves. Now I'm all confused about it though. So I'll just have to read them (at some point, as I slowly make my way through my shelf of unread books) and figure it out!
I would never read this book. No, not because I can't read the language worth a hoot, but because the names are too freaky. Call me an idiot I ain't proud.
ReplyDeleteLove the story about Catherine, although your update about the three novels and their unrelatedness is dissappointing. Read on, Brotha...clear off that shelf!