DOG WILL HAVE HIS DAY
Fred Vargas
Harvill Secker

Fred (short for Frederique) made her reputation with a string of Commissaire Adamsberg mysteries but she launched a new band of colourful characters in the Three Evangelists novel of 2006.

This ''Three Evangelists'' novel is about Ludwig Kehlweiler, a former policeman with a national network of informants in France and, curiously, a pet toad called Buffo that goes everywhere with him, has the central role in this story.

The ''evangelists'' (three historians: Vandoosler specialising in medieval life, Devernois a World War 1 specialist, and Delamarre in prehistory) assist in the quest when detective Kehlweiler pursues the mystery behind his discovery of a human thumb bone in some dog excrement.

Taking the bone to the nearest police station brings ridicule but Kehlweiler becomes obsessed with finding a solution.

As usual with Vargas it is not just the very original plot, but the eccentric characters and the abundance of quirky dialogue that greatly flavours this mystery story showing Kehlweiler's dogged devotion to combat crime.

- Geoff Adams is a former ODT editor