Have Mercy on Us All

The first of author Fred Vargas`s works to be translated into English, this thriller (a bestseller in its native France) points to similarities between the medieval hysteria surrounding the plague and today`s fearful climate. A former sailor turned self-proclaimed Paris town crier, Joss Le Guern reads whatever news items people place in his mailbox. His latest pronouncements make cryptic references to the Black Death. At the same time, a mysterious symbol in black paint--a backward-facing four--shows up on apartment doors. When several people in apartments not graced with the symbol are strangled to death, their bodies covered in flea bites and charcoal markings that mimic bubonic plague buboes, eccentric Chief Inspector Adamsberg and his murder squad begin putting the pieces together. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.