''The Chalk Circle Man'' (French: ''L'Homme aux cercles bleus'') is a novel by French crime-writer

Fred Vargas Fred Vargas is the pseudonym of Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau (born 7 June 1957), a French historian, archaeologist and novelist. As a historian and archeologist, she is known for her work on the Black Death. Her crime fiction ''policiers'' ( ...

. The first of her Commissaire Adamsberg series, it was published in 1991. An English translation by Sian Reynolds was published in 2009. Vargas received the 2009 Crime Writers Association International Dagger for this work. The novel is the first in a series featuring French policeman Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg. It describes the background of Adamsberg's move to Paris, the origins of his partnership with Inspector Adrien Danglard, and a glimpse at his elusive relationship with Camille. Much emphasis is placed on the theme of different ways of thinking - contrasting the two policemen's distinct approaches to investigations, and indeed life. There are also a number of typical Vargas elements in the story: a pedestrian's view of the geography of Paris, independent, eccentric but effective older women, a misdirection of the apparently abnormal drawn over the deliberate actions of a killer. A telefilm of the novel (2009) starred

Jean-Hugues Anglade Jean-Hugues Anglade (born 29 July 1955) is a French actor, film director and screenwriter, known for his roles as Eric in ''Killing Zoe'', Zorg in ''Betty Blue'' and Marco, the boyfriend of Nikita in ''Nikita''. Personal life Anglade was born i ...

as Adamsberg,

Charlotte Rampling Tessa Charlotte Rampling (born 5 February 1946) is an English actress, known for her work in European arthouse films in English, French, and Italian. An icon of the Swinging Sixties, she began her career as a model. She was cast in the role ...

as Mathilde Forestier,

Jacques Spiesser Jacques Spiesser (born 7 June 1947) is a French actor. Biography After having taken courses at the Conservatoire, he made his film debut in 1972 in Nina Companeez's '' Faustine et le bel été'' with Muriel Catala. He is best known to English ...

as Danglard and

Jean-Pierre Léaud Jean-Pierre Léaud, ComM (; born 28 May 1944) is a French actor, known for playing Antoine Doinel in François Truffaut's series of films about that character, beginning with ''The 400 Blows'' (1959). He also worked several times with Jean-Luc God ...

as Louis le Nermond, and was directed by

Josée Dayan Josée Dayan (born 6 October 1943 in Toulouse, France) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. Life Dayan grew up in Algiers, Algeria, where her father Albert Dagnant, who came from a Jewish family, worked as a television directo ...

References

1991 French novels Novels by Fred Vargas French mystery novels Novels set in Paris French novels adapted into films {{1990s-thriller-novel-stub