Wash This Blood Clean from My Hand (Chief Inspector Adamsberg Series) Book

Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, the main character of a French mystery series written by Fred Vargus, is a man with a lot of personal quirks. Up to now, the previous three novels paint him as person who is not much of a people person, or even a good detective. Yet he has solved a lot of crimes by subconsciously putting together little noticed events and facts, leading him to startling insights and intuitions which suddenly pop up into his consciousness surprising him and his staff of twenty-six detectives. He has earned several promotions due to his success in police detection. He leads the Paris Serious Crime Squad. As a person, he seems dreamy and disassociated, unable to maintain intimacy. But he is kind and authentic, not given to putting on airs of superiority. His crew doesn't know what to think of him except that they like him, more or less. He is fair and just, generally.

However, in 'Wash This Blood Clean from my Hand', the fourth book in the series, Adamsberg is losing his temper and acting out. An old case involving his brother Raphaël has been haunting Adamsberg. A girl was killed by a stab from a trident long ago, before Adamsberg became a police officer. His brother was accused of the crime. Adamsberg knew it was an important man, a judge who had a lot of social capital, who really was the murderer, but he couldn't prove it or get anyone to look into it. Now, he has learned of a recent murder similar to that long ago killing. It has stirred Adamsberg up so much he is not himself. He knows it must be the judge. But there is a slight problem. The murderer, Judge Fulgence, died fifteen years ago.

But Adamsberg is certain the judge has been killing many people through the decades. However, he can't prove it despite that bodies have constantly turned up with the suspicious trident stab. In each murder a local has been convicted of the crime. It must be the judge! Or his ghost.

Adamsberg is ordered by his boss, Divisionnaire Brézillion, as well as encouraged by his right-hand man, Capitaine Adrian Danglard, to attend a DNA profiling course in Quebec with a selected group of seven officers who are under his Paris command. Everyone wants him to move on from his off-hours investigation into Fulgence, especially since Adamsberg appears to be losing it.

Then, in Quebec, during the course a girl is murdered. With a trident stab! All of the evidence points to Adamsberg! They have his DNA from semen in the girl and fingerprints on the girl's belt! Oh oh. He can't defend himself because he had been very drunk and had a blackout. He is not going to get out of this....he isn't sure he didn't kill the woman!

Adamsberg is not a heroic character. He walked out on a woman who loved him. He has a lot of one-night stands. He is not overtly unkind or unjust, but he tends to ignore people around him, not bothering with learning their names or caring very much about them as people. He does not much involve his own staff in cases which interest him, tending to assign them busywork to keep them away or digging up information he needs without explanation when he is personally investigating a crime. This drives the logical Danglard crazy, but everyone knows this is how Adamsberg solves cases. This time, though, Adamsberg needs friends, real friends, to help him, maybe hide him while he clears his name. But he can't even think! Will anyone help him?

I noticed some readers did not like this particular novel in the series, but I did. Adamsberg is not admirable so much as he is cute because of quirks and an absent-minded approach to his life and to his subordinates and friends. In this book he is not on his best behavior either, showing a side of himself full of crankiness and an unthinking rage. He can be remarkably brave on occasion - he also can be a self-centered ass. When the pressure is too much, Adamsberg actually mentally cracks a bit, falling apart. Readers who want a reasonably attractive main character or a superman in their favorite detective series might find themselves feeling a little letdown by Adamsberg. He is not a better man than us readers. He is simply oddly good at solving crimes.

The attraction to this series is the writing - there are a lot of puzzling plot twists, interesting and fun or truly weird characters, bizarre murders, and a bit of wit. Plus, there is an interesting tension in watching Adamsberg seemingly walk a peculiar tightrope of near failures in every book. The tension not only extends to his almost screwing up his career on every case, but also in his screwing up his love life. If you are looking for something different, gentle reader, the Adamsberg series is recommended. He is not either the typically damaged American-style or European-style detective, but he appears to be disassociated and absent-minded. He is not angry basically and not wanting attachments to people but hooking up sometimes anyway. I must admit his manner of solving cases is very irritating to me in that he has what seems like a meditation-based methodology, constantly walking about listening to birds and communicating with the bees. I keep expecting him to sit down lotus-style and begin chanting "om'.

I think readers should begin with The Chalk Circle Man. There is a personal situation which continues from book to book.