Detective novels about the inimitable Commissioner Adamsberg brought the French writer Fred Vargas world fame. His first book, The Man Who Draws Blue Circles, was published a quarter of a century ago, and since then, this always-in-the-clouds genius has been competing in popularity with Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. Cold Time, Vargas's long-awaited new novel, puts Adamberg in front of a strange mystery: a man and a woman, many kilometers away from each other, committed suicide, leaving the same mysterious drawing instead of a farewell note. Even the famous polymath Major Danglars cannot decipher it. Traces are lost in icy spaces and distant terrible times. Adamsberg has no choice but to chase ghosts. Fred Vargas' books, which have won the most prestigious awards, are read in thirty-two languages. Films are made based on them, comics, television and radio series are published. “Cold Time” was awarded the French Landerneau Prize.