Fred Vargas's The Chalk Circle Man as a new detective novel sub-genre <Rom'pol>

Detective novels have been at the center of many discussions as a genre since the moment they emerged and have gone through a long way to gain acceptance. Fred Vargas is known as the queen of contemporary detective novels and names his novels rom'pol, which he obtains from the first letters of the French words "roman policier", meaning detective novel. Rom'pol, a mixed genre that emerged in the postmodern period, brings a new perspective to detective novels and cannot be put into a definitive category. Rom'pol focuses on deeper psychological and social elements by breaking the mold of the classic detective novel. While the presence of an investigator, one or more victims and a murderer in Fred Vargas' novels brings his works closer to the classic detective novel, his blending of the plot with social and psychological elements goes beyond just telling a crime story. Focusing on characters, intuitions and human psychology rather than the plot, Vargas manages to delve into the depths of crime and people through poetic narration and symbolic elements. Vargas' originality is also evident in the style in which he blends irony and humor, along with the different subgenres he uses in his detective novels. In Vargas' detective novels, unlike classical fiction, clues are first given, then the plots are revealed, and the curtains of secrets are lifted. Vargas' knowledge and experience, who is an archaeologist and zoologist, have added depth to both the way his characters think and the process of solving events in his novel. We can say that zoological observations of human behavior, animal metaphors, archaeological layers and symbols take the crime-solving process in the novel beyond an ordinary detective narrative and offer the reader a scientific and intellectual perspective. Vargas' story The Chalk Circle Man (L'homme aux Cercles Bleus), published in 1991, is the first novel in which he introduces his fictional detective Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg. Adamsberg draws a profile that moves away from the classic archetype of perfect detectives who solve investigations using logic, acting with intuition, flawed, introverted and emotionally complex. All these applications of Vargas reveal the original and innovative structure of her novels, and by bringing together classical, contemporary and postmodern elements through the rom'pol genre, she has presented a structure that challenges traditional detective patterns. In this study, The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas, a successful and contemporary French female writer, is examined structurally and thematically within the framework of detective theories, and the changes that the author has brought to the genre are examined. Keywords: Adamsberg, Contemporary Crime Novel, Fred Vargas, The Chalk Circle Man, Rom'pol