SLCLS Genre Study discussion

Mysteries in translation or mysteries set in foreign countries are gaining in popularity.

Here is a list to get you started.

ALGERIA
Khadra, Yasmina

AUSTRALIA
Corris, Peter
Disher, Garry
Greenwood, Kerry
Hyland, Adrian

AUSTRIA
Tallis, Frank

BELGIUM
Simenon, Georges

BOTSWANA
McCall-Smith, Alexander
Stanley, Michael

BRAZIL
Gage, Leighton
Garcia-Roza, Luiz Alfredo

CHINA
May, Peter
Qiu, Xiaolong

CUBA
Latour, Jose
Padura, Leonardo

DENMARK
Hoeg, Peter

EGYPT
Pearce, Michael

FRANCE
Bayard, Louis
Benacquista, Tonino
Black, Cara
Izner, Claude
Magnan, Pierre
Manotti, Dominique
Vargas, Fred

GERMANY
Gross, Claudia
Schatzing, Frank
Swann, Leonie
Wagner, Jan Costin

GHANA
Quartey, Kwei

HOLLAND
Baantjer, Albert Cornelis

ICELAND
Indridason, Arnaldur
Sigurdardottir, Ysra

INDIA
Cleverly, Barbara
Hall, Tarquin
Keating, H.R.F.

IRELAND
Black, Benjamin
Bruen, Ken
French, Tana
Gill, Bartholomew
Harrison, Cora
Hughes, Declan
McGilloway, Brian
Tremayne, Peter

ISRAEL
Land, Jon

ITALY
Camilleri, Andrea
Dibdin, Michael
Eco, Umberto
Faletti, Georgio
Hewson, David
Leon, Donna
Lucarelli, Carlo
Sciascia, Leonardo

JAPAN
Kirino, Natsuo
Miyabe, Miyuki
Rowland, Laura Joh

KOREA
Church, James

LAOS
Cotterill, Colin

NORWAY
Dhal, Kjell
Fossum, Karin
Holt, Anne
Nesbo, Jo

PORTUGAL
Rocha, Luis Miguel

RUSSIA
Akunin, Boris

SAUDI ARABIA
Ferraris, Zoe

SCOTLAND
Banks, Ray
Beaton, M.C.
McDermid, Val
Mina, Denise
McCall-Smith, Alexander

SOUTH AFRICA
Mackenzie, Jassy
Meyer, Deon
Nunn, Malla

SPAIN
Gimenez- Bartlett, Alicia
Gomez-Jurado, Juan
Padura, Leonardo
Ruiz- Zafon, Carlos
Somoza, Jose Carlos

SWEDEN
Alvtegen, Karin
Ekman, Kirsten
Edwardson, Ake
Eriksson, Kjell
Frimansson, Inger
Jungstedt, Mari
Lackberg, Camilla
Larsson, Asa
Larsson, Steig
Mankell, Henning
Nesser, Hakan
Tursten, Helene
Wahloo, Per

THAILAND
Burdett, John
Cotterill
Moore, Christopher

TIBET
Pattison, Eliot

TURKEY
Pamuk, Orhan
Somer, Mehmet Murat

The Keeper of Lost Causes

I'm a sucker for the The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, especially the audio books. They make me feel like there is some hope for our world, not something you usually get from a mystery!

Also, I feel like everything I know about Botswana, I know from these books. That's kind of a dangerous thing, right? You put a lot of faith in an author's accuracy and objectivity when you do that, but I think it's also the draw for foreign settings. We want to get an idea of what it would be like to live a different life in a different part of the world. What do you think? Do you have a favorite location for setting, or a book that you have really enjoyed for that reason?

I love this series as well becaues I am fascinated by African culture. But I have always been skeptical of the cultural insights because the author is not from Botswana. He has spent a lot of time there. I'm interested in reading a book by Michael Stnaley to compare and contrast how the two authors portray the country.

Michelle wrote: "I love this series as well becaues I am fascinated by African culture. But I have always been skeptical of the cultural insights because the author is not from Botswana. He has spent a lot of tim..."

I think he was raised in Zimbabwe or something. I watched this documentary about Botswana that came out during the HBO series based on the books. It was really interesting, and basically said that the books were very reflective of the culture, etc., but of course they gloss over a lot of the bad things. Which is what you'd expect from a cozy mystery. I'll have to read that Stanley book too!

I've been reading the Vish Puri mysteries by Tarquin Hall. The author is a British expat living in India. I love the detail about daily life in India. In fact,the most recent title, "The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken" has quite a bit of historical detail about the division of Pakistan from India and the repercussions on women. It gave me a glimse into a part of history I didn't know anything about.

I liked a French novel from last year "Syndrome E"by Franck Thilliez. Its part police procedural and part science fiction (?) How to describe. People seem to be getting killed, and parts of the brains and eyes are removed. The two main characters are policeman from different cities. One was assigned to solve a mass grave with such victims, the other fell into the investigation when a former boyfriend calls her out of the blue because of instantaneous blindness. I would give it 5 stars

I really enjoyed the first three Inspector Devlin mysteries by Brian McGilloway. It gives a very telling picture of life in Ireland/Northern Ireland. Sadly the library has not purchased anymore of his books.

I really liked the Mamur Zapt (set in Egypt) mysteries by Michael Pearce. They really made me laugh.

I just finished Blood Money by James Grippando. Lots of twists and turns. It was enjoyable.

There is a fun pair of books that takes place in modern China from a young woman who lived through Tianamen Square massacre, which made her details of the humid summers of the city so much more wonderful and convincing. The books are THE EYE OF JADE and PAPER BUTTERFLY by Diane Wei Liang.

Not the best mysteries I'm sure, but the details of such a wonderful place (plus the play on tropes that she has a male secretary with significant cultural implications) made this more than a worthwhile read.

I love o Jerusalem by Laurie King.

I liked the first few Rei Shimura mysteries by Sujata Massey, the ones about a Japanese American woman teaching English in Japan. For me, setting and the breezy first person narration were the hooks. Oh, and the romance element. First one is The Salaryman's Wife.

I liked Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, but haven't been able to get into the Scotland Street and Isabel Dahlouse (sp?) series. The German authors were a mystery to me, I haven't read any of them. The only Umberto Eco I have read is Name of the Rose. It was great and I've meant to get back to him but never had.

Thanks for providing a great list of new authors I can discover!

I read Susan McDuffie's The Faerie Hills:a Muirteach MacPhee Mystery (Historical Mystery) that someone else mentioned they liked. I thought I'd really like it because it was set on a Scottish Isle and was full of Celtic culture and faerie lore, all things I'm interested in. But I have to say it was a bit difficult to get into because of the unusual names and so many different characters. You know even the author recognizes the challenge when they have to start the book with a long list of the characters and who they are, to keep them straight. I enjoyed it okay.