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Global Gumshoes:
Detectives Beyond Borders

Readers are discovering the pleasures of armchair travel with mysteries from around the world. From the picturesque decay of Venice to the chaotic street life of Shanghai, foreign mystery writers offer a unique perspective about a place and its people. Join the sleuths in these popular mysteries and explore the world!

Africa

McCall Smith, Alexander
No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series
Wise and practical Mma "Precious" Ramotswe, Botswana's first female sleuth.
McClure, James
Kramer and Zondi mysteries
South African Lieutenant Tromp Kramer and his Bantu partner Mickey Zondi
Myer, Deon
Dead Before Dying: A Novel
2006
Someone in Cape Town has chosen a conspicuous murder weapon — a century-old German Mauser pistol, used by the Afrikaners in the Boer war, with ancient bullets to match. The killer has a preferred method: one shot to the head and one shot to the chest, leaving a rapidly rising number of dead. For Captain Mat Joubert, this might be the last chance to prove that his life's slow spiral will not pull him under and sink him at last.
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Argentina

Piglia, Ricardo
Money to Burn
2003
Love and betrayal complicate a robbery gone wrong in this edgy true-crime novel based on a 1965 Buenos Aires bank robbery.
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Australia

Cleary, Jon
Scobie Malone series
New South Wales homicide cop Scobie Malone, family man and dogged detective.
Corris, Peter
Cliff Hardy novels
Sydney P.I. and Southeast Asia war vet Cliff Hardy, an Aussie Lew Archer
Disher, Garry
Inspector Hal Challis mysteries
Solitary Detective Inspector Hal Challis lives and works in rural Australia.
Maloney, Shane
Murray Whelan series
Melbourne political consultant and amateur sleuth, Murray Whelan
Temple, Peter
Irish Jack series
Meet Jack Irish — Melbourne criminal lawyer, debt collector, sports lover, horse-racing man and trainee cabinetmaker
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Austria

Tallis, Frank
A Death in Vienna
2005
Set in the Vienna of Freud, Klimt and Mahler, psychoanalyst Max Lieberman helps his friend, Detective Oskar Rheinhardt, solve the perplexing case of a beautiful medium found dead in a locked room on the day of her weekly séance.
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Bosnia-Herzegovina

Fesperman, Dan
The Small Boat of Great Sorrows: A Novel
2003
Vlado Petric, living in Berlin after escaping war-torn Bosnia, returns to his homeland to help apprehend a Nazi war criminal, as part of a war crimes tribunal operation that will also net a Serbian war criminal.
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Brazil

Fish, Robert L.
Trouble in Paradise
2002
A Brazilian police captain sets himself up as a target to discover who is ordering a series of contract killings.
Garcia-Roza, L. A.
Inspector Espinosa mysteries
Copacabana is the beat of book-loving Chief Inspector Espinosa.
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Canada

Aubert, Rosemary
Ellis Portal series
Homeless vagrant Ellis Portal was once an esteemed judge in Toronto.
Bowen, Gail
Joanne Kilbourn mysteries
Joanne Kilbourn, professor, TV-show panelist, amateur sleuth and single mom in Regina, Saskatchewan
Wright, Laurali
Karl Alberg series
Staff Sergeant Karl Alberg of the Canadian Mounties
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China

Oakes, Andy
Dragon's Eye: A Chinese Noir
2004
Chief Investigator Sun Piao navigates the chaos of modern Shanghai and high-level corruption to solve a brutal mass murder.
Qui, Xiaolong
Inspector Chen mysteries
Poet Chen Cao assigned to the Shanghai Police Bureau's Homicide Unit
Wang, Shou
Playing for Thrills
1997
With shades of Chandler and Kerouac, Playing for Thrills is a dark, disembodied, yet compelling story of an antihero's search for the truth about a mysterious murder. As former soldier Fang Yan drifts through the seamy underside of Beijing and its environs, he meets a handful of incredibly varied characters as jaded and enigmatic as himself.
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Cuba

Correa, Arnaldo
Cold Havana Ground: A Novel
2003
When a body disappears from a Chinese burial ground in Havana, police officer Alvaro Antonio Molinet is called out of retirement and immersed in a shadowy world of Afro-Cuban religions.
Padura, Leonardo
Mario Conde mysteries
Detective Mario "The Count" Conde, Havana's Philip Marlowe
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England

Aird, Catherine
Inspector C. D. Sloan mysteries
Inspector C. D. Sloan investigates crimes in the small British market town of Berebury in Calleshire.
Ashford, Lindsay Jayne
Frozen
2005
Forensic psychologist Megan Rhys has been asked to advise the Birmingham Police on the murders of two young prostitutes, dumped like rubbish, seemingly the victims of two men working together. But there is something wrong with the information the police are giving her. Is someone is trying to manipulate Megan, or are her own prejudices clouding her judgment?
Edwards, Martin
Harry Devlin mysteries
Liverpool solicitor Harry Devlin specializes in offbeat criminal cases.
Oldham, Nick
Henry Christie mysteries
Manchester's DCI Henry Christie breaks all the rules to solve the crime.
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France

Black, Cara
Aimee Leduc Investigations
Parisian P.I. and computer security analyst Aimee Leduc
Izzo, Jean-Claude
Marseilles trilogy
Street-smart cop Fabio Montale works both sides of the law in the underbelly of Marseilles.
O'Brien, Martin
Jacquot and the Waterman
2006
In the French port city of Marseilles, Chief Inspector Daniel Jacquot, a former rugby star with a taste for good food, wine and the blues, investigates a series of murders in which the female victims are found beaten to death and submerged in water.
Vargas, Fred
Chief Inspector Adamsberg investigations
Eccentric Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg of the Paris police uses his intuition to solve crimes.
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Germany

Kerr, Philip
Bernhard Gunther mysteries
Bernhard Gunther is a hard-boiled detective in Nazi Germany.
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Iceland

Indridason, Arnaldur
Reykjavik murder mysteries
Divorced, middle-aged veteran detective Erlendur Sveinsson
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India

Keating, H. R. F.
Inspector Ghote mysteries
Downtrodden, henpecked Mumbai Inspector Ganesh Ghote
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Ireland

Higgins, Jack
Sean Dillon thrillers
Former IRA enforcer turned British special agent Sean Dillon
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Israel

Gur, Batya
Michael Ohayon mysteries
Moroccan-born Michael Ohayon of the Jerusalem police
Rosenberg, Robert
Avram Cohen mysteries
Jerusalem detective and Dachau survivor Avram Cohen
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Italy

Camilleri, Andrea
Salvo Montalbano mysteries
Droll, anti-bureaucratic Sicilian detective Salvo Montalbano
Dibdin, Michael
Aurelio Zen mysteries
Comfortable with corruption, policeman Aurelio Zen investigates crimes in Rome, Venice, Piedmont and Sicily.
Leon, Donna
Guido Brunetti mysteries
Charming, world-weary Venetian detective Guido Brunetti
Nabb, Magdalen
Marshal Guarnaccia mysteries
Ponderous, sharp Marshal Guarnaccia of the Florence police
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Japan

Adamson, Isaac
Billy Chaka Adventures
Cleveland-based Youth in Asia reporter Billy Chaka
Matsumoto, Seicho
Inspector Imanashi Investigates
1989
In a police procedural by Japan's master of mystery, Inspector Imanishi Eitaro, a typically Japanese detective fond of gardening and haiku, must follow a killer's trail across the social strata of Japan.
Nonami, Asa
The Hunter
(on order February 2007)
The first English translation of the gritty, atmospheric work of bestselling Japanese writer Asa Nonami introduces readers to Takako Otomichi, a former motorbike patrolwoman-turned-detective reminiscent of Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski and Marcia Muller's Sharon McCone.
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Laos

Cotterill, Colin
Dr. Paiboun novels
Dr. Siri Paiboun, the spry, wry, 73-year-old national coroner of Laos
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Mexico

Taibo, Paco Ignacio
Hector Belascoaran Shayne novels
One-eyed, half-Irish, half-Basque P.I. Hector Belascoaran Shayne
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The Netherlands

Baantjer, A. C.
Inspector DeKok mysteries
Curmudgeonly Amsterdam cop DeKok isn't above breaking the law to catch a thief.
Van de Wetering, Janwillem
Grijpstra and de Gier mysteries
Amsterdam cops, grumpy Henk Grijpstra and his young sidekick Rinus de Gier
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Norway

Fossum, Karin
Inspector Sejer mysteries
Konrad Sejer investigates murders in provincial Norway.
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Puerto Rico

Torres, Stephen
Luis Gonzalo novels
Luis Gonzalo, sheriff of the sleepy seaside town of Angustias, Puerto Rico
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Russia

Kaminsky, Stuart
Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov mysteries
Shrewd, unorthodox Moscow policeman Porfiry Rostnikov battles KGB bureaucrats.
Smith, Martin Cruz
Arkady Renko novels
Melancholy Moscow detective Arkady Renko
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Scotland

Brookmyre, Christopher
Jack Parlabane series
Hard-living, Scottish investigative journalist Jack Parlabane
Jardine, Quintin
Bob Skinner mysteries
Edinburgh's sexy, savvy Deputy Chief Constable Bob Skinner
Rankin, Ian
Inspector Rebus mysteries
Ex-army Edinburgh police detective John Rebus battles crime and his own weaknesses.
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Spain

Jeffries, Roderic
Inspector Enrique Alvarez mysteries
Majorca's soft-hearted, brandy-loving Inspector Enrique Alvarez
Vázquez Montalbán, Manuel
The Man of My Life
2005
When the son of a rich financier is murdered, Barcelona detective Pepe Carvalho is called upon to investigate his mysterious death. In his quest for the killer, Carvalho has to infiltrate the world of Satanism and religious sects. Torn between two women — his on-off partner Charo and her eternal hesitations, and the enigmatic Yes, a lover from his youth — the professional and personal merge, and a devastating betrayal leaves Carvalho fighting for his life.
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Sweden

Mankell, Henning
Kurt Wallander mysteries
Hard-boiled Inspector Kurt Wallander from chilly Ystad, Sweden
Nesser, Hakan
Inspector Van Veeteren mysteries
Introspective Chief Inspector Van Veeteren, a veteran of 30 years of police work
Tursten, Helene
Irene Huss mysteries
Judo expert and mother of twins, Irene Huss investigates violent crimes in Goteborg.
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