There’s no mystery here: We all love a good detective novel.
The genre, which arguably began with Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” has since launched a worldwide crime wave. And while there are many great mysteries written in English, you’re missing out if you don’t occasionally pick up a book in translation for a fresh take on the genre.
Some authors are already well-known in translation: Stieg Larsson, Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, Hideo Yokoyama, Simenon, Andrea Camilleri and Jean-Patrick Manchette, to name a few. And while some recent books, such as Olivier Norek‘s Banlieues trilogy, can be hard to find here, there is a wealth of exciting new crime and detective fiction getting translated from around the world and published here (not to mention, excellent international novels composed in English, such as Nilanjana S. Roy’s “Black River.”)
But if you’re looking for some international intrigue, there’s plenty going on at your local bookstore. Read on for a range of recently translated works that include cozy mysteries, crime novels, historical thrillers, and classic locked-room conundrums.
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“The Clock House Murders” by Yukito Ayatsuji, translated by Ho-Ling Wong (Pushkin Vertigo)
In the latest stand-alone novel from the author’s Bizarre House Mysteries series, a group of paranormal investigators are trapped inside the Clock House, a haunted mansion once owned by an eccentric, and are being killed one by one. Detective Shimada Kiyoshi must solve the mystery and stop the murders – from outside.
“Felix Faure Street” by Ken Bugul, translated by Julie Huntington (Vanderbilt University Press)
Named for a seedy thoroughfare in the Senegalese capital of Dakar, the novel opens at a crime scene after a gruesome murder. The novel was originally written in French, but it’s steeped in the West African Wolof language; the author, Mariètou Mbaye, used the pen name because, as the novel’s translator explains in an introduction, “Ken Bugul” translates to “Someone Unwanted,” a pseudonym used by girls and women as a protection against misfortune.
“Still Life” Malin Persson Giolito, translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles (Other Press)
The Swedish author’s 2017 novel “Quicksand” was adapted into a Netflix series, and here she delivers 10 stories about people who fall afoul of the law, such as a young mother who attempts to get her angry, alcoholic mother the help she needs while trying to keep her own son safe.
“Ninan” by Michel Jean, translated by Susan Ouriou (House of Anansi)
Convicted for killing his violent alcoholic father, an Innu man named Élie is released from prison after 10 years. But he’s no longer welcome in his native community in Nutashkuan. So he heads to Montreal in search of a new beginning and tries to eke out a life among other exiles living on the edge.
“My Grandfather, the Master Detective” by Masateru Konishi, translated by Kawai (Putnam)
In this bestselling example of Japanese “healing fiction,” a grandfather with Lewy Body Dementia teams up with his schoolteacher granddaughter to solve a series of mysteries that she brings to him, a former member of a mystery club, whenever she visits.
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“Dead Weight” by Hildur Knútsdóttir, translated by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Nightfire)
In this Icelandic mystery translated by the author of the Lady Astronaut series of novels, a lonely working woman comes home from the market to find a cat sleeping on her couch. But she doesn’t have a cat. And when she learns about a woman who’s missing hers, they connect and things begin to happen.
“The Secret Dinner” by Raphael Montes, translated by Zoe Perry (Celadon)
On the first page of this hugely popular Brazilian thriller, which involves four broke friends who get involved in the dark underworld scheme involving dinner parties for the wealthy of Rio de Janeiro, a man in a blood-soaked tuxedo enters a police station to confess to an as-yet unexplained crime. How can you not read on?
“Centroeuropa” by Vicente Luis Mora, translated by Rahul Bery (Bellevue Literary Press)
Set in the early 19th century, this speculative mystery involves a recently widowed man who is attempting to start a new life in a village far from home. But when he begins to dig into the earth, he finds the frozen corpse of a soldier. And then another. That’s when things start to get even stranger.
“The Camino” by Anya Niewierra, translated by Eileen Stevens (Simon & Schuster)
In this novel by the hugely popular writer from the Netherlands, a woman mourns the loss of her husband, a former Bosnian refugee who died by his own hand on the Camino de Santiago. Resolving to walk the same path as her late husband, she soon begins to realize that things are not as they seemed.
“The Final Problem” by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, translated by Frances Riddle (Mulholland Books)
The Spanish author, known for bestsellers that include “The Club Dumas,” “The Flanders Panel” and his Captain Alatriste series, delivers a total summertime delight here. Set in 1960 on a Greek island temporarily cut off from the outside world by a storm at sea, the novel features an aging, Basil Rathbone-esque actor who once played Sherlock Holmes being forced to act as a detective to solve a potential murder … or two.
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“Broken Truths” by Alessandro Robecchi, translated by Gregory Conti (Other Press)
Set in modern-day Milan, this terrific novel involves a retired movie director who begins researching a comeback film about the death of real-life 1930s-era Italian crime novelist, Augusto De Angelis. But as the director begins his work, the widow who lives next door ends up murdered.
“Night Train” by Xu Zechen, translated by Jeremy Tiang (Two Lines Press)
In the Beijing author’s novel, a graduate student wants the money his father promised him so he can travel by train before returning to school. After his father refuses, the son bursts into the house late at night, saying he’s killed a man and must escape. With his father’s cash, he takes that trip. Upon his return, however, everyone now believes he’s actually a murderer.