Supper Sleuths

These mysteries involve foreign sleuths who operate in the countries of Europe and Africa. In some cases, American or British sleuths are visiting the countries on these continents. There are private eyes (Alexander McCall Smith) and amateurs (Gilman & King); however, the police procedural abounds. If you truly want a classic immersion in the foreign experience, meet Camilleri’s Inspector Montalbano; Dibdin’s Aurelio Zen; Freeling’s Henri Castang; Jeffries’ Inspector Alvarez; Kaminsky’s Inspector Rostnikov; Leon’s Guido Brunetti or Smith’s Arkady Renko.

Some are historicals (Akunin, Hebden, Linscott, Simenon), some are cozier (Christie, Gilman, King, Linscott) than others; however, they all are detail rich in the element of place and the languages and customs of the countries add to the complexities and texture of the experience. Travel to Israel, the Congo, Spain, France, old Russia and the USSR, the Netherlands, Yugoslavia, and Egypt and figure out the murderous plots that our sleuths untangle.

The following is a list of authors who fit into this category. The titles in each series is given. Please read one or more of these authors and/or titles, and come prepared to discuss your impressions of them with the group.

AUTHOR	COUNTRY/CHARACTER	TITLES
Boris Akunin	Russia	The Winter Queen (2003)
Pierre Audemars	France Detective Pinaud	Fair Maids Missing (1965) And one for the Dead (1975) Now Dead is Any Man (1978) Slay Me a Sinner (1979) Gone to Her Death (1981) Bitter Path of Death (1982)
John Dudley Ball	Africa	Singapore: A Virgil Tibbs Novel (1986)
Robert Barnard	Norway	Death in a Cold Climate (1981)
J. S. Borthwick	Europe	Garden Plot (1997)
Sara Cameron	Kenya	Singapore (1993)
Andrea Camilleri	Italy Inspector Montalbano	The Shape of Water (2002) Terra-Cotta Dog (2002) The Snack Thief (2003) Voice of the Violin (2003)
C. D. Casley	Nairobe	Death Underfoot (1994)
Agatha Christie	Africa	The Man in the Brown Suit (1924)
Len Deighton	Cairo	City of Gold (1989)
Michael Dibdin	Italy Aurelio Zen	Ratking (1989) Vendetta (1991) Cabal (1994) Dead Lagoon (1994) Cosi Fan Tutti (1996) Long Finish (1998) Blood Rain (1999) And Then You Die (2002)
Gaylord Dold	Zaire	World Beat (1983),
Brian Duffy	East Africa	Head Count (1991)
Isadore Durant	East Africa	Death Among the Fossils (1999)
Nancy Farmer	2194 Zimbabwe	The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm (1994)
Dick Francis	Africa	Smoke Screen (1972)
Nicolas Freeling	France Henri Castang Netherlands Van der Valk	Dressing of Diamond (1974) Bugles Blowing (1975) Sabine. NOT in NOBLE. (1976) Night Lords (1978) Castang's City (1980) Wolfnight (1982) Back of the North Wind (1983) No Part in Your Death (1984) Cold Iron (1986) Not as Far as Velma (1989) Those in Peril (1990) Flanders Sky (1992) You Know Who (1994) Seacoast of Bohemia (1995) Dwarf Kingdom (1996) Death in Amsterdam (1963) Because of the Cats. Not in NOBLE. (1964) Question of Loyalty (1964) Double Barrel (1965) Criminal Conversations (1966) King of the Rain Country (1966) Strike Out Where Not Applicable (1968) Tsing-boom (1969) Lovely Ladies (1971) Aupres de ma blonde (1972) Widow (1979) Arlette (1981) Sand Castles (1990)
Brian Freemantle	Europe	Mind Reader (1998)
Dorothy Gilman	Sicily Ubangiba	Mrs. Pollifax and the Second Thief (1993) Mrs. Pollifax and the Lion Killer (1996)
Batya Goor or Batya Gur	Israel Detective Ohayon	Saturday Morning Murder (1992) Literary Murder (1993) Murder on the Kibbutz (1994) Murder Duet (1999)
Richard Grayson	France Inspector Gautier	Death On the Cards (1988) Death Off Stage (1992) Death Au Gratin (1995)
Mark Hebden	France Inspector Pel	Pel and the Faceless Corpse (1979) Pel is Puzzled (1981) Death Set to Music (1983) Pel Under Pressure (1983) Pel and the Staghound (1984) Pel and the Bombers (1985) Pel and the Predators (1985) Pel and the Prowler (1986) Pel and the Paris Mob. Not in NOBLE. (1986) Pel and the Pirates (1987) Pel among the Pueblos (1988) Pel and the Touch of the Pitch (1988) Pel and the Picture of Innocence (1989) Pel and the Party Spirit (1981) Pel and the Missing Persons (1991) Pel and the Promised Land (1993) Pel and the Sepulchre Job (1993)
Elspeth Huxley	Chania	African Poison Murders (1939) Murder on Safari (1989)
J. Robert Janes	France St. Cyr & Kohler	Dollmaker (1991) Mirage (1992) Carousel. Not in NOBLE. (1993) Mannequin (1994) Stonekiller (1995) Sandman (1997) Salamander (1998) Kaleidoscope (2001)
Charlotte Jay	New Guinea	Beat Not the Bones (1995)
Roderic Jeffries, aka Jeffrey Ashford	Spain Inspector Alvarez	Troubled Deaths (1978) Murder Begets Murder (1979) Just Desserts (1980) Unseemly End (1981) Deadly Petard (1983) Three and One Make Five (1984) Layers of Deceit (1984) Almost Murder (1986) Relatively Dangerous (1987) Death Trick (1988) Dead Clever (1989) Too Clever By Half (1990) Murder's Long Memory (1992) Fatal Fleece (1992) Murder Confounded (1993) Death Takes Time (1994) Arcadian Death (1996) Maze of Murders (1997) Enigmatic Disappearance (2000) Definitely Deceased (2001) Ambiguity of Murder (2001) Intriguing Murder (2002) Artful Death (2002) Seeing is Deceiving (2002)
Matti Joensuu	Finland	Stone Murders (1986)
J.D.F.Jones	South Africa	The Buchan Papers (1997)
Stuart Kaminsky	USSR Inspector Rostnikov	Death of a Dissident. Not in NOBLE. (1981) Black Knight in Red Square (1983) Red Chameleon (1985) Fine Red Stain (1987) Cold Red Sunrise (1988) The Man Who Walked Like a Bear (1990) Rostnikov's Vacation (1992) Death of a Russian Priest (1992) Hard Currency (1995) Blood and Rubles (1996) Tarnished Icons (1997) Dog Who Bit a Polieman (1998) Fall of a Cosmonaut (2000) Murder on the Trans-Siberian Express (2001)
Warran Kiefer	Congo	The Lingala Code (1972)
Peter King	Central Europe	Dine and Die on the Danube Express (2003)
Bill Knox	Egypt	Lake of Fury(1996).
Sheila Kohler	South Africa	Cracks (1999)
Michael Kurland	Europe	The Moriarty Novel (2001)
Jon Land	Sierra Leone	Blood Diamonds (2002)
Donna Leon	Italy Guido Brunetti	Death at La Fenice (1992) Death in a Strange Country (1993) Dressed for Death (1994) Death and Judgment (1995) Acqua Alta (1996) Noble Radiance (1998) Fatal Remedies (1999) Uniform Justice (2003)
Gillian Linscott	Africa	Murder, I Presume (1990)
Jeanne Mackin	Africa	Dreams of Empire (1996)
Henning Mankell	South Africa Algeria	The White Lioness (1998) The Fifth Woman (2000)
James McClure	South Africa Lt. Kramer	The Steam Pig (1971) The Caterpillar Cop (1972) The Gooseberry Fool (1974) Snake (1975) Sunday Hangman (1977) Blood of an Englishman (1980) The Artful Egg (1984) The Song Dog, Prequel (1991)
Karin McQuillan	Kenya	Deadly Safari (1990) Elephant's Graveyard (1993) Cheetah Chase (1994)
Magdalen Nabb	Italy Marshal Guarnaccia	Death of an Englishman (1982) Death of a Dutchman (1983) Death in Springtime (1984) Death in Autumn (1985) Marshal and the Murderer (1987) Marshal and the Madwoman (1988) Marshal's Own Case (1990) Marshal Makes His Report (1992) Marshal at the Villa Torrini (1994) Property of Blood (2001) Some Bitter Taste (2002)
Michael Pearce	Egypt	Mamur Zapt and the Return of the Carpet (1990) Mamur Zapt and the Night of the Dog (1991) Mamur Zapt and the Return of the Men Behind (1993) Mamur Zapt and the Girl in the Nile (1994) Mamur Zapt and the Spoils of Egypt (1995) Camel of Destruction (2000) The Mingrealian Conspiracy (2003) The Snake Catcher's Daughter (2003)
Iain Pears	Italy Jonathan Argyll & Flavia DiStefano	The Raphael Affair (1990). For other books in this series, please see Art Mysteries.
Elizabeth Peters	Egypt Amelia Peabody	Crocodile on the Sandbank (1975). For other books in this series, please see Love to Die For: Mysteries Featuring Husband and Wife Teams.
Robert Rosenberg	Israel Avram Cohen	Crimes of the City (1991) Cutting Room (1993) House of Guilt (1996) Accidental Murder (1999)
David Serafin	Spain Superintendent Bernal	Saturday of Glory (1981) Madrid Underground (1984) Body in Cadiz Bay (1985) Port of Light (1987) Angel of Torremolinos (1988)
Georges Simenon	France Jules Maigret	Sailor's Rendezvous: (1931) in Maigret Keeps a Rendezvous (1941). This series list is extensive and many are hard to find or out-of-print.
Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo	Sweden	Locked Room: The Story of a Crime (1973)
Edward Sklepowich	Venice Urbino Macintyre	Death in a Serene City (1990) Farwell to the Flesh (1991) Liquid Desires (1993) Black Bridge (1995) Death in the Palazzo (1997) Deadly to the Sight (2002) The Last Gondola (2003)
Josef Skvorecky	Czechoslovakia	The Mournful Demeanour of Lt. Boruvka (1987)
Alexander McCall Smith	Botswana Precious Ramotswe	The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (1998) The Tears of the Giraffe (2000) Morality for Beautiful Girls (2002) The Kalahari Typing School for Men (2003)
David Smith	Nigeria	The Leo Conversion (1980) Timbuktu (1983)
Martin Cruz Smith	USSR Arkady Renko	Gorky Park (1981) Polar Star (1989) Red Square (1992) Havana Bay (1999)
Otto Steinhauer	Eastern Europe	The Bridge of Sighs (2003)
Janwilliam Van de Wetering	Netherlands Grijpstra	Tumbleweed (1976) Corpse on the Dike (1976) Death of a Hawker (1977) Japanese Corpse (1977) Blond Baboon (1978) Maine Massacre (1979) Mind-murders (1981) Streetbird (1983) Rattle-rat (1985) Hard Rain (1986) Just a Corpse at Twilight (1994) Hollowed-eyed Angel (1996) The Perfidious Parrot (1997) Amsterdam Cops: Collected Stories (1999)
R. Campell Wright	Yugoslavia	Honor (1987)