Highlighting super sleuths from around the world

REVIEWS BY BRUCE TIERNEY

The popularity of mystery novels isn't limited to the U.S.A. Readers all over the world enjoy crime fiction, and many first-rate writers pursue their craft in a language other than English. To introduce BookPage readers to the scope and quality of international mysteries, we've rounded up books from China, South Africa and Norway. Each of the authors represented here is a celebrity in his or her home country, but not yet a household name in America. We hope to have a hand in changing that.

On the Orient Express

When Red Is Black is the third novel by Chinese writer Qiu Xiaolong featuring Inspector Chen Cao, although Chen plays only a supporting role this time. The true stars of this book are Chen's assistant Yu Guangming and his wife Peiquin. Drawing from Chen's command of English, Yu's dogged determination and Peiquin's literary expertise, they tackle the murder of a blacklisted author. The political ramifications may be far-reaching, and the case must be handled with kid gloves, if indeed kid gloves are available in China. Qiu uses minor characters to flesh out descriptions of modern-day China, a country largely unknown to most people in the West. Tidbits of Chinese history pepper the text, and give the reader insight into the day-to-day workings of the Middle Kingdom. In recounting the flashback tale of a pair of star-crossed lovers during the Cultural Revolution, Qiu employs snippets of romantic poetry, evocative of haiku but for the meter:

    We calculate with our fingers
    When the west wind will come
    Unaware of time flowing away
    Like a river in the dark

It helps to make a cheat sheet to keep up with the Chinese names, but When Red Is Black is eminently worth the effort. (Incidentally, Qiu Xiaolong is pronounced "chew shao long.")


Tip of the dark continent

There have been any number of exceptional mysteries set in southern Africa over the years, from James McClure's cracking police procedurals featuring Inspector Kramer and his Bantu assistant, Mickey Zondi, to Alexander McCall Smith's whimsical Botswana novels. Cape Town author Deon Meyer appears poised to join their ranks with the U.S. release of Heart of the Hunter, a taut post-Apartheid thriller pitting a common man against a corrupt government. Well, perhaps "common man" is a bit of a stretch, as the protagonist, Thobela "Tiny" Mpayipheli, is a giant of a man, a former government assassin. Still, in his defense, he has settled into a calm life with a lovely woman and her son, and he wants nothing more than to be left in peace. It is not to be. In the space of 48 hours, he will steal a motorcycle, bid his family farewell and find himself the target of a nationwide manhunt. On his purloined BMW, Mpayipheli threads his way through the South African back country, with the government in hot pursuit, in attack helicopters, no less! Breakneck pacing, staccato dialog—if ever a book had "movie" written all over it, Heart of the Hunter is it (think Mystic River meets Rambo, in a setting suggesting The Gods Must Be Crazy).


Northern lights

Don't Look Back is the fifth novel by Norwegian author Karin Fossum featuring Inspector Konrad Sejer, although it is the first to be published here. Set in a small village northwest of Oslo, the story initially gives every indication of being about the abduction of a young girl. Sejer comforts the child's distraught mother as a search party combs the town and the adjoining wilderness. Although the girl ultimately returns unharmed, the search party discovers the nude body of a teenage girl alongside an alpine lake, thus setting in motion a murder investigation that threatens to explode the tenuous tranquility of the town. Sejer is a rich and complex character, devoted to his dog and the memory of his recently deceased wife, and tightly focused on the job at hand. The suspense is palpable, and red herrings abound. And, without giving anything away, the ending is as chilling as anything we have read in a very long while!


© 2004 ProMotion, inc.
www@bookpage.com