We’re all inclined to stay inside in the month of February, so here are eight international crime novels perfect for the armchair traveler. From Nairobi noir, to Japanese puzzle mysteries, to Korean psychological thrillers, and Scandinavian procedurals, February’s got it all. Let your mind roam free!
Nairobi Noir, ed. Peter Kimani (Akashic)
Nairobi is a city of 3 million souls, so it makes sense as a setting Akashic Books’ famed noir series. 14 new stories fill a collection with Nairobi old and new; authors range in age from 24 to 81, and many layers of the city and its complex subcultures will be revealed as the reader makes their way through. Perfect for the armchair traveler!—Molly Odintz, CrimeReads senior editor
Massimo Carlotto, Blues for Outlaw Hearts and Old Whores (Europa)
Originally published in Italy in 2017, and translated by Will Schutt, this new installment of the “Alligator” series begins when ex-con and private eye Marco Buratti, aka “the Alligator,” falls into a trap laid by his nemesis. He and his partners, Max the Memory and Beniamino Rossini, are blackmailed and framed as they begin to investigate what is afoot—and they don’t have long to untangle the many knots fettering them before they are ensnared for good.—Olivia Rutigliano, Lit Hub & CrimeReads staff writer
Jean-Luc Bannalec, The Killing Tide (Minotaur)
In this fifth installment of the Commissaire Dupin series, Dupin must do the unthinkable: investigate a crime at sea. But the case takes him to the mysterious Île de Sein off the Brittany coast, where things become stranger and more complicated than he could have imagined.—OR
Mi-ae Seo, The Only Child (Ecco)
While much of crime fiction features a parade of children in danger, what about those novels featuring children who are the danger? For those looking to be terrified by sociopathic youths, or those just looking for an all-around nailbiter of a thriller, we recommend The Only Child, in which a behavioral psychologist who studies serial killers becomes the caretaker of a very, very, creepy little girl.—MO
Riku Onda, translated by Alison Watts, The Aosawa Murders (Bitter Lemon)
In legendary Japanese mystery writer Riku Onda’s English-language debut, 17 people are poisoned at a family celebration, and those in their coastal village have many different theories as to why the attack occurred. Onda crafts a multi-layered mystery featuring a number of different narrators, where the truth is obscured until the very last reveal.—MO
Yrsa Sigurδardóttir, The Absolution (Minotaur)
Yrsa Sigurdardottir’s third in her Children’s House trilogy addresses the timely issue of cyberbullying, as much a problem in her native Iceland as anywhere else in the internet-connected world. When a woman is murdered on SnapChat, the cops team up with Sigurdardottir’s child psychologist heroine to uncover the mystery behind her death, and save future victims from her killer’s elaborate revenge scheme.—MO
Adeline Dieudonné, translated by Roland Glasser, Real Life (World Editions)
In this dark coming-of-age story, a young girl and her little brother live in fear of their terrifying, game-hunting father. Their mother can’t stand up to him either. But while the children spend their days playing, a terrible accident happens, with devastating effect.—OR
Chan Ho-Kei, translated by Jeremy Tiang, Second Sister (Grove)
Chan Ho-Kei’s new social noir tackles the issue of digital bullying; Second Sister begins with the suicide of a schoolgirl, immediately deemed suspicious by her librarian older sister, who is determined to investigate. She recruits a hacker to assist, and the two track bullies through the digital realm as asides paint a complex portrait of Hong Kong.—MO
