Each month, CrimeReads/me celebrates the art of the translated novel with a roundup of the best new international crime fiction releases. The list below is divided between horror, thrillers, dystopia, and satire, each driven by a moral force, for one of the most wide-ranging selections of texts I’ve ever included in this column. As the art of translation continues to be under siege, it is more important than ever to value the hard-working translators bringing international voices to new readers, and I would like to extend my utmost appreciation to these professionals.
Asako Yuzuki, Butter
Translated by Polly Barton
(Ecco)
In this sumptuous tale, a gourmand hedonist and suspected serial killer becomes the object of a journalist’s fixation, and perhaps, an inspiration. The killer is known as a woman whose unending appetites for rich cuisine have led to the deaths of multiple paramours. Did she murder them, or could they simply not keep up? Why is it always a woman’s job to enforce healthy limits, to care for men? Why is it not the man’s job to care for himself? And what can we learn from these simple, rebellious acts of indulgence? This book is best paired with a multi-course meal among friends.
Niklas Natt Och Dag, 1795: The Order of the Furies
Translated by Ian Giles
(Atria)
1795 is the devastating conclusion to Niklas Nat och Dag’s historical trilogy of late 18th-century Stockholm, a divided city on the precipice of revolution and beset by a conspiracy of violent libertines who feel themselves to be above the law. Nat och Dag’s one-armed watchman, Jean Michael Cardell, with assistance from Emil Winge, brilliant watchmaker and former alcoholic, are hell-bent on bringing the evil mastermind of a hedonistic cabal to heel, but they face numerous set-backs in imposing justice on someone so powerful, and as well as lingering guilt over their past failures. Few historical novels are willing to plumb such depths of depravity (or include quite so many descriptions of bad smells), and I’ll be thinking about this trilogy for many years to come.
Bothayna Al-Essa, The Book Censor’s Library
Translated by Sawad Hussain and Ranya Abdelrahman
(Restless Books)
This one reads like Fahrenheit 451 with a sense of humor. In The Book Censor’s Library, a censor is taught to read only the surface of the language when determining if a book is acceptable reading fodder for the general populace. Unfortunately for the hard-working factotum, the books have a mind of their own, and they begin to invade his thoughts until he has no choice but to begin amassing a vast collection of banned texts in his own home.
Thomas Olde Heuvelt, Oracle
Translated by Moshe Gilula
(Tor Nightfire)
Dutch author Thomas Olde Heuvelt is the first translated writer to be awarded a Hugo for his short stories, and his horror novels are as atmospheric as they are disturbing. In Oracle, Heuvelt begins with an anomaly: an 18th century ship has appeared in the midst of a field, and a child who goes exploring on the vessel is never seen again. The greatest experts of the occult are called in to solve the mystery of the girl’s disappearance, a harbinger of an ancient terror rising from the depths.
Joy Sorman, Tenderloin
Translated by Lara Vergnaud
(Restless Books)
Another one from Restless! Joy Sorman’s Tenderloin feels a bit like Delicatessen meets Tender is the Flesh, as a butcher tenderly embraces his disturbing occupation, rarely free from thoughts of dismembering even when not on the job. The tagline is a grotesque cri de coeur, and the book is more interested in exploring this question than answering it: “Can killing be an act of love?”
