Cara Black- Author of a series featuring Aimee Leduc, a private detective in Paris. Cara Black adresses the Sacramento Bee Book Club in this video. There is an article about Cara Black by Tom Nolan in Mystery Scene Magazine. Cara Black's web site where you will find links to other videos.
Judith Rock - Writes a series of novels featuring Jesuit Charles du Luc which are set in seventeenth century Paris. The first book The Rhetoric of Death is a fascination introduction to the this world of royal schemers and religious controversy. Miss Rock has a Ph.D. in art and theology, and has done extensive research in this time period. Her web site.
Georges Simenon (1903-1989) Author of the Inspector Maigret novels. One of the most prolific mystery novelists (200 novels), Simenon was born in Liege, Belgium. Due to his father's early death, Simenon quit school at sixteen to earn a living. Simenon moved to Paris in 1923. The first Maigret novel, The Strange Case of Peter the Lett was published 1929. After producing 18 Maigret novels at the rate of one a month, Simenon grew tired of the character and turned to writing psychological novels, and other works. He returned to writing Maigret books in the 1940's. He lived in France during the war, then moved to the United States, and finally settled in Switzerland. As he grew older,
his literary output slowed to only four novels a year. Maigret is popular all over the world and has been adapted for television and films. The Maigret Forum
Martin Walker - Walker writes a series about Inspector Bruno who polices the town of St. Dennis in rural France. Bruno is charming, loves good food and hunting, and catches criminals. Martin Walker is a senior director of The Global Business Policy Council, and also writes very serious books about history and foreign policy. The Bruno books in order
Fred Vargas (1957 - ) is the pseudonym of French writer Frederique Audoin-Rouzeau. She is an archaeologist who has written two series of award winning mystery novels. There is an article about Vargas in the Guardian. For more information, visit Wikipedia.
Germany
Michael Gregorio - is the pen name of the writing and married couple, Daniela De Gregorio and Michael G. Jacob. Their series deals with the investigations of magistrate Hanno Stiffeniis in Prussia during the occupation by Napoleon. In the first books of the series, The Critique of Criminal Reason. Hanno calls upon the investigative skills of Immanuel Kant, the philosopher. You will find a list of their books here
Iceland
Amaldur Indridason - (1961 - ) Award winning author of Icelandic mystery novels some of which are available in English translations. Indridason has been a journalist, script writer, and a film critic. You will find a bibliography of his books at Fantastic Fiction
Yrsa Sigurdardottir (1963 - ) - Icelandic writer of books for both children and adults. The sleuth in her mystery novels is Thora Gudmundsdottir, a lawyer. Ms. Sigurdardottir is also the director of an Icelandic engineering firm. Watch her video in which she discusses her second book My Soul to Take and shows some fascinating scenes from Iceland. For a bibliography of her books, see Book Series in Order
Ireland
Benjamin Black - ( 1945 - )The pen name of Man-Booker prize winning novelist John Banville. Black writes a series of mysteries featuring Quirke (no first name) who is a pathologist in the Dublin city morgue in the 1950's. For more information, visit Black's web site.
Bartholomew Gill (1943 - 2002) Irish American author of a series featuring Chief Superintendent Peter McGarr, the head of Ireland's Special Crimes Unit with headquarters in Dublin. For a bibliography of his books, visit the Fantastic Fiction web site.
Italy
Andrea Camilleri - (1925 - 2019) His mystery novels feature Inspector Montalbano who solves crimes in Sicily. His biography and a bibliography of his books may be found at the Wikipedia web site. An article by Mark Lawson on Camilleri may be found at the Guardian web site.
Michael Dibden (1947 - 2007) - British born novelist who wrote a series about Italian Police Commmissioner Aurelio Zen. Dibden received a degree in English literature from the University of Sussex, and a masters degree from the Unversity of Alberta. He taught English at the University of Perugia before returning to England. More information may be found in his obituary in the New York Times.
Donna Leon (1942 - ). Ms. Leon's series detective is Guido Brunetti of the Questura in Venice. Ms. Leon was born in America, and has lived in Venice for over 20 years. Her first series novel Death at La Fenice was published in 1992.
You may be interested in this YouTube video of an interview with Ms. Leon. A bibliography of her books may be found at Book Series in Order.
Giulio Leoni - The author of The Mosaic Crimes in which the detective is Dante Alighieri who seeks a murderer in 14th century Florence. A bibliography of his books may be found at Fantastic Fiction
Antonio Manzini - Author of two books featuring police detective Rocco Schiavone. The first Black Run is set in the Italian alps. For more information, visit Fantastic Fiction
Magdalen Nabb (1947 - 2007) Magdalen Nabb was born in Lancashire, England. In 1975, she moved to Florence where she studied pottery making and began her writing career. Her first mystery novel Death of an Englishman which featured Marshall Salvatore Guarnaccia of the Carabinieri of Florence was published in 1981. Guarnaccia is a hard working dogged policeman and the city of Florence features prominently in her books. She also wrote a series of children's books. More information may be found at Wikipedia.
Giorgio Scerbanenco (1911 - 1969) Scerbanenco was born in Kiev, but moved to Rome, and when he was 18 years old, to Milan. He is best known for his series of hard boiled novels which feature Duca Lamberti who is a physician who is no longer allowed to practice because he performed an euthanasia, but who devotes his time to solving crimes. These novels are set in Milan, and convey a strong sense of the city. The first novel in this series is A Private Venus which was published in 1966. A few of his novels are now available in English. Several of his stories and novels were adapted for movies and may be found at The Internet Movie Database.
Marco Vichi (1957 - ) Vichi was born in Florence He has written 11 mystery novels. The first one Death in August which features a brooding Inspector Bordelli won the Scerbanenco, Rieti, and Camaiore Prizes in Italy. You will find his Italian language web site here
The Netherlands
Janwillem van de Wetering (1931 - 2008 ) - His series features Adjutant Henk Grijpstra and Sargent Rinus de Gier of the Amsterdam Police. For more information, visit Wikipedia
Norway
Jo Nesbo - (1960 - ) Norwegian mystery writer who is the author of the very popular and award winning Harry Hole series. He was a rock musician and a economist before turning to writing. For more information, visit his web site. For a bibliography of his books with publication dates, visit Fantastic Fiction
Russia
Boris Akunin (1956 - ) - Follow the adventures of Erast Fandorin as he solves crimes in 19th century Russia. Akunin worked as a translator before becoming a writer. More information may be found at Wikipedia
Spain
Rebecca Pawel - American mystery writer whose series books deal with Spain following the Spanish Civil War. She provides more information at her web site
Jose Carlos Samoza - was born in Havanna, Cuba in 1959. His family fled Cuba in 1960 for political reasons and moved to Spain where Samoza has lived all of his life. He received a degree in psychiatry, but decided to become a writer instead. His fifth novel The Athenian Murders won the Macallan Gold Dagger for fiction given by the British Crime Writers Association. A list of his English language fiction is at Fantastic Fiction
Sweden
Steig Larsson - (1954 - 2004) Swedish novelist who has achieved great attention for three detective novels which he wrote. The first one of these is The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo. More information may be found at Wikipedia
Henning Mankell (1948 - 2015 ) Swedish crime novelist who writes a series about detective Kurt Wallander. The first Wallander novel, The Faceless Killers was published in 1991. Several of his books have been adapted for television. For more information, visit Wikipedia
Viveka Sten - Swedish crime novelist who writes the popular Sandhamm series of mysteries. She had a successful legal career which she gave up in 2011 to write her novels For more information, visit her web site where, among other interesting things, you will find pictures of Sandhamm Island.
Turkey
Barbara Nadel - Ms. Nadel writes a series about Cetin Ikman, a hard-drinking detective of the Istanbul police force. Ms. Nadel was born in London, and has been a frequent visitor to Turkey. More information is available at Wikipedia
MHZ - If you would like to stream great international mystery shows, try the MHZ channel. Here you will find excellent mystery shows from around the world.
EuroCrime - Information about European crime novels which have been published in English.
A Cold Night's Death - The Allure of Scandinavian Crime Fiction. This is an article by Jeremy Megraw of The New Public Library, and is a very good introduction to the biggest names in Scandinavian crime novels.
Home - Where you will find out more about mystery novels, find new authors, and learn about some really great older ones.
