Murder With A Foreign Accent

Many of us have read mysteries which take place in familiar settings in the U.S. But don’t lose out on a whole slew of who-dunnits set in other countries and written in languages other than English. These works contribute their own unique perspective to the genre.

The first foreign writer to become popular in America was France’s Georges Simenon, whose detective Jules Maigret became a well-known and well-loved character who immerses himself in the crime, the people, the place and the feelings of the crime. He was one of the first authors to explore the psychology behind crime.

In contrast to Simenon, most non-English speaking authors write more traditional police mysteries. Japanese mystery writer Seicho Matsumoto used the realistic police procedural to show how he police in Japan slowly unravel a crime, but he also comments on the problems in Japanese society. He uses a very Japanese motive for murder – the need to “save face”.

 Many non-English speaking mystery authors feature police investigators who are moody, insightful loners who solve the crimes on their own.

Here are a few titles you might read which will give you a view of other countries and other societies from an insider’s point of view, and will give you a unique perspective on crime and punishment in different countries.

The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri.
Follows Sicilian detective Inspector Montalbano as he investigates the suspicious death of an engineer who had made a name for himself in a small town.

The Silence of the Rain by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza.

Brazilian Inspector Espinosa investigates the murder of a corporate executive found dead in his car, piecing together clues surrounding the victim's missing secretary, a life insurance policy, the victim's widow, and two additional murder victims.

Murder in Jerusalem by Batya Gur.

When a woman's body is discovered in the wardrobe warehouses of Israel Television, brooding police superintendent Ohayon embarks on a tangled and bloody trail of detection through the corridors and studios of Israel's official television station and, especially, through the relations, fears, loves, and courage of the people who make the station what it is.

The Mao Case by Xiaolong Qiu.

Inspector Chen investigates a young woman, the granddaughter of an actress who was once close to Mao, who may be in possession of an object that would bring dishonor to the Chairman's memory.

Detective Inspector Huss by Helene Tursten.

While investigating the apparent suicide of a wealthy financier who is connected to one of the most powerful families in Sweden, Detective Inspector Irene Huss soon finds herself immersed in a murder mystery involving motorcycle gang members, skinheads, immigrants, and neo-Nazis.

Spotlight on International Fiction: Japan

The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
In a first English-language translation of an award-winning work in Japan, a clever mathematics teacher orchestrates a cover-up after a confrontation between a violent man and his terror-stricken ex-wife results in the man's accidental death.

Villain by Shuichi Yoshida
Follows a southern Japanese community's concerned observations of a young construction worker who is charged with murdering an insurance saleswoman.

Kokoro by Soseki Natsume
Haunted by tragic secrets, Sensei slowly opens up to his young disciple, confessing indiscretions from his own student days that have left him reeling with guilt.

Favorites: a novel by Mary Yukari Waters
Feeling like an outsider while visiting her ancestral family in Kyoto, fourteen-year-old Japanese American Sarah Rexford learns a painful secret about how her grandmother was forced to give up a daughter to another branch of the family.

Supermarket by Satoshi Azuchi
After he resigns from his elite banking job to help a cousin manage a supermarket in post-World War II Japan, Kojima is challenged by a woman from his childhood to consider whether his business goals are worth his efforts.

Shot by Both Sides by Meisei Goto
Standing on a Tokyo bridge waiting for a friend, Akaki, a middle-aged Japanese man, indulges in reminiscences that recall his arrival in Tokyo twenty years earlier, his childhood in northern Korea under Japanese rule, and the impact of the trauma of war.