Can't get enough detective fiction? Explore a world beyond the usual (British and American) suspects with our map of international sleuths.Brought to you by Edinburgh City Libraries.
0: Greenland: Smilla Jaspersen Ver detalle |
1: Paris: Laure Berthaud Ver detalle |
2: Delhi: Vish Puri Ver detalle |
3: St Petersburg: Porfiry Petrovich Ver detalle |
4: Istanbul: Cetin Ikmen Ver detalle |
5: Mongolia: Inspector Nergui Ver detalle |
6: Antarctica: Carrie Stetko Ver detalle |
7: Jeddah: Osama Ibrahim Ver detalle |
8: Beijing: Mei Wang Ver detalle |
9: Bering Sea: Arkady Renko Ver detalle |
10: Durban: Emmanuel Cooper Ver detalle |
11: Tokyo: Kaji Kusanagi Ver detalle |
12: Ghana: Kayo Odamtten Ver detalle |
13: Pyongyang: Inspector O Ver detalle |
14: Bangkok: Vincent Calvino Ver detalle |
15: Northern Territory: Emily Tempest Ver detalle |
16: Rio: Inspector Espinosa Ver detalle |
17: Havana: Mario Conde Ver detalle |
18: Algiers: Inspector Llob Ver detalle |
19: Nablus: Omar Yussef Ver detalle |
20: Beunos Aires: Pepe Carvalho Ver detalle |
21: Mombasa: Daniel Jouma Ver detalle |
22: Moscow: Erast Fandorin Ver detalle |
23: Mumbai: Sartaj Singh Ver detalle |
24: Egypt: Hercule Poirot Ver detalle |
25: Bombay: Ganesh Ghote Ver detalle |
26: Laos: Dr Siri Paiboun Ver detalle |
27: Ireland: Miss Maple Ver detalle |
28: Wroclaw: Eberhard Mock Ver detalle |
29: Amsterdam: Henk Grijpstra and Rinus de Gier Ver detalle |
30: Athens: Costas Haritos Ver detalle |
31: Sicily: Inspector Montalbano Ver detalle |
32: Konigsberg: Hanno Stiffeniis Ver detalle |
33: Berlin: Nikolai Hoffner Ver detalle |
34: Vienna: Oskar Rheinhardt Ver detalle |
35: Rome: Aurelio Zen Ver detalle |
36: Prague: Bernie Gunther Ver detalle |
37: Shanghai: Inspector Chen Ver detalle |
38: Victoria: Joe Cashin Ver detalle |
39: New Zealand: Roderick Alleyn Ver detalle |
40: Berne: Wachtmeister Studer Ver detalle |
41: Galicia: Leo Caldas Ver detalle |
42: Madrid: Carlos Clot Ver detalle |
43: Lisbon: Ze Coelho Ver detalle |
44: Florence: Michele Ferrara Ver detalle |
45: Botswana: Precious Ramotswe Ver detalle |
46: Greece: Officer Nikos Ver detalle |
47: Singapore: C.F. Wong Ver detalle |
48: Venice: Guido Brunetti Ver detalle |
49: Bologna: Inspector Negro Ver detalle |
50: Paris: Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg Ver detalle |
51: Marseilles: Daniel Jacquot Ver detalle |
52: Moscow: Arkady Renko Ver detalle |
53: Ontario: Vicki Nelson Ver detalle |
54: Sydney: Cliff Hardy Ver detalle |
55: Florence: Marshal Guarnaccia Ver detalle |
56: Kuala Lumpur: Inspector Singh Ver detalle |
57: Greece: Hermes Diaktoros Ver detalle |
58: Amsterdam: Inspector DeKok Ver detalle |
59: Ontario: John Cardinal Ver detalle |
60: Reykjavik: Erlendur Sveinsson Ver detalle |
61: Copenhagen: Sarah Lund Ver detalle |
62: Oslo: Harry Hole Ver detalle |
63: Stockholm: Martin Beck Ver detalle |
64: Helsinki: Timo Harjunpaa Ver detalle |
65: Turku: Kimmo Joentaa Ver detalle |
66: Melbourne: Hal Challis Ver detalle |
67: Quebec: Armand Gamache Ver detalle |
68: Johannesburg: Jacob Tshabalala Ver detalle |
69: Fjallbacka: Patrik Hedstrom Ver detalle |
70: Sweden: Inspector Van Veeteren Ver detalle |
71: Sweden: Kurt Wallander Ver detalle |
72: Gotland: Anders Knutas Ver detalle |
73: Norway: Adam Stubo and Johanne Vik Ver detalle |
74: Gothenburg: Irene Huss Ver detalle |
75: Kenya: Superintendent Vachell Ver detalle |
76: Iceland: Thora Gudmundsdottir Ver detalle |
77: Egypt: Gareth Cadwallader Owen Ver detalle |
78: Provence: Joe Sandilands Ver detalle |
79: Paris: Jules Maigret Ver detalle |
'The Eye of Jade' offers a fascinating glimpse of city life in modern China. Liang captures vividly Beijing's bustle and noise, from seedy gambling dens and cheap noodle bars to the splendour of the Forbidden City.
Borrow 'The eye of Jade' by Diane Wei Liang
On psychiatric rehabilitation in Siberia, Arkady Renko is exiled on Polar Star, a Soviet factory ship which trawls the freezing waters from Siberia to Alaska. Then he is given a chance to regain his freedom by investigating a mysterious death.
Borrow 'Polar Star' by Martin Cruz Smith
Yasuko lives a quiet life. But when her ex-husband appears at her door without warning one day, her comfortable world is shattered. When Detective Kusanagi tries to piece together the events of that day, he finds himself confronted by the most puzzling, mysterious circumstances he has ever investigated.
Borrow 'The devotion of Suspect X' by Keigo Higashino
In 'Diamond dove' Emily Tempest, a feisty 29-year-old half Aboriginal woman 'with a fast mouth and a strong right hook' investigates the untimely death of an old friend
Borrow this book
Ben Ouda, a senior ranking diplomat is found savagely murdered. Is this yet another victim of the never ending Islamic fundamentalist violence plaguing Algiers? Inspector Llob has doubts: Ben Ouda had too many friends, too many far fetched theories. Against the backdrop of a city in turmoil, Inspector Llob investigates.
Borrow 'Double Blank' by Yasmina Khadra
Manuel Vazquez Montalban's private eye leaves his Barcelona home to investigate a kidnapping which reveals the full impact of Argentian's troubled history.
Read 'The Buenos Aires Quintet'
One of the reasons for the enduring popularity of HRF Keating's inpector Ghanesh Ghote is surely his likeable and appealing personality.
Borrow the Ghote series of novels
A major part of the appeal of Colin Cotterill's Dr Siri Paiboun series is its intriguing setting of 1970s communist Laos
Borrow the books
Or should that be Breslau? Marek Krajewski's quartet of pre-war mysteries take place in what was then a German town.
Borrow the Eberhard Mock stories
Chief Inspector Costas Haritos of the Athens CID has finally made time for a break from work. When a minor earthquake causes his holiday beach to spit up a corpse, he finds there is no such thing as being off duty.
Borrow 'Zone Defence' by Petros Markaris
The sarcastic cynicism of the Mafia-bating detective have won Andrea Camilleri a loyal army of fans
Borrow the Montalbano mysteries
Berlin, 1927. When a film executive is found dead in his bath, it falls to Chief Inspector Nikolai Hoffner to investigate. With the help of the German film director Fritz Lang and the head of the most powerful crime syndicate, Hoffner finds his case reaches deep into Berlin's sex and drug trade, and into the world of Hitler's Brownshirts
Borrow 'Shadow and light' by Jonathan Rabb
Frank Tallis' 'Liebermann Papers' thriller series consist of intelligent and complex mysteries set in Vienna at the time of Freud.
Borrow the 'Liebermann Papers' series of novels
Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther started his career in Berlin but by this, the eighth novel in the series, he's reached Prague, via Munich, Vienna and even Argentina.
Borrow the Bernie Gunther novels
Qui Xiaolong's mysteries offer a fascinating insight into the way China has changed over the past decade or so.
Borrow the Inspector Chen msyteries
New Zealand theatrical manager Alfred Meyer wanted to celebrate his wife's birthday in style. The pie?ce de re?sistance would be the jeroboam of champagne. But something went horribly wrong and Chief Detective Inspector Alleyn witnessed it himself.
Borrow 'Vintage Murder' by Ngaio Marsh
Carlos Clot - a paunchy, sartorially inept and alcoholic private eye - investigates crimes in the drug and drink-sodden metropolis of Madrid. With the help of a cowboy sidekick, on the loose from an unfinished manuscript, Carlos is on a personal quest to put some dodgy people in their place.
Borrow 'Blood on the saddle' by Rafael Reig
Michele Giuttari's novels explore the dark undercurrents hidden beneath the city's beautiful surface.
Borrow the Michele Ferrara novels
When Nikos, a detective in the final years of his career, is persuaded back to his home town he is faced with the gory murder of a young boy near the old monastery, echoing two murders committed 33 years previously in the exact same spot, and a mass cult suicide
Borrow 'The Black Monastery' by Stav Sherez
Quirky characters and offbeat storylines have won Nury Vittachi a loyal and enthusiastic readership
Borrow the Feng-Shui Detective series
If you can't actually visit Venice for yourself Donna Leon's richly detailed novels, with their complex protagonist, are arguably the next best thing.
Borrow the Brunetti mysteries
In Carla Lucarelli's 'Almost blue' a serial killer is terrorising the students of Bologna. Rookie female detective Grazia Negro is determined to solve the case. But only one witness can positively identify the witness - and he's blind.
Borrow the Inspector Negro stories
Between 1943 and 2003 nine people have been stabbed to death with a trident. In each case, arrests were made, suspects confessed their crimes and were sentenced to life in prison. One slightly worrying detail - the presumed murderers lost consciousness during the nights of the crimes and have no recollection of them.
Borrow 'Wash this blood clean from my hand' by Fred Vargas
Martin O'Brien's French detective also solves crimes in Provence and the Riveria, but his base is Marseilles
Borrow the Jacquot novels
Martin Cruz Smith's Soviet era novels such as 'Gorky Park' offer fascinating insights into a vanished Russia.
Borrow the Arkady Renko novels
Peter Corris' hard-bitten creation is a private detective very much in the American mould.
Read the Cliff Hardy books
Magdalen Nabb's investigator of few words has been favourably compared to Simenon's Maigrait.
Borrow the Marshal Guarnaccia series of novels
Though based in Singapore, Shamani Flint's character is called upon to solve crimes all over Asia.
Borrow the Inspector Singh novels
The likeable 'fat man' appears in series of novels by Anne Zouroudi, set in a variety of locations round Greece.
Borrow the Diaktoros mysteries
A.C. Baantjer's series of stories include the intriguingly titled 'DeKok and the death of a clown', 'Dekok and the grinning strangler' and 'DeKok and the geese of death'.
Borrow the Inspector DeKok stories
Giles Blunt's series of novels have been described as thinking person's thrillers, with as much emphasis on the main character's personal struggles as on the cases he's trying to crack.
Borrow the John Cardinal books
Things are never quite what they seem in Arnaldur Indriðason's mysteries
Read them for yourself
Each of the 20 episodes in this genre-busting series chronicle a single day in a murder investigation. Featuring that item of knitwear.
Rent 'The Killing' on DVD
Jo Nesbo's novels are a big factor in the success of Scandinavian crime fiction.
Borrow the Harry Hole books
Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo's series of police procedurals seek to redefine the genre for their own progressive purposes. (They've also got really smart covers)
Borrow the Martin Beck series
Matti Joensuu's series of novels include 'The Priest of Evil' and 'To steal her love'
Borrow these books
Jan Costin's Wagner's haunting and disturbing psychological thrillers are absorbing studies of character.
Borrow the Joentaa mysteries
Garry Disher's police procedurals have been described as 'intelligent and atmospheric'.
Borrow the Hal Challis books
Strong characterisation and sophisticated plotting are the main factors behind Louise Penny's success.
Borrow the Armand Gamache mysteries
At the rate Camilla Lackberg is killing them off there might soon be nobody left in this corner of Sweden!
Borrow the Partik Hedstrom novels
Separated from his wife, with a son in jail for drug smuggling, Hakan Nesser's character doesn't have his troubles to seek.
Borrow the Van Veeteren books
The endless days and nights in the far north of Sweden provide an eerie backdrop to Mari Jungstedt's mysteries.
Borrow the Anders Knutas books
Anne Holt's books explore the relationship between a criminal profiler and a police superintendent as they work together to solve a series of grisly crimes.
Borrow the Adam Stubo mysteries
Gothenberg is the setting for 'The Glass Devil' but Helene Tursten's books take place in locations throughout Sweden
Borrow the Irene Huss novels
Canadian Superintendent Vachell is called to Lady Baradale's Kenyan safari camp to investigate the disappearance of her jewels. Within hours Lady Baradale is murdered and there is also an attempt on Vachell's life.
Borrow 'Murder on Safari' by Elizabeth Huxley
Yrsa Siguroardottir's attorney heroine finds herself investigating all manner of brutal slayings.
Borrow the books
Gareth Owen, the Mamur Zapt or Head of the Secret Police, confronts a series of challenges in early twentieth century Egypt.
Borrow the books
Maigret is, quite simply, a fictional detective like no other. Unique in style, Simenon's novels could be said to constitute a genre in themselves.
Borrow the Maigret mysteries