"Exquisite modern take on a classic mystery" - review of THE GOOD NAZI

THE GOOD NAZI by Samir Machado de Machado, translated by Rahul Bery (Pushkin Vertigo, 2026)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

1933. A body has been found on a luxury airship en route from Berlin to Rio de Janeiro. Police Detective Bruno Brückner, travelling on board, is immediately asked to investigate - and soon discovers that the murdered man was not the proud Nazi he claimed to be. What's more, he was carrying a stash of banned 'degenerate' material. 

As Brückner interviews his fellow passengers - a wealthy baroness, an antisemitic doctor, a debonair Englishman - he realizes that each of them has something to hide. Uncovering the truth will reveal a story of secret identities, forbidden love and revenge, where nothing is as it appears.

For those fancying something fresh and atypical, while a little lighter, perhaps try this fun mystery from Brazilian writer, translator and graphic designer Samir Machado de Machado, which won him the Jabuti Prize for Best Entertainment Novel (among Brazil’s most important book awards), for a second time.

Thanks to translator Rahul Bery and the fine folks at Pushkin Vertigo,  The Good Nazi is now available for English-speaking readers, who’ll discover an enjoyable tale with echoes of Agatha Christie or Dame Ngaio Marsh, while still its own unique thing.

Rather than Poirot, Marple, or Inspector Alleyn, our sleuth here is German police detective Bruno Brückner, who’s travelling on a trans-Atlantic zeppelin flight to Rio de Janeiro in 1933. Far faster, and pricier, than a seagoing voyage, it sees Brückner rubbing shoulders with an unusual grouping. Alongside some Brazilian passengers and the forty-member crew who coax the giant airship across the ocean from continent to continent, Brückner is joined by wealthy German Baroness Fridegunde van Hattem, who chases summer back and forth; Dr Karl Kass Voegler, who’s set to speak at a eugenics conference on the dangers of racial mixing; and debonair Englishman William Hay. 

They’re joined in Recife by another German, Otto Klein, for the final legs of the journey. But Klein doesn’t make it to Rio alive, dying overnight, after a dinner where the European quintet discuss classic art, how rising Nazism would fix what ailed Germany, and racial purity. Brückner is asked to investigate, and as he interviews the crew and passengers he uncovers a stash of banned ‘degenerate’ material, and a startling tale of fake identities, queer love, and revenge, where little is what it seems.

de Machado crafts an exquisite modern take on a classic mystery, with a unique historical setting that soaks readers in at-times disturbing pre-war viewpoints, while speckling his tale with several delightful surprises, right up until he absolutely sticks the landing of this aeronautical whodunnit.

Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned writer, editor, podcast host, awards judge, and event chair. He's the founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards, co-founder of Rotorua Noir, author of Macavity and HRF Keating Award-shortlisted non-fiction work SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, editor of the DARK DEEDS DOWN UNDER anthology series, and writes about books for magazines and newspapers in several countries.

The origin of kebabs and the art of Dostoyevsky: an interview with Elçin Poyrazlar

Kia ora and haere mai, welcome to the 239th instalment of author interview series, 9mm, which is being resurrected this month back into a semi-regular column, after largely going into hibernation and only sporadically emerging from its cave in 2021-2024, for a variety of personal reasons.

Thanks for reading and sharing the 9mm series, and Crime Watch in general (and my work elsewhere) over many years. I've had a lot of fun talking to some amazing crime writers and bringing their thoughts and stories to you in this column, along with magazine and newspaper features, event panels, podcasts, and more. 

I'm currently at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, one of the best book festivals of any kind in the world, and it's been terrific catching up with an array of crimeloving pals old and new, and being surrounded by creative, bookloving people who love a little darkness on the page but are largely pretty awesome, collegial, and supportive in real life. It's a great tribe to be part of, and as someone who'd loved books and mystery fiction my entire life, since I was a week kid growing up in a smalltown near the Top of the South Island of Aotearoa New Zealand, I feel very fortunate to get to wear a few different hats and be involved in the crime writing community variety of ways. 

But back to 9mm. You can check out the full list of of past 9mm interviewees here. All 238 of them, and counting. What a line-up! With lots more fun to come. Kia ora rawa atu (thanks heaps), everyone. 

If you've got a favourite crime or thriller writer who hasn't yet been part of the 9mm series, please let me know, and now I'm back on deck more fully, I'll look to make that happen for you. We've got several interviews with cool crime and thriller writers from several different countries 'already in the can' that will be published very soon, so lots to look forward to in the coming weeks and months.

Elcin and I in the 'big green chairs' where
I've done some fab interviews over the years

Today I'm very pleased to welcome to 9mm someone who I first met at Harrogate three years ago, brilliant and brave Turkish political journalist and crime writer Elçin Poyrazlar. 

Like me, Elçin is a bit of a globetrotter; in her case she's lived in Istanbul, Brussels, Washington, London and Madrid. We immediately hit it off a few years back, perhaps due to some elixir of both being foreigners at Harrogate who loved journalism, politics, travel, and deeply cared about law and justice issues, among a few other things in addition to the shared passion for crime and mystery writing most attendees have. Some great conversations, and we've stayed in touch since.

So it's been really terrific to catch up with Elcin in person again this year at Capital Crime in London last month, and now Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate this weekend. 

Alongside her journalism career, Elcin is also a leading Turkish crime writer - though for those of us Anglophones, her books are not (yet - watch this space) available in English translation. Still, it has been fun following her adventures at various book events in Turkey since we met, and seeing how popular she is over there - if slightly frustrating that I can't read her novels given my largely monolingual status (a few scraps of Maori, Spanish, and Japanese aside). 

From the critic reviews and reader reception in Turkey, and some translations of feature articles and commentary I've read, Elcin's books sound really fascinating. She writes both standalone thrillers and series crime fiction, including four books starring Chief Inspector Suat Zamir, a very strong, determined female detective and third-generation police officer who's trying to deliver justice from within a shadowy police and political system. She won the Turkish Crime Novel of the Year prize for her fourht novel, Ecel Cicekleri (Death Flowers). The latest Suat Zamir tale, Gölgenin Eli (The Hand of the Shadow), came out earlier this year. It centres on the brutal murder of a social media celebrity alongside Suat Zamir being tasked with tracking down a missing journalist and having to confront family secrets.

I'm really looking forward to reading Elçin's stories in English in the not-too-distant future, hopefully, but for now, this superb Turkish journalist and crime writer becomes the latest author to join me for an interview on the famed 'big green chairs' of Harrogate, and to stare down the barrel of 9mm. 

9MM: AN INTERVIEW WITH ELCIN POYRAZLAR

Who is your favourite recurring crime fiction character?

You know, I think it's Mr Ripley. I love Patricia Highsmith. When I was growing up, I wanted to be her as a writer, and the fact that he is such a morally conflicting character. Patricia Highsmith puts the reader in a position where you hate the guy, you know, he's a murderer. He's a sleek operator that manipulates, but at the same time you want him to escape, to succeed. So this moral contradiction that  she puts us in, it's so thrilling. It's such a good character, and Patricia Highsmith is a master of writing thrillers, right? So I think it's him, but I also like a lot of espionage characters. 

A Turkish translation of 
Dostoyevsky's classic tale

What was the very first book you remember reading and really loving, and why?

Oh, that's an easy one, Crime and Punishment. I think I was somewhere around 14, when I was really hungry for books. When I get real taste of good literature. And I think Crime and Punishment is the best crime fiction book. Not many people admit that [it's a crime novel], but it's a fascinating book. And Dostoyevsky, I was reading all the classics, then I remember stopping right in the middle of it, and wandering around in the room, because it moved me so much. The writing was in itself art, but where it took me was a super psychological level. Yeah, so I loved it.

Before your debut crime novel, what else had you written (if anything) - unpublished manuscripts, short stories, articles?

So my very first book that I wrote was never published, and it was a dark satire of the Turkish politics, a composition of many stories, but at the end, all characters came together and killed the author that was writing the book. It never got published, because I knew that if we published it, I would end up in prison. And my husband was a bit nervous about that. But at some point I would love to publish it, because it was very Kafka-esque, yeah. And at the same time, it was quite a dark thing, and it was my first attempt into entering the genre.

Before that, I was always writing many articles about Turkey or diplomacy or the world affairs. I hadn't written books, but I wanted to write a journalistic book, and it ended up being an espionage book.

Outside of writing and writing-related activities (book events, publicity), what do you really like to do, leisure and activity-wise?

I love walking, and I try to duplicate what Charles Dickens was doing with his night walks. We live in the same neighbourhood in London. I also love music, it's a fantastic way for me to relax. I almost became a musician, but then changed my mind. I played classical guitar when I was 15, and then I was going to go into Conservatory, and I said, you know, life as an artist will be very hard, so why don't I do something and then go back to music?

But then I became a writer, so I don't know which part of the artist life I avoided. I also travel a lot. I talk to people. And coming together with readers is also very inspiring.

What is one thing that visitors to your hometown should do, that isn't in the tourist brochures, or perhaps they wouldn’t initially consider?

My hometown is Bursa, the first capital of the Ottoman Empire. It became quite a rich city because of the car industry but I would definitely recommend people go to visit the historic mosques, and eat a doner kebab. It is the hometown of the original kebabs, if you go to Iskender (which we translate as Alexander in English), definitely try one of the restaurants for the real deal of the doner kebab origins. 

Iskender was the family that started it. Basically because you know how you make a roast, you put a lamb or other animal on a horizontal [spit over the coals], and the thing they did was what if we put the animal vertical and get it all flowing into each other instead of the fire, just changing the direction of it.

So they've been doing that for more than a century.

If your life was a movie, which actor could you see playing you?

Oh, wow, that's a tough one. I don't know. Can I think on that... Kirsten Stewart? Oh, yes, I think she's a very good actor. I also quite like Scarlett Johansson, but we don't look alike... you know, any character actor would be great, like a tough journalist who is on the brink of maybe being arrested every time she goes back to Turkey.

Of your writings, which is a bit special to you for some particular reason, and why?

Well, the first one was always special. But then is the first book, the book that makes your writer? I'm not sure. So I think my third book Mantolu Kadın (Woman in a Coat), where I tried my hand at domestic noir, was the book I realized, 'Oh, my God, now, I really have to take this seriously'. 

And you know, the first two are good, they're above average, but this third time out, I really have to be a professional writer. So, it's domestic Noir. A dead woman, a young dead woman, is telling the story. I tried my hand in a completely different sub genre, which I loved. And I think that's how my name got to be known in Turkey as well.

What was your initial reaction, and how did you celebrate, when you were first accepted for publication? Or when you first saw your debut story in book form on a bookseller’s shelf?

Well, when my first book was published, I got some royalties, something small, then I immediately gave a wine party to my friends. I spent it in all one night. We celebrated. It was great.

When I first saw my book in a shop, I didn't celebrate it, but I was very touched and then I realized that right that moment that books are different entities than you. Once you write them, they don't belong to you anymore. They belong to the readers.

What is the strangest or most unusual experience you have had at a book signing, author event, or literary festival?

I can easily tell you that, because this happened with two books previous, a couple of years ago. I was in an event, and then there was this woman coming to meet me. She drove like six or seven hours to meet me because I was in my hometown, but she was in another part of Turkey, which is quite big. Now she said that she's an Inspector, and she said "Are you also police? Have you ever worked as a police?" 

I said, No. And now she says, But you wrote about me. You know your character, Suat Zamir, is me. Everything that's happened, like in her career, happened to me. So this really, really touched me, you know? Because that was so real. She drove all the way to meet me to see who this woman is writing about a character just like her.

Kia ora, Elçin, we appreciate you having a chat with Crime Watch. 

Since visiting Gallipoli in 2011, I've said Anzac Day is about three
countries, not just two, so here's a full trifecta in London; Australian 
authors Hayley Scrivenor, Kate Kemp, and Chris Hammer, Kiwi me
and Turkish journalist and crime writer Elcin Poyrazlar

Do you enjoyed politically charged crime novels? What about reading books set outside of the UK and USA? What's the latest translated crime novel you've read? 

Let us know in the comments - and if you're a Turkish reader, please share what you think of Elçin's novels and her heroine Chief Inspector Suat Zamir. 

"An intricate, clever mystery": review of THE LABYRINTH HOUSE MURDERS

THE LABYRINTH HOUSE MURDERS by Yukito Ayatsuji, translated by Ho-Ling Wong (Pushkin Vertigo, May 2025)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

The famed mystery writer Miyagaki Yotaro lives a life of seclusion in the remote Labyrinth House. When Yotaro invites four young crime authors to his home for a birthday party, they are honoured to accept. But no sooner have they arrived than they are confronted with a shocking death, then lured into a bizarre, deadly competition…

As the twisted contest gathers pace, murder follows murder. The ingenious sleuth Shimada Kiyoshi investigates, but can he solve the mystery of the house before all those trapped in its labyrinth are dead? And can you guess the solution before he does?

Like Nordic Noir around fifteen years ago, translated Japanese crime fiction is now having a bit of a moment, globally. The Land of the Rising Sun certainly has a rich history of puzzling mysteries, dating back over a century (the country’s main ‘best mystery novel’ prize also predates either of its major British and American equivalents, the Daggers and the Edgars, by a few years).

Thankfully, the recent translation boom has opened up Japanese tales new and old for English-speaking readers. A great example is The Labyrinth House Murders, a fascinating new-to-Anglophones locked room mystery originally published in Japan in 1988. 

The third of nine books in legendary mystery and horror writer Yukito Ayatsuji’s ‘Bizarre House’ mystery series, it involves ingenious sleuth Shimada Kiyoshi investigating a deadly game at the house of famed author Miyagaki Yotaro. 

Four young crime authors are invited along with select others to celebrate Yotaro’s 60th birthday party, only to be trapped in the labyrinth as part of a deadly competition for a grand inheritance.

Ayatsuji crafts and intricate, clever mystery that leans into its Theseus and the Minotaur maze mythology, as well as serving as a near love letter to the classic mystery genre. 

It’s easy to see why Ayatsuji has achieved legendary status in his homeland. 

The Labyrinth House Murders is a pleasantly puzzling read, and hopefully we’ll see more of his stories (eg this particular series is nine books long in Japan) translated in future.

[This review was first written for Deadly Pleasures magazine in the United States]

Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned writer, editor, podcast host, awards judge, and event chair. He's the founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards, co-founder of Rotorua Noir, author of Macavity and HRF Keating Award-shortlisted non-fiction work SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, editor of the DARK DEEDS DOWN UNDER anthology series, and writes about books for magazines and newspapers in several countries.

Longhand manuscripts & elderly dialogue: an interview with Óskar Guðmundsson

Kia ora and haere mai, welcome to the latest instalment of our 9mm interview series, which returned in 2021 after a hiatus last year. 

This author interview series has now been running for over a decade, on and off, and today marks the 232nd edition. Thanks for reading over the years. I've had tonnes of fun chatting to some amazing writers and bringing their thoughts and stories to you. 

You can check out the full list of of past interviewees here. Some amazing writers.

If you've got a favourite crime writer who hasn't yet been featured, let me know in the comments or by sending me a message, and I'll look to make that happen for you. Even as things with this blog may evolve moving forward, I'll continue to interview crime writers and review crime novels.

Today I'm very pleased to welcome Icelandic author Óskar Guðmundsson to Crime Watch. 

Many keen readers will be aware of the fountain of crime writing talent flowing from Iceland, with Yrsa Sigurðardóttir and Arnaldur Indriðason garnering international acclaim and attention for this small (in population) island, then the likes of Ragnar Jonasson and Lilja Sigurðardóttir joining them in translation and cementing Iceland's reputation as a hotbed of cold climate crime writing in recent years.

Óskar burst onto the Icelandic crime writing scene a few years ago. His debut novel Hilma received the Icelandic crime fiction award, Blóðdropann (The Blood Drop), in 2016, and was optioned to be made into a screen story. Both it and his second novel, Blóðengill (Blood Angel) became #1 local bestsellers. 

So it's wonderful to see Óskar and his storytelling now becoming more available for English-speaking readers, thanks to translator Quentin Bates and the crew at Corylus Books, who've recently published his third novel, The Commandments (originally Bodordin). I've had the pleasure of meeting Oskar at crime writing festivals prior to the pandemic, and look forward to catching up with him again in future now his writing is out in English. 

But for now,  Óskar Guðmundsson becomes the latest author to stare down the barrel of 9mm. 

9MM INTERVIEW WITH OSKAR GUDMONDSSON

1. Who is your favourite recurring crime fiction hero/detective?

Harry Hole by Jo Nesbø – A fantastic boozy cop with a chaotic life.

2. What was the very first book you remember reading and really loving, and why?

Run Baby Run (1968) by Nicky Cruz with Jamie Buckingham. I was twelve when I first read it when, first in English and again when it appeared in Icelandic. I must have read it at least ten times before I was fifteen. I don’t know exactly what it was, but there was something about this young boy’s attitude and circumstances that refused to let me go.

3. Before your debut crime novel, what else had you written (if anything) - unpublished manuscripts, short stories, articles?

There’s not much to tell, except that in my twenties I wrote some crime stories that are longhand manuscripts in the bottom of a drawer. I picked them up not long ago and have to say that the imagination was all there, but the style had a long way to go. But style can always do with improvement...

4. Outside of writing and writing-related activities (book events, publicity), what do you really like to do, leisure and activity-wise?

I love spending time in good company, but my interests are golf, fishing and shooting. I paint a lot and I’m aiming for an exhibition in April 2022.

5. What is one thing that visitors to your hometown should do, that isn't in the tourist brochures or perhaps they wouldn’t initially consider,?

Come with me to the local pub, and we could take a walk to Bessastaðir. There’s always a chance the President will be sitting on the steps.

6. If your life was a movie, which actor could you see playing you?

I wish I could say Anthony Hopkins, but to be realistic, let’s go with John Travolta ... or even Benedict Cumberbatch.

7. Of your writings, which is your favourite or a bit special to you for some particular reason, and why?

I love to write dialogue that brings older people into the story. So I always make sure to have older people somewhere in every story. This may be because I was brought up partly around the older generation, including my grandparents. I also spent a lot of time in the countryside as a youngster, in a very old-fashioned environment and surrounded by older people.

8. What was your initial reaction, and how did you celebrate, when you were first accepted for publication? Or when you first saw your debut story in book form on a bookseller’s shelf?

There’s no word for the mixture of feelings – pride, it felt partly like a dream, a touch of self-satisfaction, but apart from all that, it was terrifying.

9. What is the strangest or most unusual experience you have had at a book signing, author event, or literary festival?

My very first panel. I was so nervous speaking English that I could hardly remember a word. What made it worse was that I seemed to have forgotten my own language as well. 

Thank you Oskar. We appreciate you chatting to Crime Watch. 

You can discover more about Oskar at his website, and follow him on Twitter. 

Dickens and the Communist regime: an interview with Bogdan Hrib

Kia ora and haere mai, welcome to the latest instalment of our 9mm interview series, which returned in 2021 after a hiatus last year. 

This author interview series has now been running for over a decade, on and off, and today marks the 231st edition. Thanks for reading over the years. I've had tonnes of fun chatting to some amazing writers and bringing their thoughts and stories to you. 

You can check out the full list of of past interviewees here. Some amazing writers.

If you've got a favourite crime writer who hasn't yet been featured, let me know in the comments or by sending me a message, and I'll look to make that happen for you. Even as things with this blog may evolve moving forward, I'll continue to interview crime writers and review crime novels.

Today I'm very pleased to welcome Romanian journalist, engineer, publisher, university professor, and author Bogdan Hrib to Crime Watch. I had the pleasure of hanging out a little with Bogdan back in May 2019 when we both attended the wonderful Newcastle Noir festival. I was chairing a panel on Australian and New Zealand crime writing, and he was part of a fascinating panel showcasing Romanian crime fiction. Plenty of fun chats were had in the green room!

Bogdan and I had some good conversations about loving crime fiction and our local crime writing communities in smaller markets - and how if you're passionate about the genre you can end up wearing lots of hats across writing, reviewing, events, and more! Along with writing his own crime fiction and publishing that of others, Bogdan is also a past vice-President of the Romanian Crime Writers Club and the organiser of the International Mystery & Thriller Festival in Râșnov (2011-2015). 

His own crime writing centres on Stelian Munteanu, a book-editor with a sideline doing international police work. The latter three of six novels in the series have been translated into English - I read and enjoyed the second of those, The Greek Connection, earlier this year. The latest book, Resilience, was published in Romania early in the pandemic, and in English this autumn. 

Bogdan Hrib is a busy man with many hats, making a real difference to Central and Eastern European crime writing. But for now, he becomes the latest author to stare down the barrel of 9mm. 

9MM INTERVIEW WITH BOGDAN HRIB

1. Who is your favourite recurring crime fiction hero/detective?

Difficult to chose one, so… from US – Jack Reacher, from the North – Kurt Wallander, from UK: Jimmy Perez from Shetland and John Rebus from Edinburgh.

2. What was the very first book you remember reading and really loving, and why?

I think that Oliver Twist. Why? Because I received the book as a present, I believe… and because it was about a boy from an untouchable city – London. During that period, in Romania, the Communist regime tried to prove that Capitalism was vulgar, creepy and almost dissolute… The books by Dickens are very social… So they have published a lot of classic sad tales and not contemporary happy-ending’s novels for children, like Paddington Bear or others.

3. Before your debut crime novel, what else had you written (if anything) unpublished manuscripts, short stories, articles?

When I was 12 years old, during the 70’s, I’ve stayed for a couple of weeks in a hospital for a small surgery and I’ve written a sort of Romanian adventure novel inspired by The Mysterious Island, by Jules Verne. I was born next to Titan Park in Bucharest (which is also described in Resilience) and in the middle of the artificial lake of that park it is, of course an… artificial island. And for my teenage mind it was like a far, far away mysterious island. It was handwritten and nobody read it because it was a real imitation of Verne’s novel. During the 80’s, I’ve written some very short stories… for fun. Some of it a bit SF… also nothing published. During the early 90’s, I was photojournalist for an important daily newspaper and I wrote dozens of feature stories. My debut crime novel came very late, in 2006…

4. Outside of writing and writing-related activities (book events, publicity), what do you really like to do, leisure and activity-wise?

Reading and travelling… but in a way are also related with writing. Reading crime fiction for all around the world (I’m also a publisher and that’s part of my job. A great job!) and travelling with my wife and a camera on the left shoulder, discovering new places – wonderful cities (also with incredibly hidden coffee shops) or beaches, woods, castles, mountains… This could be a fantastic life.

5. What is one thing that visitors to your hometown should do, that isn't in the tourist brochures, or perhaps they wouldn’t initially consider?

Only one… I can’t imagine more for now. So…Foișorul de Foc (literally The Fire Tower), build in 1890, is a 42-metre high building. It was used in the past as an observation tower by the firemen. Foișorul de Foc had a double role, as it was also designed to be a water tower, too. However, after the building was finished, the local water utility had no pumps powerful enough to fill it with water. (Legend or not, I can’t tell it!) Foișorul de Foc was used by the fire fighters until 1935, when it became ineffective, as more and more high buildings were built in Bucharest, and introduction of the telephone reduced the need for a watchtower. In 1963, it has been transformed into a Fire-fighters' Museum. (quotes from local history pages)

6. If your life was a movie, which actor could you see playing you?

When I think of the classics maybe Sean Connery or Michael Caine. Nowadays Colin Firth, he is probably same generation with me.

7. Of your writings, which is your favourite or a bit special to you for some particular reason, and why?

Always the more recent work, in this case Resilience. But Resilience it is also an elaborate novel, with a lot of history hidden inside the pages and my personal feelings about our times, about fake-news and social media and, of course, about the social pattern of my fellow Romanian citizens. It is like a cry or like a manifest… No, no, it is just a crime novel!

8. What was your initial reaction, and how did you celebrate, when you were first accepted for publication? Or when you first saw your debut story in book form on a bookseller’s shelf?

My debut novel was published by… me, being the Crime fiction publisher at Tritonic! So I didn’t have a problem with acceptance, but when I saw for the first time my name on a cover it was really a shock, like a part of me left my body and my mind and went between these covers. A shock and happiness. And another absolutely great moment was when a reader asked me for the first autograph…

9. What is the strangest or most unusual experience you have had at a book signing, author event, or literary festival

I’m remembering two experiences about autographs… First one when a Romanian reader, (My wife and I were with a big group of tourists) ask me if I am Hrib and demanding me an autograph on a boat sailing around Malta Island. This was the happy moment, the other (more strange) was when, at a book fair after I’ve just sold one of my books to an unknown reader I’ve ask him if he wants also an autograph because, how lucky for him, I’m the author of the novel. He answered immediately very angry ‘Good Lord, why do you want to soil the book?!’ and he ran away. No comment!

Thank you Bogdan. We appreciate you chatting to Crime Watch. 

You can discover more about Bogdan at the Corylus Books website, or in this video interview, where Newcastle Noir founder Dr Jacky Collins – AKA Dr Noir – chats with Bogdan and translator Marina Sofia about Resilience.

Review: A CRACK IN THE WALL

A CRACK IN THE WALL by Claudia Piñeiro, translated by Miranda France (Bitter Lemon, 2013)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

Pablo Simó's life is a mess. His career as an architect is at a deadend; reduced to designing soulless office buildings desecrating the heart of Buenos Aires. His marriage seems to be one endless argument with his wife over the theatrics of their rebellious teenage daughter.

To complicate matters, Pablo has long been attracted to sexy office secretary Marta Horvat, who is probably having an affair with his boss. Everything changes with the unexpected appearance of Leonor, a beautiful young woman who brings to light a crime that happened years before, a crime that everyone in the office wants forgotten, at all costs.

This is a novel that I'd been meaning to read for a while, having met Claudia Piñeiro, Argentina's Queen of Crime Writing, at Crimefest a few years ago and been impressed by her onstage and when I interviewed her for the 9mm series. I finally got to it during the pandemic. 

(As so often happens, having to focus on reading and reviewing new release and upcoming books for magazines - plus other recent tales for awards judging and prep for festival panels etc - meant my reading time was devoured and this wee gem of Latin noir sat on my shelf for far too long.)

Let's get this out of the way first: if you're a big fan of police procedurals or classic murder mysteries and are curious about a Latin American equivalent to stretch your wings a wee bit, Piñeiro's writing may not be what you're looking for, no matter how stylish her prose and deep her characterisation. The Argentine author writes unusual tales that are more akin to noir-ish character studies, psychological explorations of people and place. 

Absorbing, intriguing, and quite different to much of what's out there. 

A CRACK IN THE WALL is a case in point. It's centred on Pablo Simó, a middle-aged Buenos Aires architect who is muddling through a rather dull existence. He's underappreciated at work and home, but perhaps that's because he doesn't hold himself in much regard either. Chicken-egg? His notebook is full of sketches for an office tower he'd like to see built one day, and he has fantasies about his co-worker Marta, but those are mere dreams and distractions that occasionally prick at his dreary life. He trundles on until his life is rocked by the appearance of a beautiful young woman with ties to past misdeeds. 

Pablo hoped that past had been buried, literally. 

Piñeiro, adroitly translated by Miranda France, lures readers in with her wit and storytelling infused with philosophy and atypical characters and set-ups. We travel through past and present with the under-pressure Pablo, uncovering the truth behind many things. A CRACK IN THE WALL is thoughtful, character-centric crime fiction infused with social commentary that delivers on many levels. 

Something a little different; well worth a read. 

Craig Sisterson is a lapsed Kiwi lawyer who now lives in London and writes for magazines and newspapers in several countries. He’s interviewed hundreds of crime writers and talked about the genre on national radio, top podcasts, and onstage at festivals on three continents. Craig's been a judge of the Ned Kelly Awards, McIlvanney Prize, is founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards and co-founder of Rotorua Noir. His book SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, was published in 2020.

Birdsong and unconventional heroes: an interview with Mercedes Rosende

Kia ora and haere mai, welcome to the latest weekly instalment of our 9mm interview series for 2021. This author interview series has now been running for over a decade, and today marks the 220th overall edition. 

Thanks for reading over the years. I've had tonnes of fun chatting to some amazing writers and bringing their thoughts and stories to you. 

My plan is to to publish 40-50 new author interviews in the 9mm series this year. You can check out the full list of of past interviewees here. Some amazing writers.

If you've got a favourite crime writer who hasn't yet been featured, let me know in the comments or by sending me a message, and I'll look to make that happen for you. Even as things with this blog may evolve moving forward, I'll continue to interview crime writers and review crime novels.

Today I'm very pleased to welcome award-winning Uruguayan lawyer, journalist, and author Mercedes Rosende to Crime Watch. She is the author of the darkly comic thriller CROCODILE TEARS, a devilish tale of heists and betrayals set in the author's hometown of Montevideo. That book - her first translated into English - won the LiBeraturpreis in 2019, a German literary prize that celebrates the best books from female authors from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Arab world. It was made available for English-speaking readers this year thanks to Bitter Lemon Press and translator Tim Gutteridge.

I've read several Latin American crime writers over the years, from a variety of countries (even Bolivia), but CROCODILE TEARS was my first ever from Uruguay (a country where I farewelled 2007 and said gidday to 2008, during four months in South America). As I said in a review earlier this month, CROCODILE TEARS is "a real cracker. A darkly comic story of weak men, strong women, and a heist gone horribly wrong. A sort of Latin American calamity noir; shades of Fargo - though shifted to the grimy heat of Montevideo rather than the icy climes of the American Midwest."

As part of winning the LiBeraturpreis in 2019, Rosende - who also lives in France - received financial support to help implement a literary project for women or girls in Uruguay. She has won several other prizes for her novels and short stories, including the Premio Municipal de Narrativa for ‘Demasiados Blues’ in 2005, and the National Literature Prize for ‘La Muerte Tendrá tus Ojos’ in 2008. 

But for now, Mercedes Rosende becomes the latest author to stare down the barrel of 9mm. 

9MM INTERVIEW WITH MERCEDES ROSENDE 

1. Who is your favourite recurring crime fiction hero/detective?

I have several crime fiction heroes but one of the first that really fascinated me was Georges Simenon’s detective, Maigret, who I initially read as an adolescent and I’ve continued to reread (or rewatch on TV) ever since. Later, I became more Latin American in my tastes and I was also drawn to less conventional heroes, people living outside the law, women. And that’s how I came up with Ursula, the protagonist of my own novels. But Maigret will always have a place in my personal pantheon.

2. What was the very first book you remember reading and really loving, and why?

I read books for younger readers that were generally translated into or, at best, written in European Spanish, which is not the same as the Spanish we speak in Uruguay. My first “grown-up” book was Montevideanos by the great Uruguayan author, Mario Benedetti, and it showed me it was possible to write in “Uruguayan”, in the language I used with my friends and family.

3. Before your debut crime novel, what else had you written (if anything) - unpublished manuscripts, short stories, articles?

Before I wrote my first crime novel, I had written short stories – but hardly any of them were crime stories – and I’d published one book.

4. Outside of writing and writing-related activities (book events, publicity), what do you really like to do, leisure and activity-wise?

I love having free time, I cope very well with having nothing to do, I enjoy it without either feeling guilty or having the urge to fill every minute with activities to replace work. I enjoy gardening, I like watching movies with friends, and I really love travelling. I also do occasional work for an NGO monitoring elections in other countries. It’s completely different from my work as a writer and I really enjoy it and put a lot of passion into it.

5. What is one thing that visitors to your hometown should do, that isn't in the tourist brochures, or perhaps they wouldn’t initially consider?

The best time to visit Montevideo is in early January, when the city is silent and abandoned, there are no cars on the streets, no people on the pavements. It’s the summer holidays and a lot of people leave town for the beach, although Montevideo also has its own beaches. In fact, I’m answering these questions in Montevideo in January, and every day I’m woken up by the deafening sound... of birdsong.

6. If your life was a movie, which actor could you see playing you?

It would need to be a Uruguayan actress because I’d like them to talk like me, in my local language.

7. Of your writings, which is your favourite or a bit special to you for some particular reason, and why?

My most recent book is always my favourite, so just now the one that feels special to me is a collection of short stories called Historias de mujeres feas (Stories of Ugly Women).

8. What was your initial reaction, and how did you celebrate, when you were first accepted for publication? Or when you first saw your debut story in book form on a bookseller’s shelf?

I was walking down a street in the centre of town, my first book had just come out, a book of short stories called Demasiados blues (Too Many Blues). I went past a small bookshop and there it was, sitting in the window. I was amazed but I also felt like a bit of an imposter. And I still feel like an imposter, like someone who’s passing herself off as a writer.

9. What is the strangest or most unusual experience you have had at a book signing, author event, or literary festival?

Taking part in the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2018 and 2019 was one of the most amazing experiences of my life: I went from a tiny fair, in Montevideo, to the largest in the world. Without any stopovers in between!

Thank you Mercedes, we appreciate you chatting to Crime Watch. 

You can follow Mercedes on Twitter here, and nab a copy of CROCODILE TEARS here. 

Review: SMOKE SCREEN

SMOKE SCREEN by Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger, translated by Megan Turney (Orenda Books, 2021)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

Oslo, New Year’s Eve. The annual firework celebration is rocked by an explosion, and the city is put on terrorist alert.

Police officer Alexander Blix and blogger Emma Ramm are on the scene, and when a severely injured survivor is pulled from the icy harbour, she is identified as the mother of two-year-old Patricia Semplass, who was kidnapped on her way home from kindergarten ten years earlier … and never found.

Blix and Ramm join forces to investigate the unsolved case, as public interest heightens, the terror threat is raised, and it becomes clear that Patricia’s disappearance is not all that it seems…

I'm a fan of both Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger, as storytellers and just great blokes too (oh for the days when we all perhaps took for granted the many opportunities to hang out at crime writing festivals). So I was intrigued by their teaming up for a series starring Oslo cop Alexander Blix and online journalist Emma Ramm (interestingly the two protagonists reflect Horst and Enger's prior careers - though I don't know if this means they each write that particular character's viewpoint). 

SMOKE SCREEN opens with New Year's Eve celebrations at the harbour in Oslo, an icy borderline between one year ending and another beginning. But the year isn't the only thing to end as midnight approaches; a bomb goes off, and lives are lost. An investigation begins. Is it a terrorist attack - or something more targeted? The fact that among the victims is a woman some believe was involved with the disappearance of her own daughter ten years before, has Blix wondering if there was something more to the bombing than a random attack on the public at a busy time and place. 

After the explosive beginning, this novel settles into an absorbing tale that draws you in slowly and surely as Blix and Ramm both look to get to the bottom of both what happened at the harbour, and why, and what happened to little Patricia Semplass all those years ago (a case that still troubles Blix). 

Both are motivated by something more than just their professional roles. 

Horst and Enger almost lull readers with their smooth style as events unfold, setting us up for the revelations to come. Blix and Ramm are intriguing main characters, linked by tragedies and operating in ways similar and contrasting. It's a fascinating relationship. The characterisation and character interplay is good throughout, from our heroes to Blix's police partner Kovic to various individuals that crop up in the story: incarcerated father, grieving parent, immigrant hotel maid, and more.

There's a sense of humanity, and sorrow, throughout the book. Of the weight of actions taken and tragedies old and new. It's a clever tale that mesmerises more than hitting you over the head with obvious action or style. While at the same time it does pack some emotional oomph. 

A good read from two very good authors. 

Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned features writer from New Zealand, now living in London. He writes about crime fiction for newspapers, magazines and websites in several countries, and has appeared onstage at festivals on three continents. He's been a judge of the Ned Kelly Awards and the McIlvanney Prize, and is founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards and co-founder of Rotorua Noir. His first non-fiction book, SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, was published in 2020. 

Review: PASSENGER 23

PASSENGER 23 by Sebastian Fitzek, translated by Jamie Bulloch (Head of Zeus, 2021) 

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

Every year, on average 23 people disappear without a trace from cruise ships. No one has ever come back. Until now.

Five years ago Martin Schwarz, a police psychologist, lost his wife and son. They were holidaying on a cruise ship when they simply vanished. A lackluster investigation was unable to shed any light on what happened—murder-suicide being the coroner's verdict. It is a verdict that has haunted Martin ever since, blighting his life. 

But then he is contacted by an elderly woman, a writer, who claims to have information regarding their fate and wants him to come on board The Sultan of the Seas immediately. She explains that his wife and son are not the only mother and child pair to have disappeared. Only a few months ago another mother and daughter also vanished. She believes there may be a serial killer on board. But when the missing daughter reappears—carrying the teddy bear of Martin's missing son—it becomes apparent that the truth could be much, much worse...

Berlin thriller author Sebastian Fitzek is an absolutely massive name across Europe, though until recently his tales have only sporadically been available in English (sometimes as audio dramas but not in print). His debut, THERAPY, knocked Dan Brown from atop the bestseller list in Germany. His books have now sold 13 million copies, been translated into 24 languages, won numerous awards, and been adapted for both screen (five films) and stage. Along with audio dramas and even board games. 

So I went into PASSENGER 23 quite curious - as I'd heard a fair bit about him as a thriller writer (the biggest in Germany), but hadn't yet read any of his work. I came away very much seeing what all the fuss was about. It's a high-concept book that also delivers on character depth and style. 

Like Stuart MacBride and Paul Cleave, Fitzek is unafraid about taking readers into some pretty dark places, yet does so with a touch that means things never seem gratuitous. There's emotional impact and suggestion and powerful writing. 

After suffering a huge personal tragedy while he was undercover, police psychologist Martin Schwartz is now addicted to the most dangerous undercover gigs. He has nothing left to lose. But he's lured onto the floating township that is The Sultan of the Seas cruise ship by something more personal after the missing daughter of a presumed murder-suicide reappears onboard months later. 

While looking to help the girl who came back from the dead - while fending off the machinations of those more concerned with publicity, business, and other matters than the girl's wellbeing - can Martin also uncover the truth behind his own tragedy? And perhaps hunt a serial killer – or worse – at sea?

Fitzek drops readers into a setting that when you stop to think about it, is like a floating town. Imagine a dizzying array of cultures, personalities, and vices all thrust together in a contained space, living side-by-side with no law enforcement. It's a dicey situation, and a landscape where it would be very easy to make someone disappear. A ship could have travelled many miles on the vast ocean before anyone even realised someone had been lost at sea - by suicide, accident, or something far more sinister. 

Evidence washed away by the currents. 

Overall I thought PASSENGER 23 was a terrific tale. Fitzek delivers a cracking good read that has personality and punch to its prose, along with the high-concept set-up and well-drawn characters that make you care. And fear. And laugh. There's several nasty topics that are explored (eg paedophile rings and child abuse), so it could be too dark for some. But it never feels gratuitous. 

While English-speaking readers are playing catch-up with Fitzek's oeuvre, the good news is that Head of Zeus are publishing five of his books in a 12-month period, so there's lots of great reading ahead. 

Take a look at this one. I'll certainly be reading the others (eg AMOK, SEAT 7A). 

Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned features writer from New Zealand, now living in London. He has been a judge of the Ned Kelly Awards and the McIlvanney Prize, and is founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards and co-founder of Rotorua Noir. His first non-fiction book, SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, was published in 2020. You can heckle him on Twitter.

Review: CROCODILE TEARS

CROCODILE TEARS by Mercedes Rosende, translated by Tim Gutteridge (Bitter Lemon, 2021)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

The setting: Montevideo’s Old Town, with its dark alleys, crumbling facades and watchful residents. The gig: an armoured truck robbery. The cast: Diego, a failed kidnapper with weak nerves, Ursula Lopez, an amateur criminal with an insatiable appetite, the Hobo, a notorious hoodlum with excessive self-confidence. Dr Antinucci, a shady lawyer with big plans. And finally, Leonilda Lima, a washed-out police inspector with a glimmer of faith in justice..

One of my favourite things about books and reading is the ability to explore new places and perspectives via a page-whirring story. Perhaps growing up in New Zealand, a small (in population) country at the bottom of the world, played into me always being curious about the wider world. I've loved mystery and thriller tales since I was a kid too (thanks Hardy Boys etc), so nowadays it's no surprise I really like to read crime fiction from all over the world, and am a big fan of the publishers and translators who bring Anglophones like myself great stories from other languages. 

I've read several Latin American crime writers over the years, from a variety of countries (even Bolivia), but never anything from Uruguay (a country I briefly visited in 2008). Until now. 

So it was with some excitement I began reading CROCODILE TEARS recently, hoping to be dazzled rather than disappointed. Fortunately this first tale by Uruguayan lawyer and storyteller Mercedes Rosende to be translated into English is a real cracker. A darkly comic story of weak men, strong women, and a heist gone horribly wrong. A sort of Latin American calamity noir; shades of Fargo - though shifted to the grimy heat of Montevideo rather than the icy climes of the American Midwest. 

Diego is in prison, awaiting trial for a bumbling kidnapping plot that went awry. He's trying to survive the dangers of Uruguayan incarceration, only to be unexpectedly released thanks to a shady lawyer. The price? He has to team up with the notoriously violent Hobo to hijack an armoured car. 

What could go wrong?

Meanwhile Ursula Lopez is a voyeuristic woman with big dreams and big appetites. She's looking for a better life, by any means. Inspector Leonilda Lima is trying to keep her faith in justice while scrabbling among the misogyny and corruption of her police colleagues.

Lives collide, mayhem ensues. 

I thoroughly enjoyed CROCODILE TEARS. It's a deliciously dark thriller that gives readers a bit of a wink as it careens along, slipping between the perspectives and viewpoints of a variety of characters - as well as an authorial aside or two. Rosende, ably translated by Gutteridge, has some pizazz to her prose. There's an undercurrent of energy that suits the mayhem of the events that unfold. There's also something of a voyeuristic quality to the way Rosende takes readers into these characters lives, while commenting on them here and there. We're like Ursula, peering into the lives of others, fascinated. 

CROCODILES TEARS is a very good read that immerses us in the seamy world of some unusual, and quite memorable characters. If you enjoy darkly comic thrillers or stories of bumbling criminals and plans gone violently asunder, then I'd highly recommend you take a look. Another welcome addition to the global crime writing landscape. I'm hoping for more (in translation) from Rosende. 

Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned features writer from New Zealand, now living in London. He has been a judge of the Ned Kelly Awards and the McIlvanney Prize, and is founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards and co-founder of Rotorua Noir. His first non-fiction book, SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, was published in 2020. You can heckle him on Twitter. 

Review: HOTEL CARTAGENA

HOTEL CARTAGENA by Simone Buchholz, translated by Rachel Ward (Orenda Books, 2021)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

Twenty floors above the shimmering lights of the Hamburg docks, Public Prosecutor Chastity Riley is celebrating a birthday with friends in a hotel bar when twelve heavily armed men pull out guns, and take everyone hostage. Among the hostages is Konrad Hoogsmart, the hotel owner, who is being targeted by a man whose life – and family – have been destroyed by Hoogsmart’s actions.

With the police looking on from outside – their colleagues’ lives at stake – and Chastity on the inside, increasingly ill from an unexpected case of sepsis, the stage is set for a dramatic confrontation … and a devastating outcome for the team … all live streamed in a terrifying bid for revenge.

"For Alan Rickman". 

The dedication preceding the latest novel in bestselling Queen of Krimi Simone Buchholz's excellent series is short and simple. Seeing it there on the page a single day after social media had been abuzz with tributes to the late, great British actor on the anniversary of his death was strange, and poignant. 

As I turned the pages and began to devour HOTEL CARTAGENA it became clear the simple dedication wasn't just a nod to a fine career ended to soon, but a wink towards what was to come. 

For this ninth adventure for Hamburg prosecutor Chastity Riley (fourth in English; the translations began with book six) has echoes of one of Rickman’s most iconic roles: Hans Gruber.

Rather than the Nakatomi Plaza, however, in HOTEL CARTAGENA it is the 20th-storey hotel bar perched above the Hamburg docks that comes under siege from a dozen heavily armed men. Unfortunately for Chastity Riley, she was in the bar when the guns came out. Celebrating her friend Faller's birthday with their circle of friends, minus Ivo Stepanovic. Bleeding badly from a cut hand. 

Why are the hostage-takers waiting so long before making any demands? Can the police outside – including Chastity’s sometimes-bedmate Ivo - stop whatever the armed men have planned? 

Is the hard-living public prosecutor going to go all John McClane, or find another way to defuse the volatile situation? As a livestream begins, it becomes apparent the armed men have a specific purpose...

Buchholz writes like the noir equivalent of a jazz musician. There are familiar crime elements, but with a twist. Some distinctiveness and quirky originality. Plenty of style. Everything flows while being unpredictable, the reader never sure where she may take her melody. HOTEL CARTAGENA oscillates between past and present: from the (mis)adventures of a young German in Latin America to the peril faced by Chastity and her friends in the hotel bar. There's a verse-chorus, verse-chorus effect, building smoothly to a memorable crescendo, and creating an unforgettable song. 

There's so much to like and love about this book, about Buchholz's storytelling and about the great translation of Rachel Ward that delivers plenty of personality through the prose. 

The one blip for long-time series fans may be that Chastity Riley is not such a strong centrepiece in this novel. She's important, key, and our viewpoint in many of the chapters, but there's a lot going on away from her too, with the numerous passages from the past detailing the key journeys of others that may have led to the hostage situation. Yet at the same time, HOTEL CARTAGENA reads like a key phase in the arc Chastity has undergone throughout the series. 

Relationships and lives are coming to a crossroads, or an end. If Chastity can survive her injury, and her troublesome attraction to the ringleader of the armed men, what will follow?

Overall, Buchholz has delivered another very fine crime thriller that blends plenty of action with thought-provoking moments and explorations of character. There's poetry to Buchholz's writing, figuratively and literally. A crackle, zing, or zest that pulses through. Recommended. 

Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned features writer from New Zealand, now living in London. He has been a judge of the Ned Kelly Awards and the McIlvanney Prize, and is founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards and co-founder of Rotorua Noir. His first non-fiction book, SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, was published in 2020. You can heckle him on Twitter. 

Writing for lazy people: an interview with Tim Gutteridge

Kia ora and haere mai, welcome to the third instalment of our 9mm interview series for 2021 - we're back on a regular track now after almost a year's hiatus. 

This author interview series has now been running for over a decade (though perhaps we shouldn't really count the last year), and today marks the 215th overall edition. Thanks for reading over the years. I've had tonnes of fun chatting to some amazing writers and bringing their thoughts and stories to you. 

My plan is to to publish 40-50 new author interviews in the 9mm series this year. You can check out the full list of of past interviewees here. Some amazing writers.

If you've got a favourite crime writer who hasn't yet been featured, let me know in the comments or by sending me a message, and I'll look to make that happen for you. Even as things with this blog may evolve moving forward, I'll continue to interview crime writers and review crime novels.

Today is a bit of a special day as we're doing something for the very first time on Crime Watch. While I've interviewed several crime writers for 9mm over the years who write in other languages and are translated into English, and have interviewed translators themselves about the art of crime fiction translation for a large feature in a US magazine, I have never until now included a translator in the 9mm series.

Thanks to the hard work of a diverse array of literary translators, English-speaking mystery fans are increasingly able to enjoy compelling tales from all parts of our globe, that originated in a wide array of languages. Personally, I love this. Not just the Nordic Noir wave of the past decade-plus, but Japanese mysteries, Afrikaans crime, Latin American noir translated from Spanish and Portuguese, and more.

Recently I read my first-ever Uruguayan crime novel, CROCODILE TEARS by Mercedes Rosende. It's a new 2021 release from Bitter Lemon Press, a terrific small publisher that has done so much to bring a huge variety of excellent authors from all over the world to a broader readership. Here's the blurb: 

The setting: Montevideo’s Old Town, with its dark alleys, crumbling facades and watchful residents. The gig: an armoured truck robbery. The cast: Diego, a failed kidnapper with weak nerves, Ursula Lopez, an amateur criminal with an insatiable appetite, the Hobo, a notorious hoodlum with excessive self-confidence. Dr Antinucci, a shady lawyer with big plans. And finally, Leonilda Lima, a washed-out police inspector with a glimmer of faith in justice.

Mercedes Rosende is a Uruguayan lawyer, journalist, and author whose novels and short stories have won several awards in Latin America and Germany. CROCODILE TEARS is her first novel to be translated into English, but while we are experiencing Rosende's story, it is the words of Tim Gutteridge we're reading. 

Originally from Scotland and now living in Spain, Tim is a literary translator specialising in Spanish-to-English translation. He has been an Assistant Professor at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, and has also worked as a bilingual lexicographer and English language teacher. Tim has translated fiction, non-fiction, and theatre. CROCODILE TEARS is his first crime novel translation. 

But for now, he becomes the 215th person (and first translator) to stare down the barrel of 9mm.

9MM INTERVIEW WITH TIM GUTTERIDGE

1. Who is your favourite recurring crime fiction hero/detective?

My reading habits are a bit unusual as I spend a lot of time keeping tabs on what’s new in Spanish, particularly by authors whose work hasn’t been translated. One Spanish crime series that I like a lot is by Berna González Harbour, and the protagonist is a female police officer, Superintendent Ruiz. The latest in the series is called El sueño de la razón (The Sleep of Reason) and it gives a very good portrayal of the sense of lost optimism that a lot of people in Spain have felt for the last decade or so. It’s a correction to the perception of sun and siestas that many outsiders have.

2. What was the very first book you remember reading and really loving, and why?

I think the first paperback I read was Down with skool! by Geoffrey Willans and Roger Searle. It’s one of those books that works at lots of levels, so I could read and enjoy it as a 7-year-old but looking back I realize it’s also a rather surreal and very scathing take on the whole English boarding school thing: Malory Towers meets One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Anyone interested in why the English ruling classes are generally such a bunch of ghastly sociopaths might want to start here.

3. Before the first novel you'd translated, what else had you written (if anything) - unpublished manuscripts, short stories, articles?

Well, translation is really writing for lazy people. Someone else does all the hard work – plot, character, style etc – and I just come along and copy it but in a different language. I blog as well, and also write the odd piece for professional journals. Perhaps inevitably, I also have a half-written play in my bottom drawer, about the Scottish colony of Darien (on the Panama isthmus) a crazy scheme that was meant to make Scotland rich by allowing it to control the Atlantic-Pacific trade route in the early modern period but instead bankrupted the country and precipitated us into union with England. On the journey out to Darien (which is tropical) the holds of the Scottish ships were full of horsehair wigs and woollen socks to trade with the natives. The mind boggles.

4. When you’re not translating, what do you really like to do, leisure and activity-wise?

I think the past year has really made me appreciate the little things: spending time with my kids, walking the dogs, baking, hanging out with friends on the beach.

5. What is one thing that visitors to your hometown should do, that isn't in the tourist brochures, or perhaps they wouldn’t initially consider?

When people think of Edinburgh they tend to think of the Castle and the Royal Mile. I actually think Edinburgh Castle is one of the worst castles in Scotland. It’s great from the outside but inside it’s just a boring shell, trashed by the military for a couple of centuries. Edinburgh’s best-kept secret (until now) is Portobello beach. I love the fact that, pretty much regardless of the weather, it’s busy. People play beach volleyball on windy grey October days, they swim without wetsuits in November. There’s something very Scottish about the refusal to make concessions to reality. It’s life-affirming – but also a bit mad.

6. If your life was a movie, which actor could you see playing you?

I’m struggling to imagine what that movie would be like – or who would pay to see it! But I’m going to plump for Javier Bardem – directed by Pedro Almodóvar.

7. Of your translations, which is your favourite or particularly special, and why?

Because I work as both a literary and a non-literary translator, the reality is that a lot of my translation work isn’t in general circulation. Seeing reviews of my published work actually makes me think fondly of all the unpublished stuff – I guess it’s a bit like a parent remembering the other kids when one of them wins prizes. Apart from that, I’d like to mention my first book translation, The Mountain That Eats Men, by Ander Izagirre. It’s a piece of narrative non-fiction about 20th century Bolivia, which describes the situation of children working in the country’s exhausted tin and silver mines. The book fell into a bit of a marketing black hole so didn’t get much attention but the source text was great and really wide-ranging – from Quechua-inflected dialogue to wonderful descriptions from 17th century colonial chronicles – and I’m still proud of how I handled it.

8. What was your initial reaction, and how did you celebrate, when you were first asked to translate a crime novel? Or when you first saw your first translation in book form on a bookseller’s shelf?

Crocodile Tears is actually the first crime novel I’ve translated, although I hope there will be more to come. The business of getting commissioned to do a given translation varies from book to book, and you have to remember that acquiring the rights and commissioning the translator are separate processes, so that even if you’ve been involved with the project by doing a sample or helping the agent to pitch it, there’s always the possibility that another translator will get the gig. I try to deal with that by not being too invested in any given project until I’ve actually signed the contract – and making sure I always have other projects on the go or in the pipeline. I’m wondering now, though, if I missed an opportunity and should have taken a bath in champagne.

9. What is the strangest or most unusual experience you've had at a book signing, author event, or literary festival?

Cue the sound of tiny violins as I tell you that I have only ever signed one book and never done an author event or attended a literary festival. Perhaps that will change in 2021.

Thank you Tim. We appreciate you chatting to Crime Watch

You can read more about Tim and his translation work at his website, and follow him on Twitter. 

Review: BETRAYAL

BETRAYAL by Lilja Sigurðardóttir, translated by Quentin Bates (Orenda Books, 2020)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

Burned out and traumatised by her horrifying experiences around the world, aid worker Úrsula has returned to Iceland. Unable to settle, she accepts a high-profile government role in which she hopes to make a difference again.

But on her first day in the post, Úrsula promises to help a mother seeking justice for her daughter, who had been raped by a policeman, and life in high office soon becomes much more harrowing than Úrsula could ever have imagined. A homeless man is stalking her – but is he hounding her, or warning her of some danger? And why has the death of her father in police custody so many years earlier reared its head again?

As Úrsula is drawn into dirty politics, facing increasingly deadly threats, the lives of her stalker, her bodyguard and even a witch-like cleaning lady intertwine. Small betrayals become large ones, and the stakes are raised ever higher…

If you pick up one of Lilja Sigurðardóttir’s novels expecting the cliched Nordic Noir tropes of dour, alcohol-soaked detectives chipping away at a wintry investigation into a disturbing murder, you’re in for a shock. The award-winning Icelandic storyteller is a sparkling example of the variety of Scandi crime: she crafts slick thrillers with plenty of pace; diverse characters thrust into unexpected situations.

Her ‘Reykjavik Noir’ trilogy centred on a desperate young mother who turns to cocaine smuggling and gets entwined with international drug lords and bankers caught up in white collar crimes and the banking crash. BETRAYAL is something different - a standalone - while still providing plenty of the facets that Anglophone readers have enjoyed in Sigurðardóttir's past tales (ably translated by Bates).

Ursula is a burnt-out aid worker who returns home to Iceland and is arm-twisted to temporarily become a government minister. It’s a desk job where she won’t face the daily horrors of disease, war, and famine that she’s experienced for many years while working in aid camps - experiences that still give her nightmares. But when Ursula makes a promise to help a mother accusing a policeman of raping her daughter – a case others are trying to sweep under the rug – and a homeless man with ties to her past starts stalking her, it seems Iceland can be just as dangerous as war zones and famine-struck nations.

Sigurðardóttir’s latest tale, adroitly translated by Quentin Bates, is about much more than dirty politics and deadly threats. She expertly takes us into the lives of her characters and the traumas they battle. From Ursula to her ambitious bodyguard to the families of the accused policeman and his alleged victim (both of whom are feeling unfairly victimized) to the homeless man who knew Ursula’s murdered father. And perhaps killed him. BETRAYAL is a fine piece of storytelling that touches on several important issues, from the personal to the social and global, while never getting bogged down. 

Very good.

Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned features writer from New Zealand, now living in London. In recent years he’s interviewed hundreds of crime writers and talked about the genre on national radio, top podcasts, and onstage at books festivals on three continents. He has been a judge of the Ned Kelly Awards and the McIlvanney Prize, and is founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards and co-founder of Rotorua Noir. His first non-fiction book, SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, was published in 2020. You can heckle him on Twitter.