Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Around the world in 2015

I did a fair bit of travel in 2015, both literally and literary.  I made physical journeys to England (7), Belgium (2), Germany (2), Scotland, Northern Ireland, Canada, Croatia, Switzerland, Germany, and the United States.  Through fiction I travelled to 21 countries:


Australia
The Dunbar Case by Peter Corris ***

Brazil
Hotel Brasil by Frei Betto ****.5

Canada
Sign of the Cross by Anne Emery ***
Lunenburg by Keith Baker **.5
Buffalo Jump by Howard Shrier ***.5

Eygpt
Dogstar Rising by Parker Bilal ****

England
A Song from Dead Lips by William Shaw ****
In Bitter Chill by Sarah Ward ***.5
Princes Gate by Mark Ellis ***.5
Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy Sayers ***
Easy Streets by Bill James ***
The Detective Branch by Andrew Pepper ****
The Interrogator by Andrew Williams ***
The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie ***.5
Vinnie Got Blown Away by Jeremy Cameron ****
The Hanging Valley by Peter Robinson ***.5
Blacklands by Belinda Bauer ***.5
A Dark Redemption by Stav Sherez ****
Angels Passing by Graham Hurley ****.5
The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L Sayers *****
Brighton Rock by Graham Greene ****
Red Joan by Jennie Rooney *****
The Yard by Alex Grecian ***
Enter a Murderer by Ngaio Marsh ***.5

France
Nazis in the Metro by Didier Daeninckx **.5

Germany
Stasi Child by David Young ****
Lehrter Station by David Downing ***.5
Werewolf by Matthew Pritchard ***.5
Rosa by Jonathan Rabb ****.5

Iceland
Reykjavik Nights by Arnaldur Indridason ****
My Soul to Take by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir ***.5

Ireland
The Last Four Days of Paddy Buckley by Jeremy Massey ***
Unholy Ground by John Brady ****.5
Border Angels by Anthony Quinn ***.5
Little Girl Lost by Brian McGilloway ****
Gun Street Girl by Adrian McKinty ****
The Dead Ground by Claire McGowan ****.5

Italy
The Few by Nadia Dalbuono ***
A Dark Song of Blood by Ben Pastor ***.5

Liberia
Bound by Secrecy by Vamba Sherif ***

Norway
Calling Out For You by Karin Fossum ****

Russia
The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin ***

Scotland
Strange Loyalties by William McIlvanney *****
Lennox by Craig Russell ****
Natural Causes by James Oswald ****
Blue Lightning by Ann Cleeves ****
Pandaemonium by Christopher Brookmyre **** 
Red Bones by Ann Cleeves ***.5

South Africa
Let the Dead Lie by Malla Nunn ****

Sweden
The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo *****

USA
The Getaway by Jim Thompson ***.5
The Music Lovers by Jonathan Valin ***
Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith ***.5
Rough Riders by Charlie Stella ****.5
Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich ****.5
The Instant Enemy by Ross Macdonald ****.5
Concrete Angel by Patricia Abbott ****
The Long-Legged Fly by James Sallis *****
Black Bear by Aly Monroe ***.5
Mangrove Squeeze by Laurence Shames ****
The Exterminators by Bill Fitzhugh ****
Deadlock by Sara Paretsky ***
In The Wind by Barbara Fister ****.5
The Godwulf Manuscript by Robert B Parker ****.5
The Long Home by William Gay ***
Stone Cold by CJ Box ***
A Fine Dark Line by Joe Lansdale *****
Land of Dreams by Vidar Sundstol ****
Fool Moon by Jim Butcher ***
The Circle by Dave Eggers ***.5
California Thriller by Max Byrd ***
Five Little Rich Girls by Lawrence Block *** 
The Informant by Andrew Rosenheim ****
The Day the Music Died by Ed Gorman ***
The Dutch Shoe Mystery by Ellery Queen ***
The Vanished by Bill Pronzini ****.5

Yugoslavia
The Pale House by Luke McCallin *****

More than one country
The Peripheral by William Gibson ***** (USA, England)
The Girl in Berlin by Elizabeth Wilson *** (England, Germany)
Royal Flash by George Fraser Macdonald ***.5 (England, Germany)
The Lady from Zagreb by Philip Kerr **** (Germany, Yugoslavia, Switzerland)
Runaway by Peter May ***.5 (Scotland, England)The General Danced at Dawn by George Macdonald Fraser *** (India, Eygpt, Palenstine, Scotland)

1 comment:

RTD said...

What a tremendous circumlocution of the literary world! I am really impressed and envious, and I will be an unrepentant thief by stealing from your list some authors and titles for my 2016 reading plans. Thanks for allowing my shameless pilfering. All the best from Crime Classics.