If you wish to try mysteries which are not set in either the United States or Great Britain, you might try some of the authors listed below.
Asia
Barbara Cleverly - British author of a series about Detective Joe Sandilands, a Scotland Yard policeman who is
serving with the Calcutta, India police. The novels take place in the 1920's, and offer a fascinating look at the British
government in India. The first book in the series The Last Kashmiri Rose was published in 2001. A bibliography of her books may found at Crime Novelists
Colin Cotterill - The author of The Coroner's Lunch featuring Dr. Siri, a 72 year old coroner in Laos. This is a delightful mystery featuring an unusual detective in a fascinating country. The author's web site.
Tarquin Hall - Author of The Case of the Missing Servant which features Vish Puri who is head of the Most Private Investigations agency in Dehli, India. In this video Tarquin Hall discusses his book and detection in India. Tarquin's Blog
H. F. R. Keating (1926 - 2011 ) - Prolific award-winning author who is best know for the Inspector Ghote series set in Bombay. Keating web site
William Marshall (1944 - ) - An Australian author of a series of mysteries featuring the Yellowthread Street police of Hong Kong.
Miyuki Miyabe - (1960 - ) A prolific author of mysteries, science fiction, and historical fiction. She is the winner of several awards for mysteries and popular fiction. For more information, go to Blizzard Boy web site.
Australia
Charlotte Jay (1919 - 1996) was born in Melville, Adelaide, South Australia. She attended the University of Adelaide, and then worked as a short hand typist and court stenographer. She married Albert Halls who worked with UNESCO, and they traveled to many exotic locations which she used as the settings for her books. She wrote nine mystery novels. She has the great distinction of winning the first Edgar award for best novel in 1954 for her book Beat Not the Bones.
Arthur Upfield (1888 - 1964). Born in Gosport, England. After he failed his advancement tests as a professional surveyor three times, his father shipped him off to Australia at the age of nineteen. He worked as a cowhand and a cook and when WWI started, he joined the army and fought at Gallipoli. His first successful novel The House of Cain was published in 1926. His series detective is Inspector
Napoleon Bonaparte, a half-cast Aborigine Australian who is a member of the Queensland Police Department. A biography of Upfield may be found at the Books and Writers web site.
Giles Blunt - His series detectives are John Cardinal and Lise Delorme who solve crimes in the town of Algonquin Bay. Blunt has received the Arthur Ellis award for crime fiction in 2004. You may enjoy a video of an interview with Giles Blunt. The author's web site
Gail Bowen - author of books featuring Joanne Kilbourn, a crime-solving university professor. Ms Bowen was born in Toronto, and currently is a professor at the First Nations University of Canada. The author's web site.
Alex Brett - author of books featuring Morgan O'Brien who investigates crimes in the science profession.
Barbara Fradkin - a clinical psychologist and writer of a series featuring Ottawa Police Inspector Green. Her novel Honor Among Men won the 2007 Arthur Ellis award for best mystery novel. The author's web site.
Lyn Hamilton - (1944 - 2009) Author of a series of archaeological mysteries set in fascinating locations around the world. For more information, visit her page at the Crime Writers of Canada web site.
Louise Penny- (1958 - ) Award winning Canadian mystery writer a series of mysteries featuring Inspector Gamache which are set in the village of Three Pines. Ms. Penny was a journalist and a host for Canadian radio before becomming a writer. Louise Penny discusses her Three Pines series in this video. Louise Penny's web site.
Michelle Wan - A Canadian author who writes a series of mysteries set in France. If you are an orchid lover, you will enjoy these books. For more information, see the Crime Writers of Canada web site.
L. R. Wright (1939 - 2001) - Author of a long running series featuring Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman Karl Albert. Wright worked as a reporter and editor. When she and her husband moved to Edmonton where he had a full-time job, she could finally spend her time writing. Wright has won the Poe award and two Arthur Ellis awards. For more information, visit the L. R, Wright web site.
The Crime Writers of Canada - A great way to find out more about about Canadian mysteries and their authors.
Europe
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. Akunin's web site.
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.
Andrea Camilleri - (1925 - ) 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.
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. For more information, try this overview by
Antonia Moras.
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.
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 their web site here.
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
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 TatooSteig Larson's web site.
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. She has been a
teacher of English Literature on a US Air Force Base. 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. For more information, visit her web site.
Giulio Leoni - The author of The Mosaic Crimes in which the detective is Dante Alighieri who seeks a murderer in 14th century Florence. Leoni's web site.
Henning Mankell (1948 - ) 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 his web site.
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
Rebecca Pawel - American mystery writer whose series books deal with Spain following the Spanish Civil War. She provides more information at her web site.s
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.
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. Samoza's web site in both Spanish and English.
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.
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, Chief of Police web site.
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
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. For more information, visit Wikipedia.
The Middle East and Africa
Zoe Ferraris - Her first novel Finding Nouf (2008) is a fascinating look at the Saudi Arabia and the position of women in this country. Ms. Ferraris is an American, but has lived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in a conservative Muslim community. Ms. Ferraris' web site
Batya Gur (1947 - 2005). Ms. Gur was born in Tel Aviv, Israel to parents who had survived the holocaust. She earned a Master's degree in Hebrew literature from the Hebrew University of
Jerusalen. She taught in high school and was a literary critic for Haaretz. Her series detective is Chief Superintendent Michael Ohayon of the Jerusalem police. The first book of the series, The
Saturday Morning Murder was published in 1988. A bibliography of her books.
Michael Pearce (1933 - ) - British author of a series about the Mamur Zapt, the chief of the secret police in Cairo, Egypt,
in the years leading up to the First World War. The first book in the series is Mamur Zapt and the Return of the Carpet. Pearce was born in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. You will find a bibliography of his books at Fantastic Fiction.
Home - Where you will find out more about mystery novels, find new authors, and learn about some really great older ones.
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