About

Photo by Anika Ullmann

I’m Annie Mondegreen and this blog chronicles my trip around the world in 18 detective novels. I’ve put together a list of 18 novels (because 80 seemed impossible to conquer and 8 definitely not enough) that have been recommended by other crime fiction fans and / or have been waiting patiently on my to-be-read list. I tried to spread the novels (relatively) evenly across the continents and for the most part I have tried to steer clear of the notorious “big names”.

In addition to reading around the world, I’m also traveling to the respective countries on my list – not in person, but through songs, movies and documentaries, food and drinks, arts and crafts, and other little activities I can do in my armchair. This mode of traveling has become a favorite past time of mine, even though it was originally born out of necessity because the Coronavirus pandemic brought all actual traveling to a halt.

This is the list of my 18 Sleuths:

  1. New Zealand: Ngaio Marsh’s “Vintage Murder” (1937)
  2. Australia: Emma Viskic’s “Resurrection Bay” (2015)
  3. Japan: Seicho Matsumoto’s “Inspector Imanishi Investigates” (1961)
  4. India: Satyaji Ray’s “The Adventures of Feluda” (1988)
  5. Russia: Boris Akunin’s “The Winter Queen” (1998)
  6. Finland: Antti Tuomainen’s “The Man Who Died” (2016)
  7. Switzerland: Friedrich Glauser’s “Wachtmeister Studer” (1936)
  8. Portugal: Francisco José Viegas’ “Um Crime na Exposição” (2015)
  9. Turkey: Mehmet Murat Somer’s “The Kiss Murder” (2003)
  10. Egypt: Parker Bilal’s “The Golden Scales” (2012)
  11. Nigeria: Leye Adenle’s “Easy Motion Tourist” (2016)
  12. South Africa: Deon Meyer’s “Thirteen Hours” (2009)
  13. Argentina: Manuel Vázquez Montalban’s “The Buenos Aires Quintet” (2003)
  14. Brazil: Rubem Fonseca’s “Agosto” (1990)
  15. Caribbean: Mignon Good Eberhart’s “Speak No Evil” (1941)
  16. Canada: David Montrose’s “The Crime on Cote de Neiges” (1951)
  17. USA: Tony Hillerman’s “The Blessing Way” (1970)
  18. USA, Hawaii: Earl Derr Briggers’ “The House Without a Key” (1932)

UPDATE: Out of solidarity with the Ukrainian people, I’m adding Andrey Kurkov’s “Death and the Penguin” (1996) to my list.

Fancy a short musical trip around the world? Travel with me from Yokohama to Russia, from Egypt and Paris via Portugal to Brazil and to the USA – all in five unique cover songs. I performed these covers in the context of listening parties I streamed on Instagram Live, where I showcased some of my favorite songs that I discovered listening to the countries’ musical histories.

JAPAN
Hako Yamasaki: Yokohama (1958)
(my own creative translation based on several English translations)

RUSSIA
Alla Pugacheva: I Like (1976)
(my own creative translation based on several English translations of Marina Tsvetaeva’s poem)

EGYPT/FRANCE
Dalida: Histoire d’un Amour (1958)

PORTUGAL/BRAZIL
Vinícius de Moraes: Saudades do Brasil em Portugal (1968)

USA
Chris Isaak: Wicked Game (1989)

Please note: My apologies if you have to sit through ads to watch this video. I do not monetize my YouTube videos, but because these are cover songs, the original artists (or rather the copyright holders) will place ads and monetize this video.