Mystery Lovers Never-Ending Journey

A tour of mysteries with foreign settings

If high gas prices and the low value of the dollar are keeping you home this summer we’ve got the answer at MLB. Take an international tour with our jam-packed schedule of events with authors from around the world. Plus, we’ve got loads of books with settings from Bangkok to Italy, France to Africa and everywhere in-between.

Let MLB help you keep your reading vistas wide and your carbon footprint small. With each complete set of more than six books, we’ll even throw in a canvas Mystery Lovers Tote Bag.

Now most of you have probably dipped your foot into the wonders of Venice with Donna Leon’s best selling 17 book Guido Brunetti series featuring the brilliant police inspector in Venice Italy. If you haven’t the whole set will give you an elegant tour of the city, the art world, the opera and some of the best of mystery writing.

Another tour popular with all readers is the creation of Alexander McCall Smith and the mystery series featuring Precious Ramotswe, owner of No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, Botswana Africa. The nine book series will give for an upclose and personal view of a country you probably never visited.

And don’t forget the mystery books that travel like Maddy Hunter with international travel escort for Senior tours, Emily Andrews or Dan Fesperman with adventures in Sarajevo, Afghanistan and Cuba.

Globetrotting antiques buyer Lara McClintoch touches down in spots as diverse as Mexico, China and Hungary in the series from Canadian writer Lyn Hamilton .

Herewith, a listing by geographic region, of some mysteries to check out for an armchair tour:

Book passage to Italy

Magdalen Nabb --- Salvatore Guarnaccia series, Carabinieri Marshall, Florence
Donna Leon ---Guido Brunetti series, police inspector Venice
Andrea Camilleri --- Inspector Montalbano series, detective, Sicily
Grace Brophy --- Alessandro Cenni series, commisario, state police of Umbria, Italy
Carlo Lucarelli ---- Commissario De Luca series, policeman in post-Mussolini Italy
Carlo Lucarelli - Grazia Negro series, police inspector, Bologna
Michael Dibden ---- the Aurelio Zen series, Italian police inspector, various Italian locations
David Hewson ---- Nic Costa series, police detective, Rome, Italy
Beverle Graves Myers ---- Tito Amato series, castrato opera singer, 18th century Venice
Stephen Sayor - Gordianus the Finder, an early PI in ancient Rome in the time of Caesar
John Maddox Roberts - Decius Caecillius Metellus, sleuth in ancient Rome

Tour de France

Cara Black --- Aimee LeDuc series, Franco-American PI in Paris---8 books
Georges Simenon ---- Maigret series, police detective, Paris, France---220 mysteries
Fred Vargas ---- Det. Commissaire Jean-Baptise Adamsberg series, Paris, France---4 books
Michael Bond ---- Monsieur Pamplemousse series, French culinary critic
Peter May ---- Enzo MacLeod series, Scottish forensic scientist, Toulouse, France—2 books
                  
Michelle Wan ---- Mara Dunn series, sleuth, Dordogne
Claude Izner ---- Victor Legris, bookseller in 19th century Paris

Scandinavian excursion

Hakkan Nessar - Inspector Van Veeteren series, detective inspector, in a country much like Sweden
Ake Edwardson - Erik Winter series, chief inspector, Gotesborg, Sweden
Karin Fossum - Konrad Sejer series, police inspector, Norway
Anne Holt - Joanna Vik and Adam Stubo series, ex-FBI profiler and police chief, Oslo Norway
Henning Mankell - Kurt Wallander series, police detective, Sweden and others
Kjell Eriksson - Ann Lindell series, Police inspector, Libro, Sweden
Asa Larsson - Rebecka Martinsson series, tax attorney, Sweden
Arnaldur Indridason - Erlendur Sveinsson series, inspector, Reykjavik Iceland
Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo - Martin Beck, police detective, Sweden

Asian Adventures

Qui Xiaolong - Chen Cao series, Shanghai police inspector---5 books
Michael Walters - Inspector Nergui series, Serious Crimes Unit, Mongolia China
Da Chen ----Brothers, a novel modern China
Diane Wei Liang - PI Mei Wang, Beijing China
David Rotenberg - Zhong Fan series, homicide detective, Shanghai, China---4 books
Eliot Pattison -- Shahn Tao Yun series, disgraced Chinese policeman in Tibet---5 books
Lisa See - Liu Holan series, police detective, Beijing, China
I. J. Parker - Akitada Sugawara series, civil servant turned sleuth, feudal Japan---5 books
Lian Hearn - Tales of the Otori series, set in an imaginary ancient Japan---5 books
Natsuko Kirino
Sujata Massey - Rei Shimura series, Japanese American antiques dealer
Takashi Matsuo - Cloud of Sparrows series set in Feudal Japan---3 books
Timothy Hallinan -- Poke Rafferty series, expat American travel writer, Bangkok, Thailand
James Church -- Inspector O series, North Korean police detective
Peter May - Li Yan and Margaret series, Chinese police detective and American forensic pathologist, Beijing, China

Expedition to Egypt and the Middle East

Elizabeth Peters - Amelia Peabody series, Edwardian archaeologist, Egypt
Paul Sussman -Yusuf Khalifa series, Inspector, Luxor, Egypt
William Dietrich - Ethan Gage series, American adventurer, early 1800's
Anton Gill - Huy series, Egyptian proto-PI---3 books
Michael Pearce - Gareth Owen series, Mamur Zapt in 1905 Cairo Egypt--WWI
Mary Reed - John the Eunuch series, Lord Chamberlain to Justinian 6th Cent Constantinople
Paul Doherty - Amerotke series, Chief Judge of 18th Dynasty Egypt
Matt Rees - Omar Yuseff, schoolteacher Bethlehem, West Bank
Batya Gur - Michael Ohayon, police detective Israel
Jenny White - Kamil Pasha, magistrate in 19th century Istanbul, Turkey

Explore Russia

Boris Akunin - Sister Pelagia series, Russian Orthodox nun, czarist Russia
Boris Akunin - Erast Fandorin series, suave, young policeman in Tsarist Russia
Brent Ghelf i - Alexei Volkovoy series, Russian undercover agent
Martin Cruz Smith - Arkady Renko series, police detective, Moscow, Russia
R. N. Morris - Arkady Renko series, police detective, Moscow, Russia
Anna Blundy - Faith Zanetti series, British journalist Moscow, Russia

Spanish Sojourn

Robert Wilson - Javier Falcon series, policeman, Seville, Spain---3 books
Arturo Perez-Reverte - Diego Alatriste series, swordsman, 17th century Spain ---4 books
Rebecca Pawel - Carlos Tejada series, cop in the Guardia Civilia, civil war-era Spain---4 books
Alicia Gimenez-Bartlett - Petra Delicado series, police detective, Barcelona, Spain---3 books

South of the US Tour

Leonardo Padura - Mario Conde series, police lieutenant, Havana, Cuba
Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza - Inspector Espinosa series, police detective, Rio de Janiero, Brazil
Leighton Gage - Mario Silva series, Chief Inspector, Federal Police, Brazil
Joan Druett - Wiki Coffin series, Pacific Islander linguist, 1838 Exploring Expedition
THE BOOK OF MURDER, the new mystery by international bestseller Guillermo Martinez , on-sale Sept. 22.
Steve Torres - Luis Gonzalo, sheriff of Angustias, Puerto Rico,

Voyage Down Under

Garry Disher - Hal Challis series, Detective inspector, Melbourne Australia---4 books
Kerry Greenwood - Phryne Fisher series, '20 sleuth, Australia---14 books
Kerry Greenwood - Corinna Chapman series, bakery owner, Melbourne, Australia—2 books
Peter Temple - Melbourne homicide cop Joe Cashin
Peter Corris - Cliff Hardy series, Australian PI
Coleen McCullough

Irish Odyssey

Tana French - Cassie Maddox series, police detective, Dublin Ireland---2 books
Declan Hughes - Edward Loy series, PI, Dublin Ireland
Ken Bruen - Jack Taylor series, ex-cop, Galway Ireland
Brian McGilloway - Bededict Devlin series, Garda Inspector, Ireland
Benjamin Black - Quirke series, pathologist, Dublin, Ireland in the '50s
Adrian McKinty - Michael Forsythe series, Irish mercenary
Peter Tremayne - Sister Fidelma series, 7th Century Irish Nun, Ireland
Ian Sansom - Israel Armstrong series, bookmobile librarian

Enter the country into the search box and click. Our website can provide a search based upon character name, setting author or title.
Once you receive the list for your search, just click on “series” and the chronology so important to mystery readers will soon appear.
Bon Voyage!