PARLEZ-VOUS FRANÇAIS? Read a mystery written first in another language and translated to English

All discussion about books or authors for this challenge will be conducted in this topic.

Okay, I found a book that was first written in Italian and then translated into English. I can't remember how I found it. It was a fluke! lol I don't even know if I want to read this one. How are the rest of you finding books to fit this part of the challenge? I would like to see other choices before I make a final decision. I just don't know where or how to look for them. Help!

There are quite a few out there but I don't know them all. Here are a few

Giulio Leoni, Andrea Camilleri, Stieg Larson, Boris Akunin, and possiblly Robert van Gulik (Netherlands, not sure if he wrote in Dutch or English).

Alice

I found this site that list countries and their mysteries and tells about some that are translated: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~gjdemko/mysteries_foreignlands.htm

Thanks, Alice. I will have to check it out.

Connie, under advanced search choose mystery for the genre, and under keywords put in "translated".  Some of the books that come up may have translated as a key word for some other reason, but most of them are translations.

Giulio Leoni wrote Mosaic Crimes which I absolutely loved. If you like historical mystery/thrillers you may like this one. It is about a real person(Dante) before he had written his famous Divine Comedies. He works for the roman church, basically as the town detective.

http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780156032681-The+Mosaic+Crimes

As for the book I chose for this challenge I went through my TBR and found one I already had.

And the classic - Georges Simenon!

I just found this site- bookbrowse.com- they have a special section for Foreign Language/ Translation. That is where I found The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson that originally was written in Swedish. Then I saw it on another member's list for her challenge book. Since this book has been on my TBR list for quite some time, I'm going to read it. Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I'm glad I finally found one that is already in my TBR pile. For anyone else having trouble finding a book look at the website I mentioned.

I was going to read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for this year's challenge, but I'm just not going to get to it. I'm going to use it for next year. :P

My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk is technically a mystery.  It's one of my favorite books of the last ten years or so.

There are tons and tons of books for this category--I guess I hadn't even thought of it as being difficult because I do read quite a large number of "foreign" mysteries. Some of the series I read have been mentioned...a few others are:

Karin Fossum (translated from Norwegian) about Inspector Seijer

Henning Mankell (translated from Swedish) about Inspector Wallander

Johan Theorin (Swedish) has a couple of stand-alone mysteries out.; Echoes From the Dead was excellent and I have The Darkest Room on my TBR--might pick it for this challenge, in fact.

Arnaldur Indridason (Icelandic) has a series set in Iceland. I have to admit I read the first and thought it was okay, but couldn't get through the second one and quit there.

Natsuo Kirino wrote Out, first published in her native Japan. I loved it!! She has several other works too but not sure if they're mysteries

Fred Vargas (French) writes a series featuring Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg. I've read the first one, so far.

Gianrico Carofiglio (Italian) writes Italian lawyer/courtroom mysteries featuring defense lawyer Guido Guerrieri

Ake Edwardson (Swedish) featuring Chief Inspector Erik Winter

Mari Jungstedt (Swedish) featuring Detective Superintendant Anders Knutas

I haven't read these last few, so can't necessarily recommend them, but because of my ratings/purchase history, these are some that came up on my Amazon recommendations.

Cheryl

I think the challenge for this category is trying to find them. Often a description is lacking original language and we have to hunt for the translator. I know there are a LOT out there! It's just finding them that can be difficult. :)

Another book that I found that looks REALLY good is A Samba for Sherlock. It is set in 1886 Brazil and has Sherlock Holmes as a character.

The author is Jo Soares and it is translated from Portuguese.

Alice

I have already read Jo Nesbo's The Redbreast.   It was so good, that I have Nemesis  and The Devil's Star  on request at library and PBS. One of those will be my pick for Challenge #8.

UNLESS

I use Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Played with Fire.  I am just finishing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on audio. After a slow start, when the "girl with the tattoo" appeared in the book, it became Great.

I would recommend any of these 5 books for challenge #8

ME

COMPLETE, I READ ALL OF THE ABOVE BOOKS

For this part of the challenge I am starting Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Many people have told me how good it is soI will let you know.  Generally not the type I would read but I'll give it a shot.

Alice

I finished the Girl With the Dragon Tattto today. It is excellent. I highly recommend it.  Don't let the length put you off 640 pages. It moves fast and will pull you in.

Alice

I finished my book for this challenge.  I read "The White Lioness" by Henning Mankell which is the third in the Kurt Wallander series.  This series was originally written in Swedish. 

This is one of those series that is truly getting better with each book.  This book wasn't nearly so moody and atmospheric, though certainly some of that was there.  The mystery in this one is truly an international affair.  I found the South African politics to be fascinating.

I finished up Hypothermia by Arnaldur Indridason this am, and again, it was an excellent read ( if you can by-pass the names of all the locations mentioned - in Icelandic!). This author has a meticulous, well thought out approach to his characters. In these books, our protagonist (Erlendur) has his set of issues from his two children who have serious problems (like drug usage) to a terrible relationship with his ex-wife. Erlendur is determined and dogged. He has an approach somewhat  like Colombo in that he comes across to suspects as very non-threatening and then WHAM  - the hammer drops.

I also read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire for this challenge.   I thought that The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was very good, but it never really pulled me in as much as I hoped it would.  However, The Girl Who Played with Fire was totally un-put-downable!

Bumping up as it has been over 2 months since anyone posted in this one.

Like everyone else it seems I too read the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I was pulled in so much so that I have put the second book in the trilogy on hold until after I am done with my summer classes. There is no way I would be able to get all my school work and actual work work done and not know what happens next. I mentioned in a previous post that both my wife and  I were given copies from friends and she is almost done but I couldn't sleep until it was completed. What a great read. Everyone seems to be talking about it.

I believe "The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco would qualify.  I read it years ago and loved it, especially when Sean Connery starred in the movie! I am reading Smilla's Sense of Snow (or Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow) by Peter Hoeg - originally Danish.

I finished my entry in this category earlier this month...don't know if anyone noticed, but I did change the book I chose. Originally I'd picked Detective Inspector Huss by Helene Tursten but ended up DNFing it after about 40 pages. It just didn't grab me and it was a LONG book so I decided not to waste my time trying to slog through and moved on.

Instead I chose Fred Vargas' second Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg book, Seeking Whom He May Devour, translated from French, which was very good. I'm looking forrward to the next one. I've actually read lots of books this year that meet the category requirements, as I'm partial to "furrin' mysteries" but that's the one I put down. :)

Cheryl