The Atrium

Last week as I browsed among the new fiction section for something to get me through these cold winter weekends, I noticed a number of new mystery books that are written mostly by foreign authors and set in their native countries. I read the dust jacket summaries and found a few of them intriguing enough to share with you here.

The Betrayal Game
by David L. Robbins
Setting: Cuba

Is it possible that the American Mafia and FBI would plot together to kill Fidel Castro? Maybe, maybe not. You'll have to read this book to find the answer.

The Midnight Choir
by Gene Kerrigan
Setting: Ireland

The police (Gardai, as they're known in Ireland) have arrested a blood-soaked mad man. They think perhaps he's killed someone -- but who? Inspector Henry Synott will have to unravel the mystery. It's a "who's dead?" rather than a "who done it?"

A Grave in Gaza
by Matt Beynon Rees
Setting: Israel

Palestinian history teacher and United Nations member Omar Yussef has a strong sense of justice, and that's why crimes that need solving always seem to happen around him. Mix that fact with a bit of political corruption and rocket smuggling and you've got yourself a mystery of dynamite proportion.

Zugzwang
by Ronan Bennett
Setting: Russia

The title of this book means "paralysis" in the game of chess, a theme which runs throughout the book. Strategic chess-like moves are used to solve several murders in an early 20th century setting.

Salamander Cotton
by Richard Kunzmann
Setting: South Africa

Johannesburg detective Jacob Tshabalala is on the hunt for a person who killed an elderly victim by pouring gasoline down his throat and igniting him with fire. What a horrible way to go! Detective Tshabalala soon discovers that the victim had an unsavory secret and that his only child, a daughter, was also murdered -- and the two murders may be linked.

Kennedy's Brain
by Henning Mankell
Setting: Sweden

While solving her son's murder, archaeologist Louise Cantor discovers rather odd things about her Henrik (i.e., his files on JFK's missing brain, a large sum of money in his bank account, and a string of lovers from Spain to Africa).