I’ve been a fan of Continental crime writing for years. I never understood why some of the great European mystery writers were virtual unknowns in the UK. Things have changed dramatically in recent years, thank goodness – so much so that we’ve had quite a deluge of Eurocrime. Inevitably, some of the books have been better than others. Many of the best have appeared under the imprint of Bitter Lemon Press.
Their latest venture is an anthology of Italian short stories, Crimini. It’s due to hit the shops on 10 January. Edited by Giancarlo de Cataldo, it includes contributions from such excellent writers as Carlo Lucarelli and Andrea Camilleri.
Bitter Lemon, by the way, introduced to British readers that fascinating author Friedrich Glauser, creator of the dogged Sergeant Studer. If they had done nothing else, they would deserve much praise. But they’ve achieved much more, and have published a wide range of excellent novels by writers otherwise unknown here.
Only one question: why on earth have neither Bitter Lemon, nor anyone else in the UK, not as yet reprinted the work of that prolific and brilliant crime-writing duo, Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac?
We are indeed proud to have introduced Glauser to British and US readers. Sadly the series of Studer comes to an end withe fifth one (The Spoke) in February 2008. As to Boileau and Narcejac, their novels were published in English in the 1950's and 60's.Time for new editions? Francois (Bitter Lemon Press)
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