We are celebrating National Crime Reading Month, hosted by the Crime Writers’ Association, by recommending some fabulous translated crime novels. Originating countries include Iceland, Norway, France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Canada, and Uruguay. We are also celebrating of course, the translators. They have the incredibly difficult and I’m sure rewarding task of ensuring a seamless translation, so much so, that while reading you forget a translator was even involved. Some of these novels are award-winning bestsellers in their country of origin. These are books that thrill, not only with the great writing and translation, but also the exploration of a different country.

Crocodile Tears is a book that delivers on more than one front. Featured in our humorous and unexpectedly humorous collections, Mercedes Rosende's writing is sharp and pointed yet rich and earthy, drawing you in while you get acquainted with the characters and closer to the action. A crime caper set in Uruguay sees Diego released from prison and reluctantly roped in to holding up an armoured truck. A fresh but full-on and heady read, this is definitely a book to select if you're looking for more than a smirk of humour along with your crime fiction.

If you enjoy thrillers then Blood Song should be added to your reading list. The third instalment of the absolutely cracking Roy & Castells series, this riveting thriller follows Block 46 and Keeper, both of which we also recommend. You'll get your miles in as this book is set in London, Sweden and 1938 Spain while the duo hunt down a monstrous killer, explore corruption in the fertility industry and the atrocities of Spain's dictatorship. 

The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun by Sebastien Japrisot was first published in the 1960’s but is still as readable and relevant now as it was back then. Ever wished you could just get in a car and drive? After Dany Longo drops her boss and his family at the airport in his beautiful Thunderbird she decides on an impromptu joyride. This psychological thriller becomes more tangled and twisted as the people she meets claim to recognise her from the previous day. Well worth the journey, this book is a startling, sophisticated and intriguing psychological thriller.

Another firm LoveReading favourite is Antti Tuomainen. For this collection we've selected Little Siberia, an eBook of the month when it was released in 2019 and a book that puts you in the middle of the culture and landscapes of northern Finland. Combining darker than black comedy and crime fiction that covers faith and disbelief, love and death and both literal and figurative bolts from the blue as a meteor strikes. Little Siberia receives an enthusiastic thumbs up from us, and you can click here to read our full review. 

National Crime Reading Month runs throughout June and culminates with the prestigious CWA Daggers Award at the end of the month. You can find out more about the Awards on The Crime Writers' Association website or keep scrolling to see our selection of translated crime fiction and #PickUpAPageTurner.

If you're a lover of translated crime, you must take a look at the LoveReading LitFest, our all year round digital book and literature festival. One of the pillars of the festival is translated fiction - and thus far we have spoken to Mercedes Rosende and her translator Tim Gutteridge about Crocodile Tears, Kjell Ola Dahl in conversation about The Assistant and Simone Buchholz about her protagonist Chastity Riley and her book Hotel Cartagena...and more.

#NCRM

@The_CWA