If you're a fan of crime fiction and not familiar wih Bitter Lemon Press then you're in for a treat today. I heard about them through their American PR firm, who also handles Serpent's Tail (and I'm all about the love for Serpent's Tail!). Bitter Lemon offers "literary crime fiction from abroad" and they've got books set all over the world. Here are a few that caught my eye, but check out their website for the full list.
Havana Black by Leonard Padura - I reviewed Padura's book Adios Hemingway for Bookslut last summer and really really enjoyed it. I've been fascinated by Cuba for a long time - growing up in Florida will do that to you - but it is very rare to actually find books in the US by Cuban authors (or even Cuban American authors). Padura did an excellent job of reinventing Hemingway, something that isn't easy for any writer to do, and I'm eager to read his Mario Conde mysteries. This is the second and latest, the first, Havana Red, (which also sounds great) is offered by Bitter Lemon as well. In the new book the body of a man who "was once responsible for confiscating works of art from those fleeing the revolution" washes up on the beach. It looks like there will be more great history and atmosphere in this book and I can't wait to read it.
Black Ice by Hans Werner Kettenbach - Described as "a dark thriller in the Patricia Highsmith tradition..." by the Sunday Telegraph, Ice is about a small town heiress who dies mysteriously and the detective who won't let it go. Sounds classic and I'm certainly interested in someone carrying on in the Highsmith tradition.
Framed by Tonino Benacquista - "Antoine's hand is severed in a fight with a burglar. His maverick investigation triggers two murders as he stumbles onto a case of massive art fraud in Paris." Love the art fraud angle and a guy who loses a hand in a fight is the hero? Gotta check out how pissed off he must be!
Over at BlueBridge, I freaked when I read this description:
The Frozen Ship by Sarah Moss - "Polar expeditions have spawned a literature with its own history and style. The Frozen Ship is a thorough and thought-provoking examination of the most influential, popular, and intriguing accounts of journeys into the eternal ice." Okay, I have a degree in Northern Studies, I actually took a class called "Polar Exploration and its Literature" and I have an essay up at Eclectica Magazine right now reviewing five recent books on the subject.
This book was so written for people like me!!!!
BlueBridge also has a new biography of CS Lewis: The CS Lewis Chronicles and an interesting looking bio of Teresa of Avila, a saint who has always intrigued me.
It doesn't seem to have its site up yet, but the books are listed at amazon and powells, so they shouldn't be too hard to find.
