12 Stellar International Mysteries To Take You Globe-Trotting Without Moving a Muscle

12 Stellar International Mysteries To Take You Globe-Trotting Without Moving a Muscle | Audible.com

A good mystery sinks its teeth into the psyche of a listener and doesn’t let go until the very last word. Mysteries may take many forms, but the very best tap into a wide range of human emotions—fear, anxiety, and surprise, among others.

Given this quasi-innate appeal we have to mystery fiction, it’s no wonder that the genre has exploded globally over the last several decades. While the United States and Britain have historically been seen as hotbeds of quality mystery writing, more recently we’ve seen a swell of great mystery writing coming out of nearly every pocket of the globe.

We took a trip around the world to uncover international mysteries from just about every continent. Though the audiobooks on this list are all very different, they have two things in common—each boasts a brilliant narrator performance that will take you to a distinct place, and each showcases expertly crafted plots that will keep you guessing to the last word. Kick back and enjoy the ride.

The Dry

Jane Harper

We're Thankful We Don't Have This Cleaning Job:

“The entrance hall was muggy and stank of bleach. A side table piled with household clutter of bills and pens sat askew against a far wall, shoved from its original position. The tiled floor was ominously clean. The entire hallway had been scrubbed down to the original grout. ‘The industrial cleaner’s been through, so there aren’t any nasty surprises,’ Raco said. ‘They couldn’t save the carpet in the kid’s bedroom. Not that you’d want to.’”

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Icarus

Deon Meyer

Deon Meyer has been called the "king of South African crime," and for good reason. He's the author of 13 crime novels, five of which feature Detective Benny Griessel, a sober, grizzled veteran on South Africa's Priority Crimes Investigation unit. Meyer's most recent novel, Icarus, opens up with the murder of Ernst Richter, a notorious tech entrepreneur who is found strangled to death. Griessel, struggling after the death of a former colleague and drinking again, is brought on to solve the crime. Icarus marks Meyer at his very best, and narrator Simon Vance brings an authenticity and grit to Benny Griessel that will hook you.

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The Black Minutes

Martin Solares, Aura Estrada - translator

Martín Solares' The Black Minutes is perhaps the most experimental detective novel on this list. It is both a procedural following detective Ramón Cabrera, a Mexican cop from the fictional port town of Paracuán investigating the murder of a young journalist, and a surrealist fantasy that explores power and corruption. As events unfold in Cabrera's case, he learns that the slain journalist was writing a book about the 1970s serial killer by the name of el Chacal—raising a number of critical questions that Cabrera must answer in order to solve his case. Reminiscent of the work of Roberto Bolaño and Cormac McCarthy, The Black Minutes is as much a compelling story about a dark and seedy underworld as it is an entertaining yarn that leaves the listener guessing to the very end.

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Still Life

Louise Penny

Louise Penny kicked off her Chief Inspector Gamache series with the 2005 audiobook Still Life. Penny, one of Canada's most prominent mystery writers, has gone on to pen another dozen books in the series—but Still Life is, arguably, regarded as her best. The book follows Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec (Quebec's provincial police force), who's brought in to investigate the death of Jane Neal, a resident of the small Canadian town of Three Pines, who is killed by an arrow in an apparent hunting accident. On the surface, Three Pines looks to be the idyllic provincial town, but Gamache, experienced and wise, knows that all is not as it seems—taking Penny's listeners along on the slow, steady pursuit of the truth.

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Excursion to Tindari

Andrea Camilleri

The fifth novel in Andrea Camilleri's celebrated Inspector Montalbano series, Excursion to Tindari takes place in the Sicilian city of Tindari and opens with the murder of a young man and then, days later, the suspicious disappearance of an elderly couple. Camilleri's novel is expertly narrated by Grover Gardner, who breathes life into Montalbano and an entertaining supporting cast of characters. Full of humor, rich depictions of Italian life and a healthy dose of suspense, Excursion to Tindari will transport you to the beaches of Sicily—and you may not want to return.

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Spirit House

Christopher G. Moore

Though not a native of the Bangkok about which he writes, mystery novelist Christopher G. Moore has lived in the Thai capital for 30 years and writes with such intimate detail that it's as if he's spent every waking hour of his life there. In Spirit House, the first book of Moore's long-running Vincent Calvino series, we follow Moore deep into the underside of Thailand—into a world of drug dealers, addicts, and bar girls—and get caught up in his pursuit of the killer of a young British expat. Narrator P.J. Ochlan is skillfully at ease with the Thai accents of many of Moore's characters, and the result is a stylish, rewarding listen.

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Six Four

Hideo Yokoyama

Japan has a rich history of successful crime novelists, and one of the more recent entrants to the world stage is Hideo Yokoyama. His novel Six Four was a massive best seller when it was published in Japan in 2012 and garnered a whole host of accolades when its English edition was released in hardcover and audiobook in the US in 2017. Six Four examines the mysterious disappearance of a seven-year-old Japanese girl and the unsolved case, resurrected 14 years later by detective Yoshinobu Mikami, to bring her back. At 24 hours long, Yokoyama's audiobook—the longest on this list—will take a full calendar day for you to get through, but it'll stay with you for far longer.

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Death of a Red Heroine

Qiu Xiaolong

The first book in Qiu Xiaolong's Inspector Chen series, Death of a Red Heroine, follows the investigation into a murdered member of the Communist Party and Inspector Chen's carefully plotted pursuit of the killer. Qiu Xiaolong, a crime novelist, critic, and poet, uses his story to explore intriguing political and cultural elements of post-Tiananmen Square China, and in doing so delivers a story that's as informative and culturally astute as it is entertaining. Narrator David Shih brings to life Qiu Xiaolong's novel with a richly authentic, commanding performance.

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The Draining Lake

Arnaldur Indridason

We travel to a dark, gloomy Reykjavik in celebrated Icelandic crime writer Arnaldur Indridason's The Draining Lake, the fourth audiobook in Indridason's Inspector Erlendur series. A human skeleton has been found at the bottom of a drained lake. It's clear the skeleton's been there for years, if not decades, and attached to the skeleton is a listening device with Russian characters embedded on it. Equal parts murder mystery and spy thriller, The Draining Lake is a great entry point into Indridason's series—a suspenseful, moving, and wholly unpredictable listen.

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The Case of the Missing Servant

Tarquin Hall

Often compared to Alexander McCall Smith's award-winning No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, Tarquin Hall's Vish Puri series follows the adventures of India's top private investigator. In The Case of the Missing Servant, the first of four audiobooks in the series, Puri is brought on to investigate the murder of a maidservant by a public litigator in India's capital city. Moving seamlessly from the "Pink City" of Jaipur to the hot, dirty streets of Delhi, The Case of the Missing Servant is a fun, rollicking ride through modern India.

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Murder at Cape Three Points

Kwei Quartey

A physician by training, Ghanaian writer Kwei Quartey has made a name of himself on the world stage with his popular Inspector Darko Dawson series, set in and around Ghana's capital city of Accra. In Murder at Cape Three Points, the third audiobook in the series, Darko Dawson investigates the double murder of a prominent affluent couple, Charles and Fiona Smith-Aidoo. Narrator Dominic Hoffman skillfully performs this rich, layered novel, perhaps Quartey's most ambitious and satisfying book yet.

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The Sound of Things Falling

Juan Gabriel Vasquez

A rising star in the South American literary scene, Juan Gabriel Vasquez hails from Bogotá, Colombia, and his experiences there inform every haunting word of The Sound of Things Falling. Set in Colombia's capital, the novel follows Antonio Yammara, a young professor who witnesses a friend's gruesome murder. Antonio's investigation of the murder transports him back to 1960s Colombia, unearthing some dark secrets about his friend and his country. Perhaps the most literary and poetic audiobook on this list, The Sound of Things Falling is a richly rewarding novel that asks just as many questions about Colombia's past as it provides answers.

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