Found in translation

So you've discovered Scandinavian crime fiction. Thank you, Stieg Larsson.
You've since read everything by Henning Mankell, Camilla Lackberg and Jo Nesbo, and now you're wanting to vary your diet of Nordic red herring. Time to seek out some new pastures. Fiction in translation has never been hotter - even if it's been around for ages. Don Quixote was published in 1605, The 1001 Nights (otherwise known as the Arabian Nights) was translated in 1706, and the Decameron in about 1350. Children have been in on it for years. There's Heidi (Swiss), Pippi Longstocking (Swedish), The Neverending Story (German), The Little Prince (French), oh, and anything about Asterix, Babar, Tintin and those funny little Moomins from Finland. These days you can't move for graphic novels out of Japan or Korea. Face it, your kids are more cosmopolitan than you are - even Geronimo Stilton's native cheese is mozzarella. So, here's a little list to impress your friends with your grasp of culture. There's a fabulous world of literature out there, if you just have a map.

The Hangman's Daughter (Germany)
First in a mystery series by an actual descendant of the Schongau hangmen. Bavaria, 1659. When a dying boy is pulled from the river with a mark crudely tattooed on his shoulder, hangman Jakob Kuisl is called upon to investigate whether witchcraft is at play in his town. Memories of witch trials and the women burned at the stake just seventy years earlier still haunt the streets of Schongau. When more children disappear and an orphan is found dead, marked by the same tattoo, the mounting hysteria threatens to erupt into chaos. With the help of his daughter, Magdelena, and Simon, the son of the town's physician, Jakob discovers that a devil is indeed loose in Schongau. But it may be too late to prevent bloodshed. Sequel is The Dark Monk.

Ruby Red (Germany)
A huge hit in Germany with teens and adults alike. Gwyneth's sophisticated cousin Charlotte has been prepared her entire life for travelling through time. But unexpectedly, it is Gwyneth who suddenly inherits the family trait. She must now unearth the mystery of why her mother would lie about her birth date, as well as brush up on several lifetimes of history, and work with Gideon - a boy from a similarly gifted family, who is both handsome and insufferable. But more mysteries arise. What happened to their missing predecessors? What dark secret are their masters hiding? Together, Gwyneth and Gideon must flee through time to discover who they can trust. Sapphire Blue is out in October.

1Q84 (Japan)
An award-winning retelling of 1984 that sold a million copies in one month. Assassin Aomame has been on a top-secret mission, and her next job will lead her to encounter the apparently superhuman founder of a religious cult. Tengo is leading a nondescript life but wishes to become a writer. He inadvertently becomes involved in events surrounding a remarkable novel which a mysterious seventeen-year-old girl has written. It seems to be based on her own experiences and moves readers in unusual ways. Can her story really be true? Both Aomame and Tengo notice that the world has grown strange; and their lives become more and more intertwined towards a stunning conclusion.

HHhH (France)
Reinhard Heydrich, "the Butcher of Prague." Some will have heard of his assassination at the hands of two Czechoslovakian partisans. But who exactly were they? In this debut, "HHhH "("Himmlers Hirn heiBt Heydrich," or Himmler's brain is called Heydrich), we follow the lives of Jozef Gabcik and Jan Kubis, a Slovak and a Czech. From their heroic escape from Nazi-occupied Prague to their recruitment by the British secret services; from their meticulous preparation to their parachute drop into a war zone; from their stealth attack on Heydrich's car to their own brutal deaths in the basement of a Prague church, this novel restores these remarkable men to their rightful place in history.

A Pimp's Notes (Italy)
It's 1978. Italy has just been shocked by the kidnapping of the politician Aldo Moro by Red Brigades terrorists. In Milan, the upper class continues to amuse itself in luxury restaurants, underground clubs, and cabarets. Bravo makes his living catering to the tastes, fantasies, and fetishes of the wealthy and depraved. When the mysterious Carla enters his life, what begins as a clandestine romance quickly becomes a nightmare that will transform Bravo into a man wanted by the police, by organized crime, and even by the Red Brigades. As the web around him tightens, Bravo will be forced to confront the violence of the times in which he lives as well as his own connections to Italy's crooks and politicians.

Lost Girls of Rome (Italy)
A young girl has mysteriously disappeared in Rome. As rain lashes the ancient streets, two men, Clemente and Marcus, sit in a cafe near the Piazza Navona and pore over the details of the case. They are members of the ancient Penitenzeri - a unique Italian team, linked to the Vatican, and trained in the detection of true evil. But they are not alone. Sandra - a brilliant forensics expert with a tragic past - is also working on the case. When her path crosses theirs, not only do they make headway in the case of the missing girl, but they also uncover a terrible secret world, hidden in the dark recesses of Rome. A world as perfect as it is evil...

Please Look After Mother (Korea)
The touching story of So-nyo, a wife and mother who has lived a life of sacrifice and compromise and has suffered a stroke, leaving her vulnerable and often confused. Travelling to Seoul to visit their grown-up children, So-nyo is separated from her husband when the doors close on a packed train. As her children and husband search the streets, they recall So-nyo's life, and all they have left unsaid. Through their voices, we begin to discover the desires, heartaches, and secrets she harboured within. And as the mystery of her disappearance unravels, we uncover a larger mystery, that of all mothers and children: how affection, exasperation, hope and guilt add up to love.

The Last Wish (Poland)
Geralt de Riv is a sorceleur, a man whose magic powers, enhanced by long training and a mysterious elixir, have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin. His targets are the monsters and vile fiends that ravage the land and attack the innocent. He roams the country seeking assignments, but gradually comes to realise that while some of his quarry are unremittingly vile, vicious grotesques, others are the victims of sin, evil or simple naivete. He meets vampire daughters of incestuous fathers, vengeful genies, rancorous maidens, shrieking harpies and despondent ghouls: how is he to tell the truly wicked from the wronged? The third episode, The Time of Contempt, comes out in December.

Holy City (Argentina)
One former Miss Bolivia. Two missing Colombian drug dealers. Three wealthy tourists taken hostage. Welcome to the Holy City, where corruption is a calling and bent police come ten a peso. A passenger liner runs aground on the muddy banks of the Rio de la Plata. One by one, its passengers are abducted by Buenos Aires' criminal classes. As the kidnapping of three foreign businessmen sends stock markets into freefall, the job of solving the chaos falls onto the weary shoulders of the last honest man in town - Deputy Inspector Walter Carroza of the serious-crime squad. Orsi's previous stand-alone novel No One Loves a Policeman is also available.

Thirteen Hours (South Africa)
Great for fans of pacy thrillers or fans of Wilbur Smith! Some would call Detective Benny Griessel a legend. Others would call him a drunk. Either way, he has trodden on too many toes over the years ever to reach the top of the promotion ladder, and now he concentrates on staying sober and mentoring the new generation of crime fighters – mixed race, Xhosa and Zulu. But when an American backpacker disappears in Capetown, panicked politicians know who to call: Benny has just thirteen hours to save the girl, save his career – and crack open a conspiracy which threatens the whole country.

The Fat Years (China)
The cover says: "The notorious thriller they banned in China". Read at your own risk! Beijing, sometime in the near future: a month has gone missing from official records. No one has any memory of it, and no one can care less. Except for a small circle of friends, who will stop at nothing to get to the bottom of the sinister cheerfulness and amnesia that has possessed the Chinese nation. When they kidnap a high-ranking official and force him to reveal all, what they learn - not only about their leaders, but also about their own people - stuns them to the core. It is a message that will rock the world...