Passports to Crime: Finest Mystery Stories from International Crime Writers [Paperback]

Janet Hutchings (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 5, 2007

Derived from a series launched in 2003 by Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, called Passports to Crime, this volume collects stories from some of the world's most popular and talented crime writers. Originally published monthly in Ellery Queen, these stories are appearing for the first time in book form. Authors include: Boris Akunin, a major bestseller in Russia, who has many other works translated in the U.S.; Ingrid Noll, Germany's "Queen of Crime," whose books have been translated into 23 languages and adapted for German television; Ruben Fonseca, one of Brazil's best-known literary figures; Baantjer, the most widely read author in the Netherlands, with over 5 million books sold in a country with a population of 15 million; Paul Halter, the winner of two of France's coveted literary awards; France's most admired author of traditional mysteries — Dominic Manotti, a winner of the French Crime Writers Association prize for best thriller; and Rene Appel, three-time winner of the Netherlands' Jouden Strop Prize

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Hutchings assembles another winning anthology (after 2004's Ellery Queen Presents Great Mystery Novellas) with this collection of 26 mystery stories in translation, representing 15 countries and 11 languages and chosen from a three-year-old monthly series in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. The selection includes most of the subgenres—noirs, whodunits, procedurals and thrillers—and though few of the authors will be familiar to mainstream readers, the writing is uniformly excellent. Russian Boris Akunin, who is probably the best known, contributes "Table Talk, 1882," in which his series sleuth Erast Fandorin solves a baffling crime from an armchair. The other standouts include Paul Halter's "The Call of the Lorelei," an ingenious homage to John Dickson Carr's classic impossible crime tales; and Norizuki Rintaro's "An Urban Legend Puzzle," an outstanding representative of the "new traditionalism" Japanese movement that harks back to Ellery Queen and places a premium on skillful plotting. (Mar.)
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About the Author

Janet Hutchings has been the editor of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine since 1991, and has compiled many anthologies from its archives, including The Deadliest Games, The Cutting Edge, Simply the Best Mysteries, and Crème De La Crime, all published by Carroll & Graf. She is a co-winner of the Mystery Writers of America’s Ellery Queen Award and an honoree of the 2003 Bouchercon World Mystery Convention for Contributions to the Field. She lives in upstate New York.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Running Press (January 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786719168
• ISBN-13: 978-0786719167
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,297,546 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars so-so collection, March 6, 2011

By 

josch "josch10" (Alexandria, VA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Passports to Crime: Finest Mystery Stories from International Crime Writers (Paperback)

Some great, some good, some not even that in this uneven collection of crime short stories which I used for an Osher adult education class on the short story with this semester on foreign crime short stories. Just what one would expect.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great world tour, November 30, 2009

By 

C. C. Emmons "greenness" (Delaware County, PA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Passports to Crime: Finest Mystery Stories from International Crime Writers (Paperback)

This collection is an incredible world tour of mystery writing. The variety in styles and mood is amazing. The stories run from dark and serious to light and amusing and touch a little bit of everything in between. It was genuinely enjoyable to read this collection.