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Fred Vargas
'As good as a trip to Paris' … Fred Vargas, author of the Commissaire Adamsberg novels. Photograph: Eamonn Mccabe for the Guardian
'As good as a trip to Paris' … Fred Vargas, author of the Commissaire Adamsberg novels. Photograph: Eamonn Mccabe for the Guardian

Euro Noir by Barry Forshaw – review

This article is more than 9 years old
Euro Noir offers an exhilarating, whistle-stop tour of Europe viewed through its crime fiction

After the success of Nordic noir, Barry Forshaw hopes to extend the British public's taste for crime in translation to Euro noir. His nation-by-nation guide is a succinct yet detailed survey of recent European crime fiction, with additional listings on significant films and TV series. Some chapters are longer than others (Italy gets more than 30 pages whereas Greece just four), but this is an excellent introduction and will hopefully encourage readers to seek out the books recommended and for publishers to commission more. The German translator Almuth Heuner tells Forshaw, "it's infuriating that so few of our really accomplished authors can be read in English" and, as Forshaw shows, there is certainly a wealth of Euro noir to choose from. Spain is "currently experiencing an explosion of crime writers" and in France there are classics such as the 75 Inspector Maigret novels – now being splendidly translated by Penguin – and the Commissaire Adamsberg novels of Fred Vargas, each of which is "as good as a trip to Paris". Euro Noir offers an exhilarating tour of Europe viewed through its crime fiction.

To order Euro Noir for £7.19 with free UK p&p call Guardian book service on 0330 333 6846 or go to guardianbookshop.co.uk.

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