Before Oslo gained raves from foodies, before it saw an explosion of new art museums, author Jo Nesbø lured me to Norway’s capital. While other tourists walked in Frogner Park enjoying Gustav Vigeland’s sculptures, admired the dramatic Snøhetta-designed opera house, or strolled along the harbor, I spent a summer morning absorbed in the Norway Resistance Museum, located within the 14th-century Akershus Fortress. That World War II history museum is an unlikely first or even fourth stop for visitors to Oslo. But I was drawn there by a book, a mystery called The Redbreast, by Nesbø.
A lifelong love of reading mysteries has influenced my travels. One of the most popular fiction genres, mysteries cover the world and offer an entertaining and accessible introduction to foreign locales. They invite participation—you’re trying to solve the crime, too—in a way literary fiction rarely does.
Nesbø’s breakout 2006 mystery, The Redbreast, had impressed me with its daring, which included doing something verboten in the genre. (No spoilers here; to find out, read the book.) An investigation of neo-Nazi activities in the capital sparks the story; its backdrop is Norway during World War II. When I first saw the central Oslo map at the beginning of the book, nothing on it was familiar. But after reading more of Nesbø’s mysteries, I wanted to see the city myself.
Similarly, mysteries tipped the scale when I was weighing a trip to Montreal or Québec City. What I’d read of Québec City in Louise Penny’s Inspector Armand Gamache series (particularly the sixth book, Bury Your Dead) led me to pick the smaller, less famous place. And Québec City, especially the Vieux-Québec, did not disappoint.
The following mysteries are by writers who know their settings well and use them as characters to enrich the stories. Here are 10 exceptional tales to launch your next journey.
Entanglement by Zygmunt Miloszewski is part of the Polish State Prosecutor Szacki Investigates series.
Cover courtesy of publisher
1. Entanglement by Zygmunt Miłoszewski (2007)
- Location: Warsaw, Poland
- Buy now: bookshop.org
Historic squares and glass skyscrapers fill central Warsaw in Zygmunt Miłoszewski’s Entanglement, in which State Prosecutor Teodor Szacki must solve a bizarre murder. The solution leads back to the days of the Communist secret police. Sardonic humor underscores an appreciation of the Polish as tough survivors.
As with the other mysteries cited here, through reading I met local characters, people often mired in boring jobs or poverty and molded by their location. I got the nontourist news, not the glossy brochure where it never rains, not the city-as-theme-park approach. Walking to avoid traffic and a metro strike, Szacki notes that if he led a foreigner along his route, blindfolded at times, “The tourist might go away with the impression that Warsaw was a very pretty city. Especially the section along Swiętokryska Street, Mazowieck and Kredytowa Streets with their beautiful tenement buildings, art supply shops (as if Warsaw were a city of artists), . . . the Zachęta Gallery (as if it were a city of art) . . . and Norman Foster’s Metropolitan building (city of fine architecture, ha ha ha).”
In Entanglement, Warsaw sounds intriguing. A place worth investigating and visiting. With clues to unravel—like a good mystery.
The Lost Man, set in Australia’s Outback, earned a starred review from Kirkus.
Cover courtesy of publisher
2. The Lost Man by Jane Harper (2018)
- Location: The Outback, Australia
- Buy now: bookshop.org
Melbourne-based author Jane Harper explores rural Australia in all of her mysteries. In The Lost Man, the remote Australian Outback is the main character. The harsh climate and isolation of this sparsely populated territory shape the family this story focuses on. One brother is found dead from dehydration in the desert. Why did he abandon his water-stocked car? Harper’s description of his last desperate effort to find shade is a searing example of her keen use of locale.
A Dark Redemption is the first in the Jack Carrigan and Geneva Miller detective series.
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3. A Dark Redemption by Stav Sherez (2012)
- Location: London, United Kingdom
- Buy now: bookshop.org
Among a wealth of top-notch mysteries set in London, look for several by Stav Sherez, an under-the-radar author who uses recent history from around the world to showcase this truly international capital. In this 2012 mystery, detectives Jack Carrigan and Geneva Miller investigate the murder of a young student from Uganda in London; it’s a story rooted in recent conflicts in Africa and leads the detectives into hidden places in the city where fugitives and illegal immigrants congregate. While Central Africa shares the spotlight with London here, South America sparks Eleven Days (2013), the second in the London series. In the third Carrigan and Miller mystery, The Intrusions (2020), the crime world expands to cyberstalking.
The Missing American is the first in the Emma Djan series—a fourth mystery is due in September 2024.
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4. The Missing American by Kwei Quartey (2020)
- Location: Accra, Ghana
- Buy now: amazon.com
In 2020, Ghana-born author Kwei Quartey launched his second mystery series in Accra, the capital, where Emma Djan, a novice PI, investigates government corruption and internet scams, specifically sakawa—fraud mixed with belief in the supernatural. The story excels in vivid descriptions of life in Ghana, including music, food, and other cultural aspects, with a helpful glossary. So far, Quartey has produced three Djan books, and the fourth will be published September 3, 2024.
Garnethill is both neighborhood and mystery setting in the Denise Mina thriller.
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5. Garnethill by Denise Mina (1998)
- Location: Glasgow, Scotland
- Buy now: bookshop.org
In her debut, Garnethill, Denise Mina draws from her diverse background—from factory worker to criminology teacher—to create convincing, flawed characters in desperate situations while maintaining a wry sense of humor in her sharp observations.
For tourists, Garnethill is the location of the famed art school designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. But in Mina’s story, this rundown district near Glasgow’s center is a murder scene. Maureen, from a dysfunctional family with a capital D, must prove she did not kill her boyfriend. As damaged as the characters, Glasgow has its moments: “The light in Scotland is low in the autumn, gracing even the most mundane objects with dramatic chiaroscuro. Deep hard shadows from the tall buildings fell across the streets, litter bins stood on the pavement like war monuments, and pedestrians cast John Wayne show-down shadows as they stood at the traffic lights.”
Natsuo Kirino was the first Japanese author to be a finalist for the Edgar Allan Poe Awards.
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6. Out by Natsuo Kirino (1997)
- Location: Tokyo, Japan
- Buy now: bookshop.org
The world of Hello Kitty is absent in Out, a pitch-black mystery by Natsuo Kirino. Instead of pop culture or scenic relics, this is behind-the-scenes industrial Japan, land of mass production. Its characters work the night shift at a suburban Tokyo factory, filling bento boxes with lunches. Tokyo may boast the most Michelin-starred restaurants, but grabbing a prepared lunch from a convenience shop is more in line with real life for its residents. Protagonist Masako Katori, a middle-aged, unhappily married woman, and three female co-workers team up to solve a murder. Readers favoring cozy tales with twinkle-eyed amateur sleuths should look elsewhere. This is feminist noir. When Out was nominated for the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Allan Poe award for Best Novel, it was a first for a Japanese writer.
Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line won the prestigious Edgar Award for Best Novel in 2021.
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7. Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara (2020)
- Location: Urban India
- Buy now: bookshop.org
A schoolboy, Jai, tries his hand at being a detective when one of his classmates disappears in the slums of an unnamed metropolis. (Perhaps Mumbai or Delhi? The author worked in both cities.) As a reporter, author Deepa Anappara encountered the real problem of “vanishing” children. She explores the grim topic in an engaging way and has the narrator, a nine-year-old, deliver a timely tale of kids living in precarious poverty. This accomplished debut includes a short glossary for the Hindi words peppering the pages.
The town in City Under One Roof is based on the real-life Whittier, Alaska.
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8. City Under One Roof by Iris Yamashita (2023)
- Location: Alaska, United States
- Buy now: bookshop.org
Perhaps Season 4 of True Detective boosted your interest in rural Alaska. Small town, isolation, terrible weather? This 2023 mystery by Iris Yamashita has all that, plus eccentric characters. And it’s inspired by a real Alaskan town, Whittier, where most of the residents live in one building. It’s essentially a locked-room mystery extended to a locked town.
Author Dan Fesperman has written a dozen mystery novels—this is his first.
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9. Lie in the Dark by Dan Fesperman (1999)
- Location: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Buy now: amazon.com
The only problem with Dan Fesperman’s dozen mysteries/thrillers of international intrigue: which to recommend? The Prisoner of Guantanamo? The Arms Maker of Berlin? Fesperman is the former foreign correspondent for the Baltimore Sun, and each of his novels is set in a locale he knows well, ranging from Afghanistan to Dubai.
Perhaps start at the beginning, with Lie in the Dark, which has as its focal setting Sarajevo under siege during the Balkan Wars. Vlado Petric is investigating the killing of the man in charge of a special police force. Government corruption is rampant. Petric returns in The Small Boat of Great Sorrows when the International War Crimes Tribunal recruits him to help capture a war profiteer in Bosnia.
Stuart Neville’s debut novel won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the mystery/thriller category.
Cover courtesy of publisher
10. The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville (2009)
- Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland
- Buy now: amazon.com
The Ghosts of Belfast is set in Northern Ireland’s capital; the mystery’s original U.K. title, The Twelve, refers to the victims killed by Gerry Fegan, an IRA foot soldier. After prison, they still haunt him. When he can’t drink memories away, he goes after the men who ordered their deaths. Neville explores lingering effects of the Troubles and questions what decades of violence achieved. Here’s Lisburn Road, part of the city’s “Golden Mile”: “Designer boutiques, restaurants and wine bars passed on either side. Students and young professionals crossed at the lights. They think the city belongs to them now, Fegan thought. If the peace process meant they could buy overpriced coffee without fear, then perhaps they were right.”
This article was originally published in 2019; it was updated on May 21, 2024, with current information.
