Bitter Lemon Press
An exciting new imprint The best literary crime and romans noirs
from Europe, Africa and Latin America
THUMBPRINT - Friedrich Glauser
-January 2004 Paperback £8.99 ISBN: 1904738001
The novel in which Glauser, often referred to as the Swiss
Simenon, introduces Sergeant Studer. The death of a traveling salesman in
the forest of Gerzenstein appears to be an open and shut case. Studer is confronted
with an obvious suspect and a confession to the murder. But nothing is what
it seems. Envy, hatred, sexual abuse and the corrosive power of money lie
just beneath the surface. Studer's investigation soon splinters the glassy
façade of Switzerland's tidy villages, manicured forests and seemingly placid
citizens. Thumbprint, a European crime
classic, was first published in 1936.
Diagnosed a schizophrenic, addicted to morphine and opium, Glauser spent the
greater part of his life in psychiatric wards, insane asylums and prison.
Glauser's elegant prose and acute observation conjure up a world of those
at the margins of society. His Sergeant Studer novels have ensured his place
as a cult figure in Europe. Germany's most prestigious crime fiction award
is called the Glauser prize.
The Translator
Mike Mitchell has translated some thirty books, including
Simplicissimus by Grimmelshausen and all the novels of Gustav Meyrink. He
won the 1998 Schlegel-Tieck German Translation Prize.
'From bitter experience Glauser has painted a portrait of Switzerland you
will never see in a
travel brochure' Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
'A magician of atmosphere, the best of the George Simenon school' Neue
Zuercher Zeitung
'Crime writing at a level seldom achieved. A master of psychology'. Der
Bund
A classic that has been translated into six languages and is the subject of
a film. This is its first publication in English. It is the first in a series
of five to be published by Bitter Lemon Press.
THUMBPRINT
HOLY SMOKE - Tonino Benacquista - January 2004 Paperback
- £8.99 ISBN: 190473801X
Some favours simply cannot be refused. Tonio agrees to write a love letter
for Dario, a low-rent Paris gigolo. When Dario is murdered, a single bullet
to the head, Tonio finds his friend has left him a small vineyard somewhere
east of Naples. The wine is undrinkable but an elaborate scam has been set
up. The smell of easy
money attracts the unwanted attentions of the Mafia and the Vatican, and the
unbridled hatred of the locals. Mafiosi aren't choir boys, and monsignors
can be very much like Mafiosi. A darkly comic, iconoclastic tale told by an
author of great verve and humour.
Tonino Benacquista, born in France of Italian immigrants,
dropped out of film studies to finance his writing career. After being, in
turn, a museum night-watchman, a train guard on the Paris-Rome line and a
professional parasite on the Paris cocktail circuit, he is now a highly successful
author of fiction and film scripts.
The Translator
Adriana Hunter's work has included two novels by Agnès Desarthe,
Beigbeder's vitriolic attack on the world of and Catherine Millet's explicit
autobiography, The Sexual Life of Catherine M.
'The best French crime novel of the year' Calibre 38
'A story of wine, miracles, the mafia, the Christian Democrats and even love…Benacquista
improves at every outing' Libération
'Energy, humour, fast-paced action and florid storytelling… Benacquista doesn't
hold back'
Le Nouvel Observateur
Holy Smoke won three prestigious fiction awards: the Grand
Prix de la Littérature Policière , the Prix Mystère de la Critique and the
Trophée 813. It has also been well received in German translation.
Benacquista's novels continue to meet with critical and commercial success
in France and French-speaking countries. This is the first time he is published
in English.
HOLY
SMOKE
THE RUSSIAN PASSENGER -Günter Ohnemus - March 2004 Paperback
- £9.99 - ISBN: 1904738028
'At fifty the good Buddhist takes to the road, leaving all his belongings
behind. His sole possession is a begging bowl. That's fine. That's how it
should be. The problem was, there were four million dollars in my begging
bowl and the mafia were after me. It was their money. They wanted it back,
and they also wanted the girl, the woman who was with me: Sonia Kovalevskaya.'
So begins the fast paced story of Harry Willemer, a taxi driver and his
passenger, an ex-KGB agent and the wife of a Russian Mafioso. She stole the
money from her husband. She is beautiful. They criss-cross Europe not always
a step ahead of the goons sent to retrieve the stolen money and the borrowed
wife. Harry must kill, they take refuge in California, but even that is not
far enough. Running from the Mafia but also running from the shadows of their
past. A crime novel and a novel of desperate love. Finally also an evocation
of the cruel history that binds Russia and Germany.
Günter Ohnemus, born in 1946, lives in Munich and writes
novels, essays and translations. He has written three
collections of short stories and a best seller for teenagers. This is his
first novel to be translated into English. It was
a critical and commercial success last year in Germany and, in translation,
in France.
The Translator
John Brownjohn has translated more than fifty novels including
The Night of the Generals and The Wolves
by
H.Kirst. His screenplay credits include Das Boot, The Name of
the Rose and the recent Polanski film, The Pianist.
'Breathless plot in an offbeat crime novel' Le Monde
'Grips you from the opening paragraphs to the very end.' Magazine
Littéraire
'Simultaneously a road movie adventure, a tight thriller and an elegantly
written love story. Der Spiegel
The first crime novel of an author awarded two literary prizes for fiction
writing and literary criticism. The Russian
Passenger received wide-spread laudatory reviews in the print and
television media of Germany and France.
THE
RUSSIAN PASSENGER