Murder Ink

The next two weeks of B O D Y’s Sunday European Fiction will be devoted to dark stories of crime and death.

First up is the brutal opening of Polish crime writer Mariusz Czubaj’s novel 21:37, just published by Stork Press in a translation by Anna Hyde. This is the award-winning writer’s first book to come out in English. Czubaj has also co-authored two books with the celebrated Marek Krajewski, subject of a  Friday Pick at B O D Y.

To get an idea of the author’s own taste in the genre you can see a list of his Top Ten favorite crime novels.

The following week it will be a story by Romanian writer Marin Malaicu-Hondrari about a hitman with an usual hit to carry out. The work was translated into English by Jean Harris.

Besides being a novelist and poet Malaicu-Hondrari is a translator and has translated Roberto Bolaño’s poetry among other Spanish-language writers into Romania. I mention Bolaño in particular though because not only is his name the stories opening words, but his influence is apparent throughout.

Photo – by Osbornb/Wikimedia