Mysteries About Translators: A Reading List

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Over the past few years, there’s been quite a few novels popping up featuring translators solving crimes. Some of the books are by authors who themselves have experience in translation, and reward readers with their turns of phrase and tricks of prose lifted from the cadences of other languages. I try to keep abreast of trends in the genre, especially ones difficult to google (if you search for crime fiction about translators, you’re likely to find works of fiction in translation instead), and I’ve found the mother-lode with this one (or perhaps, the mother tongue?).

In particular, I put together this list because two books this year demanded it: Jennifer Croft, the award-winning translator of Olga Togarczuk, published her first novel in March, and one of April’s standout releases is The Translator, by Harriet Crawley, a novel of the “new Cold War” by a writer with decades of experience in Russia under her belt with the linguistic skills to match. While authenticity is not always a reasonable demand in our genre (we wouldn’t want actual murderers writing crime fiction), the authors below all appear to be nearly as multi-lingual as their characters.

Jennifer Croft, The Extinction of Irena Ray
(Bloomsbury)

Jennifer Croft is the renowned translator of Olga Tokarczuk and this debut takes full advantage of her background in the best way possible. In this complex and metaphysical mystery, eight translators arrive at a sprawling home in the Polish forest, only to find their author has gone missing. Where is Irena Ray? What secrets has she been keeping from her devoted fans? And what’s with all the slime mold? I should add that this title is quickly becoming a favorite of all of us here at CrimeReads!

Harriet Crawley, The Translator
(Bitter Lemon)

Harriet Crawley was married to a Russian, lived and worked in Russia for decades, and is a fluent Russian speaker, so it’s no surprise that her 2017-set novel feels as authentic as a le Carre tale when it comes to underhanded deeds and doomed romance. Crawley’s narrator is a skilled translator called up by the British government to help negotiate an important trade deal. His mission soon goes off-course when he encounters another translator, his former lover, who needs his help: her surrogate son, a hacker who got on the wrong side of the FSB, has died suspiciously, with few interested in a thorough investigation.

Eddie Robson, Drunk on All Your Strange New Words
(Tordotcom)

This book is so strange! In the distant scifi future, the bumbling interpreter to an erudite alien attaché must solve a locked-room mystery or find her employment jeopardized. The act of translating the alien tongue makes her feel a bit tipsy, but that’s just the start of her problems in this wildly creative scifi/mystery mashup.

Ann Leckie, Translation State
(Orbit)

Ann Leckie’s Translation State is part space opera, part murder mystery, and all entertaining. The set-up is compelling: two seekers converge in their quest to solve the mysterious disappearance of a skilled, but rebellious, translator, the key to avoiding a clash between titans as their political overlords prepare to renegotiate a controversial arrangement.

R. F. Kuang, Babel, Or, An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Rebellion
(Harper Voyager)

One of my go-to recommendations at parties! In R. F. Kuang’s anti-colonialist powerhouse, magic comes from the meaning lost or gained in a word’s translation, and the more used the language, the less power it provides. In the early 19th century, the Oxford Dons have recruited speakers of many tongues from across the empire to keep magic plentiful, gathering them from the periphery to the center. While these students are initially enamored of academia, they eventually begin a costly rebellion against those who would exploit their talents and their people. I know, it’s not crime fiction, but it does contain some subterfuge.

Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi, The Centre
(Zando)

I can’t give away too much about this bizarre take on how the rich get ahead, but it’s got a killer twist! In The Centre, a woman learns of an exclusive language school promising near-instantaneous fluency in a variety of difficult tongues. She heads to the facility’s remote, spa-like location and bonds quickly with the woman in charge of the complex operation while throwing herself wholeheartedly into the center’s immersive process. Her commitments will be tested, however, when she finally understands the true cost behind the school’s innovations.

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