INTERNATIONAL PRAISE FOR JAKOB ARJOUNI

“As winning a noirish gumshoe as has swooped onto the mystery scene in some time.”

—The Washington Post

“Jakob Arjouni’s downbeat detective Kemal Kayankaya has proved as enigmatic as Columbo, as erudite as Marlowe and occasionally, as crazed as Hammett’s Continental Op.… Arjouni forges both a gripping caper and a haunting indictment of the madness of nationalism, illuminated by brilliant use of language: magnificent.”

—The Guardian (UK)

“A worthy grandson of Marlowe and Spade.”

—Stern (Germany)

“Arjouni tells real-life stories, and they virtually never have a happy ending. He tells them so well, with such flexible dialogue and cleverly maintained tension, that it is impossible to put his books down.”

—El País (Madrid)

“A genuine storyteller who beguiles his readers without the need of tricks.”

—L’Unità (Italy)

“In the emphasis on action and quick-jab dialogue, readers will notice an echo of James M. Cain and Raymond Chandler, but Arjouni’s stories also brim with the absurd humor that made The Sopranos so entertaining.”

—Vikas Turakhia, The Cleveland Plain Dealer

“This is true hardboiled detective fiction, realistic, violent and occasionally funny, with a hero who lives up to the best traditions of the genre.”

—The Telegraph (UK)

“A good thriller doesn’t need a specific milieu but it can be so much more satisfying when it has one. Jakob Arjouni was born and bred in Frankfurt and does a remarkable job of turning what is often considered Germany’s most boring city, into a vivid setting for violent crime capers … Arjouni’s [four] Kayankaya novel[s] … deserve to be better known in the English-speaking world.… If you like your investigators tough and sassy, Kayankaya is your guide.”

—Sunday Times of London (UK)