Racial problems are not just endemic to the United States. Germany, it would appear, has its own problems. Jakob Arjouni is a new German mystery writer who has been variously described as the successor to [b:Raymond Chandler|2052|The Big Sleep|Raymond Chandler|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41AGA624Z5L._SL75_.jpg|1222673] and Ross Mac- Donald. While I would not go that far, perhaps, his detective, of Turkish extraction but German citizenship, does show many of the elements characteristic of the “hard-boiled” detective. In this story, Kemal Kayankaya is hired to find Sri Dao, an immigrant from Thailand whose visa has expired. She had been brought over to participate in Frankfurt’s thriving sex trade (prostitution is evidently legal in Germany). She had then been promised a set of newly forged documents (for a substantial price) that would permit her to stay legally in Germany. Kayankaya’s investigation takes him deep into the underworld of brothels, corrupt cops and dishonest immigration officials. He also suffers from the negative stereotyping attached to foreign workers by bigoted native Germans — even though he is a native himself — because of his name and swarthy, i.e., foreign, appearance. Good addition to the ranks of the “hardboiled

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One Man, One Murder was another ebook I was asked to review by the kind folks at Melville House Publishing (the same publishing house that published the excellent Death and the Penguin). This book is translated from the German and is the third in a series starring Kemal Kayankaya. (It works perfectly as a standalone book though.) Kemal is a private investigator in Frankfurt, Germany and his latest case is to find out who kidnapped Sri Dao, a Thai girl whose visa has run out.
Kemal, who is of Turkish origin, runs into all sorts of trouble when he investigates this case. Racism from immigration officials, his own friends being involved and the twists and turns of the case exposes an even bigger problem than he first thought.

The author (and the translator) have done an excellent job in getting the voice of Kemal just right. The story is told in the first person and Kemal sounds just like what you’d expect a private investigator to sound like – hard bitten, world weary and cynical. He has a dry sense of humour and a knack for working out the idiosyncrasies at each step of the case. His office even sounds like a private investigator’s – one room, dreary and with ‘the scent of spilled Scotch’.

The only problem I had with this book was being able to keep up with the German names to work out who was who. Perhaps this was because I’ve never studied German or visited Germany; I couldn’t make them stick in my head. I eventually wrote myself a little note as a reminder, which worked very well. I also had some trouble with the format of this galley on my Sony Reader – as it’s a PDF, the size of the font I could see and the size of the PDF page didn’t match well. This meant that each page was actually a page and a bit, which meant I had to flick pages some more. I’m sure this is fixed with the final ebook though.

In summary, this is a tight thriller/detective story that’s gritty and exciting. Another great crime translation. ( )

Hard-boiled prose, lean, clean dialogue, hard bitten as Sam Spade, cynically cool as Philip Marlowe. Kemal Kayankaya is a worthy successor to the great noir characters and hard boiled detectives of the past. This isn't a parody or a cheap imitation, Jakob Arjouni has created the real thing. Beautiful!

Jakob Arjouni tells a tale that could have come off of the mean streets of Chandler's Los Angles or Hammet's San Francisco, or Chicago or New York or Boston but it takes place in Frankfurt, Germany - the dullest town in Germany, except it isn't. One Man, One Murder was originally written in 1991 as Ein Mann, ein Mord. Melville International Crime provided me with this Galley of the translation and after reading it, it's jumped to the top of the list of `Best Surprise Book' of the year. In an original voice, Arjouni tells such a true story and he tells it so well, maintaining tension throughout, dialogue that is clever, witty, and sad and an atmosphere that James M. Cain would have been proud of.

Kemal Kayankaya is the orphaned son of a Turkish garbage collector, a German Citizen, born and bred. But, because he is of Turkish extraction he encounters suspicion and racism wherever he goes. He meets them with a smart assed attitude and a cynical, jaded tongue.

This book would have worked so well as just a comic take on the American Hardboiled detective transplanted to Europe in the late 80's; as a cynical updating of Chandler's Philip Marlowe, but Arjouni had loftier goals. And he achieved them in spades. Sam Spades. It is Arjouni's willingness to confront serious social issues and display them in the light of a hardboiled/noir novel, with an avoidance of clichés, intelligent observation, and dialog that is both realistic and dripping with acid-tinged sarcasm. And to do it all without preaching. He kind of reminds me of the great Walter Mosley in that regard.

The protagonist encounters deadly crime bosses, indifferent and crooked cops, violent muscle men, a landlord who wants his money, an illegal immigrant ring that sells the hopefuls fake visas and then disposes of them - the hopefuls, not the visas, a miasma of bureaucratic and social injustice and racial prejudice that mirrors Americas own. The air of contemporary Europe's racial politics and inane nationalism are the maze that Kayankaya navigates in his quest but he is well equipped with a sharp mind, a sharper tongue and meets these challenges with a cynical, smart-assed attitude and an anti-authority front. There are enough seeming dead ends, as almost any detective novel requires, but instead of having them ...dead end, Arjouni has them turn into very interesting `small mysteries' or stories inside the story. Arjouni is a consummate professional. His prose are efficient with a minimalists approach that Hemingway would love, but not so minimalist that he doesn't manage to fully develop the characters without using stock, stereotypes, and he makes them way too real. He also paints scenes both colorful and dark about the underbelly of a city and maintains a pace that lingers just enough in all the right places.

The only criticism I have for this otherwise master work is that it took to damn long to get it translated and released in English. Well, Melville International Crime has fixed that, and thank you very much.

The Dirty Lowdown

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