Back in 1990, Paul Levine made his debut with To Speak for the Dead, which introduced Jake Lassiter, a
former Miami Dolphins linebacker turned hard-nosed lawyer. Lassiter had a smart-mouth and a self-
deprecating personality that did him few favors.
To Speak for the Dead also introduced readers to how weird Florida could be, showing that what Carl Hiaasen wrote about a few years before was just the tip of the Sunshine State.
Levine steeped his series in details that would seem unusual outside of Florida, such as the courthouse steps being cleaned daily to remove chicken parts and goats’ heads used in Santeria rituals.
Some readers might have doubted that really happens but those would be readers outside of Florida.
Once again, there are certain things you just can't make up.
I couldn't help but think about Levine and his character when this story recently appeared in the South Florida newspapers.
A North Miami Beach officer was fired, accused of trying to cast a Santeria spell over the city manager to stop him from slashing police jobs. The weapon of choice: birdseed sprinkled in the manager's office. The birdseed was believed to have mystical powers that would make the city manager "go away," reported the Miami Herald.
Truth is stranger than fiction. Except in mystery fiction.
Mystery writers are among the nicest people. I have said that so many times before and probably will say it many times in the future.
Take Jeff Abbott, left, and Harlan Coben, below left.
Two nice guys who write solid crime fiction novels. Both started out writing quite good paperbacks before moving on to quite good hardcovers.
Both also have been supportive of each other throughout their careers. Panels with the two of them are non-stop laughter.
This past year, the two of them were working on young adult novels at the same 
time. Again, mutual support came up.
Several months ago, I was interviewing Jeff for a profile in Mystery Scene. That interview was in issue No. 120, Summer 2011.
During the interview, Jeff mentioned that his European publisher noticed that many teenage boys were reading his stand-alone thriller Panic about the exploits of Evan Cashier, the novel’s 24-year-old hero.
So Jeff’s publishers asked to do something radical to draw even more young readers. Could he re-imagine Panic, rewriting it to make Evan a 15-year-old school boy?
“My first thought was this was not a simple search and replace since age 24 is a lot different than being age 15,” said Jeff.
“But my sons had been begging me to write a book they could read. My oldest said, ‘If you do this, I want to read this first.’ So he and his 15-year-old cousin were my first readers.”
The result is Panic: The Ultimate Edition with new characters and different interaction between the characters. The novel is only available, at present, in Europe.
“I had a lot of fun with it and it was an invigorating experience. It was a new challenge, and I am glad to get a Young Adult book done for my sons.”
While Jeff was working on Panic, Harlan Coben also was working on Shelter, his first YA novel. Shelter continues the story of Mickey Bolitar, Myron's very bright nephew.
And Jeff's sons entered the writing process again.
"Harlan asked my sons to vote on covers of his YA book. My sons are listed as cover consultants," said Jeff.
It's hardly news that interest in Scandinavian crime fiction has made an impact on American readers.
Sure, Stieg Larsson's trilogy had a lot to do with this. But readers wouldn't be buying these books if the stories weren't compelling.
This focus on international mysteries has been business as usual since 1987 for Soho Press.
More than any other publisher, Soho Press specializes in the unusual mystery set in foreign countries.
Sometimes, that foreign land is as close as England such as James Craig's London Calling, about a Metropolitan police inspector who navigates an election and the British political system to protect the life of the next prime minister; or Cara Black's elegant stories set in Paris, such as Murder in the Marais. Or Michael Genelin's Requiem for a Gypsy set in Bratislava, Slovakia.
At Soho Press, the exotic thrives.
To Americans that means novels such as Quentin Bates' Frozen Assets set in Iceland; Graeme Kent's Devil-Devil set in the Solomon Islands; Jassy Mackenzie's Stolen Lives set in South Africa; or Adrian Hyland's Gunshot Road, which explores the Australian Outback.
But the "exoticness" of America also thrives. We go up to Alaska with Stan Jones' Village of the Ghost Bears. Or to the heart of New York City's Chinatown with Henry Chang's Red Jade.
And we get a glimpse of WWII with James R. Benn's Billy Boyle and David Downing's Potsdam Station.
Colin Cotterill got his start at Soho with his Dr. Siri novels such as Love Songs from a Shallow Grave. Cotterill was one of the international guests of honor at this past Bouchercon.
Soho Press also has a real eye for quality.
Stuart Neville's The Ghosts of Belfast won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and his follow-up Collusion made the L.A. Times Book Prize short list. (I was a judge both years). Neville's latest is Stolen Souls.
I always look forward to novels from Soho because I know that these novels are special.
Soho Press launched last month the US debut of one of Denmark's bestselling crime writers. The Boy in the Suitcase is the first collaboration of Lene Kaaberbøl and Agnete Friis, Denmark's "queens of crime fiction."
In The Boy in the Suitcase, a nurse, who works underground helping vulnerable illegal immigrants, temporarily leaves her own family as she tries to save a three-year-old boy who's been kidnapped and found drugged, but alive in a suitcase hidden in a Copenhagen train station.
The Boy in the Suitcase is the first installment in the long-running Danish bestselling series featuring nurse Nina Borg. It was a finalist for the Scandinavian Glass Key crime fiction award.
I often pack Soho novels when I am traveling overseas and on several occasions have given a novel to a friend who would be traveling to a specific country.
Of course, the armchair traveler only has to pack these novels to visit another land.
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