JAKOB ARJOUNI was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1964, the son of acclaimed German playwright Hans Gunter Michelson. He wrote numerous books, including the novels Chez Max and Magic Hoffmann, which was shortlisted for the IMPAC Award. But it is for his series of five mysteries featuring the Turkish immigrant detective Kemal Kayankaya for which he became best known. Bestsellers throughout Europe and the winner of the German Thriller Prize, they have also been turend into wildly popular movies in his home country. Arjouni died from pancreatic cancer at age forty-eight in January 2013.
ANTHEA BELL is one of the world's most acclaimed translators, best known for her translations of the French Asterix comics and a translator of Stefan Zweig and W.G. Sebald.
Praise for Kismet
"As winning a noirish gumshoe as has swooped onto the mystery scene
in some time." --Richard Lipez, The Washington Post "In the
emphasis on action and quck-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 Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
"Jakob Arjouni's downbeat detective Kemel 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 "This lively, gripping book sets a
high standard for the crime novel as the best of modern
literature." --The Independent "With its snappy dialogue and
rumpled heroes, Arjouni's crime fiction owes an obvious debt to
American noir but it is equally reminiscent of many Eastern
European satirical novels. The plot of Kismet may recall any number
of gangster romps, but the society so caustically depicted here is
as recognizable as that conjured up, for instance, by Jaroslav
Hasek in The Good Soldier Schweik." --Anna Mudow, The Barnes &
Noble Review
"Re-imagines the dull capital of the German financial industry as
an urban hell where minority groups and crime bosses prey on one
another with ruthless abandon." --The Daily Beast "If you like your
investigators tough and sassy, Kayankaya is your guide." --The
Sunday Times (London)
"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 Daily Telegraph
Praise for One Man, One Murder "Kemal Kayankaya is the ultimate
outsider among hard-boiled private eyes." --Marilyn Stasio, The New
York Times Book Review
"A zippy, deliciously dirty tour of legal fleshpots and low-down
scams victimizing illegal aliens . . . Plotted with verve and
written with passion." --Kirkus Reviews
"The book is as hard-boiled as private eye stories come." --The
Toronto Star
Praise for Happy Birthday, Turk!
"The greatest German mystery since World War II." --Süddeutsche
(Germany) International Praise for Jacob Arjouni's Kayankaya novels
"A worthy grandson of Marlowe and Spade." --Der Stern (Germany)
"Jakob Arjouni writes the best urban thrillers since Raymond
Chandler." --Tempo (UK) "A genuine storyteller who beguiles his
readers without the need of tricks." --L'Unità (Italy) "Arjouni is
a master of authentic background descriptions and an original story
teller." --SonntagsZeitung (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
(Spain) "His virtuosity, humor and feeling for tension are a ray of
hope in literature on the other side of the Rhine." --Actuel
(France) "Pitch-black noir." --La Depeche (France)
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