Hey readers, I’ve got something different and cool for you today! I’ve been a big fan of Pushkin Press, a UK publisher that puts out unique literary fiction, and now Pushkin is venturing out into vintage crime fiction with their new imprint, Pushkin Vertigo. I’m excited to have a review copy of The Tokyo Zodiac Murders, and I’m looking forward to checking out the others as well.
Pushkin Vertigo is the hotly anticipated new crime imprint from Pushkin Press, a treasure-trove of classics from all around the world. With highly recognisable, stunning jackets, the books in the Pushkin Vertigo collection are tour-de-force thrillers by masters from the 1920s to the 1970s. Readers will discover timeless, iconic works from countries including France, Spain, Austria, Japan and Italy.
Launching today, the first four titles are now available both in the UK and the U.S., and boy are they stunning! With cover artwork by Jamie Keenan, crime binge readers will devour this lineup of the twentieth century’s most revered mystery and thriller writers, whose work has, in many cases, inspired films and TV series. Take a look:
VERTIGO by Boileau-Narcejac is the original mind-bending thriller behind the Alfred Hitchcock film that is regarded by many as the greatest movie ever made. A troubled ex-policeman struggles in a web of deceit after an old friend asks him to look after his wife as a favour.
About the authors: Boileau-Narcejac is the nom-de-plume of Pierre Boileau (1906-89) and Thomas Narcejac (1908-98), one of France’s most successful writing duos. Their works inspired numerous films, including Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo and Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Les Diaboliques, based on their 1952 debut novel She Who Was No More.
THE TOKYO ZODIAC MURDERS by Soji Shimada is a Japanese cult classic, named one of the top ten locked-room mysteries of all time by the Guardian. An old eccentric artist living with seven women has been found dead – in a room locked from the inside. His diaries reveal a murderous plan which is carried out shortly afterwards. Can readers solve the mystery before they reach the end of the book?
About the author: Born in 1948, Soji Shimada has been hailed as the ‘God of Mystery’. He made his literary debut with The Tokyo Zodiac Murders in 1981 and has since written more than 100 works in total. In 2009 Shimada received the prestigious Japan Mystery Literature Award in recognition of his life’s work.
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SIGNORA GIULIA is written by Italian-born Piero Chiara. Every Thursday for three years, Signora Giulia takes the train to Milan to visit her daughter. But one Thursday she simply disappears. For Detective Sciancalepre, this mystery is darker and more tangled than he could have imagined…
About the author: Born in 1913 in Northern Italy, Chiara was one of the most celebrated writers of the post-war period. The winner of more than a dozen literary prizes, he is widely read and studied in Italy. This is his first book to be translated into English.
MASTER OF THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT, by Leo Perutz, is set in the Viennese autumn of 1909, where famed actor Eugen Bischoff is driven to suicide. There will be other deaths that autumn, and it will be harder to track down the invisible enemy – a monster who feeds off intrigue, imagination and fear.
About the author: Leo Perutz was born in Prague in 1882. He is the author of eleven novels, which attracted the admiration of authors such as Graham Greene, Italo Calvino and Ian Fleming. He died in 1957.
All four books are on sale today from your favorite retailer!
Amazon | Amazon UK | The Book Depository
UK Price: £7.99 (B-format paperback)
U.S. Price: $ 13.95 (trade paperback)
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AND FORTHCOMING PUSHKIN VERTIGO TITLES INCLUDE
She Who Was No More by Boileau-Narcejac (9781782270812): A murdered spouse returns from the dead (NOVEMBER 2015)
I Was Jack Mortimer by Alexander Lernet-Holenia (9781782271154): A taxi driver in 1930s Vienna impersonates a murder victim, and gets caught in a dangerous spiral of events (NOVEMBER 2015)
IN 2016:
The Murdered Banker by Augusto De Angelis (9781782271703): Introducing Inspector De Vincenzi – when a dead banker is discovered on an old friend’s living room floor the Milanese sleuth’s investigation leads to high drama and conflicting loyalties.
Little Apple by Leo Perutz (9781782271673): A thirst for revenge leads to a deadly pursuit across Russia during the years following the revolution.
The Hotel of the Three Roses by Augusto De Angelis (9781782271710): De Vincenzi investigates a series of macabre murders in a seedy boarding house.
St Peter’s Snow by Leo Perutz (9781782271680): A man wakes in a hospital bed with recollections of a fantastic adventure, but the hospital staff insist that he is merely the victim of a mundane traffic accident. Is his memory deceiving him?
Clinch by Martin Holmén (9781782271925): Ultra-gritty Swedish noir set in 1930s Stockholm, follows the adventures of Harry Kvist, bisexual ex-boxer and current debt collector, in the poverty-stricken city’s underworld.
The Switch by Frédéric Dard (9781782271994): A chance romantic counter on a bleak Parisian Christmas Eve leads to a mysterious death.
Whoa those covers are kind of giving me vertigo, the irony, lol! But they’re awesome. I think I’ve heard of their books before, at least THE TOKYO ZODIAC MURDERS. It sounds great, that’s totally one I would check out! Didn’t know that it’s from a new imprint, that’s cool 🙂
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I really love the covers, but you’re right, they are CRAZY! I’m excited actually to read Vertigo. I’ve seen the movie of course, but have never read the book.
Those cover… WOW. I think I really like them, but not sure. I can’t look at them too long XD
I’m not familiar at all with any of these stories, but I love who are all the from different countries and time periods. A lot of the sound good! I like Tokyo Zodiac and Master of the Day