Around the world in 365 days

Despite the various lockdowns I did manage to virtually visit 27 countries via fiction in 2020. While my reduced reading meant fewer fiction trips than previous years, thanks to a Netflix subscription I made up for it through television and movies, with nearly all my viewing being non-English titles, mostly set in Asian or South America. Here's my fictional travels.

Antarctica
Austral by Paul McAuley ****.5

Australia
Crimson Lake by Candice Fox ****.5
The Lost Man by Jane Harper *****
Catching Teller Crow by Ambelin and Ezekiel Kwaymullina ****.5

Czech Republic
On Leaving a Prague Window by David Brierley ***

England
Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch ***.5
A Capital Crime by Laura Wilson *****
A Philosophical Investigation by Philip Kerr ***
Joe Country by Mick Herron ***.5
The Portable Door by Tom Holt ***
Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey ****
Fires of London by Janice Law ****
Our Friends in Berlin by Anthony Quinn ****
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman *****
Trick of the Dark by Val McDermid ***.5
Freeze My Margarita by Lauren Henderson ****
Seventy Seven Clocks by Christopher Fowler ***.5
A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson ****

Faroes
The Blood Strand by Chris Ould ****.5

Finland
Deep as Death by Katja Ivar ***

France
The Godmother by Hannelore Cayre ****.5

Germany
Leaving Berlin by Joseph Kanon ***.5

Ireland
The Scholar by Dervla McTiernan ***
Eureka Street by Robert McLiam Wilson *****
Holy Orders by Benjamin Black ***

Japan
Zen Attitude by Sujata Massey ***

Korea
The Plotters by Un-su Kim ****

Laos
The Merry Misogynist by Colin Cotterill ***

Russia
Red Square by Edward Topol and Fridrikh Neznansky ****
Dead Meat by Philip Kerr ****

Scotland
The Quaker by Liam McIlvanney ****

Singapore
The Frangipani Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu ****

Sweden
The Abominable Man by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö ***
The Bomber by Liza Marklund ***.5

Turkey
Arabesk by Barbara Nadel ****

USA
Land of Shadows by Rachel Howzell Hall ***.5
A Game of Ghosts by John Connolly ****.5
Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha ****.5
Silent City by Alex Segura **.5
One For The Money by Janet Evanovich ****
Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke ****
The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly *****
Black Betty by Walter Mosley *****
Finnegan’s Week by Joseph Wambaugh ****
Spook Country by William Gibson ****
Money to Burn by Katy Munger ****.5
The Eye of the Cricket by James Sallis *****
Dixie City Jam by James Lee Burke ***
Mucho Mojo by Joe Lansdale *****

Wales
The Dead House by Harry Bingham ****.5

More than one country
Neuromancer by William Gibson ***** (Japan, Turkey, Outer space
East of Hounslow by Khurrum Rahman **** (England, Pakistan, Afganistan)
Infinite Detail by Tim Maughan ***** (England, United States)
Autonomous by Annalee Newitz *** (United States, Morocco)
Garden of Beasts by Jeffery Deaver **.5 (United States, England, Germany, Sweden)
Legion of the Damned by Sven Hassel ****.5 (Germany, Austria, Russia)
The City in Flames by Michael Russell ***.5 (England, Ireland)
Auslander by Paul Dowswell *** (Poland, Germany)
Birth Marks by Sarah Dunant *** (England, France)
Friends and Traitors by John Lawton **** (England, Austria)
Black Cross by Greg Iles *** (England, US, Germany, Sweden, Scotland)
Rock, Paper, Tiger by Lisa Brackman *** (China, Iraq)

Fictional place
Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller *****

Around the world in 365 days

2017 turned out to be a bit of a slow year of fictional travel, visiting twenty six countries, with the bulk of reads set in the UK, US and Ireland. It would be nice to extend this a bit in 2018, I think, especially to Africa, South America and Central America, places I've barely travelled to fictionally (and not all in real-life).


Australia
Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic ****
The Dry by Jane Harper ****.5
The Rules of Backyard Cricket by Jock Serong *****

Canada
One or The Other by John McFetridge ***.5

China
Death in Shanghai by MJ Lee **.5

Cuba
The Good Assassin by Paul Vidich ***.5

Eygpt
The Burning Gates by Parker Bilal ****.5

England
Don’t Mess With Mrs In-Between by Liz Evans **.5
Bryant and May – The Burning Man by Christopher Fowler ****
Real Tigers by Mick Herron *****
After You Die by Eva Dolan *****
Riptide by John Lawton *****
Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch *****
After the Fire by Jane Casey ****
The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor ***.5
The Dead of Winter by Rennie Airth ***
A Deadly Thaw by Sarah Ward ***.5
The Long Firm by Jake Arnott ****
Bulldog Drummond by Sapper **
The Last Winter of Dani Lancing by P.D. Viner ****
The Intrusions by Shav Sherez ****.5

Germany
Midnight in Berlin by James MacManus **
Babylon Berlin by Volker Kutscher ***
The Divided City by Luke McCallin ****.5
Stasi Wolf by David Young **.5

Greece
The Road to Ithaca by Ben Pastor ****.5

Iceland
Snow Blind by Ragnar Jónasson ***.5

India
A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee ****

Ireland
Sleeping Dogs by Mark O’Sullivan ****.5
The Dust of Death by Paul Charles **.5
The Trespasser by Tana French *****
A Savage Hunger by Claire McGowan ***
There’s Police at the Station and They Don’t Look Friendly by Adrian McKinty ***** 
Silence by Anthony Quinn ****
The Day That Never Comes by Caimh McDonnell *****

Italy
The Detour by Andromeda Romano-Lax ****

Laos
Thirty-Three Teeth by Colin Coterill ****.5

Netherlands
The Harbour Master by Daniel Pembrey ***

Russia
A Cold Red Sunrise by Stuart Kaminsky ****.5
The Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith ***
The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko ****

Scotland
Whisky in Small Glasses by Denzil Meyrich**.5
Dead Water by Ann Cleeves ****
Pilgrim Soul by Gordon Ferris ****
Out of Bounds by Val McDermid ****
His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet ***
The Malice of Waves by Mark Douglas-Home ****

South Africa
Present Darkness by Malla Nunn ****
 
Sweden
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman ****.5
The Dying Detective by Leif G.W. Persson ****

USA
A Red Death by Walter Mosley ****
A Thousand Falling Crows by Larry Sweazy ****.5
Solo Hand by Bill Moody ***.5
Death of a Doxy by Rex Stout ****
The Sellout by Paul Beatty *****
Ten Dead Comedians by Fred Van Lente ***
A Dangerous Man by Charlie Huston ****
Moth by James Sallis ****.5
Rusty Puppy by Joe R. Lansdale ***.5
Razor Girl by Carl Hiaasen ***
Whiskey River by Loren Estleman ****.5
Mortal Stakes by Robert B. Parker ****
Kill the Next One by Federico Axat ***.5
Dead Skip by Joe Gores ****
Redemption Road by John Hart *****
Deep Down Dead by Steph Broadribb***

Wales
Love Story, With Murders by Harry Bingham ****.5
Talking to the Dead by Harry Bingham ****.5

More than one country
Flashman’s Lady by George MacDonald Fraser ***.5 (England, Madagascar, Singapore, Indonesia)

Prussian Blue by Philip Kerr **** (France, Germany)

City of Lies by Michael Russell **** (Ireland, Portugal, France, Germany)
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen **** (Vietnam, United States)
Flight from Berlin by David John *** (Germany, Britain)

Around the world in 2014

I managed to travel virtually to 27 countries during 2014 via the books that I read.  Here's the breakdown, with the full list of titles and links to reviews below.

34: United States
11: Ireland
10: England
4: Australia, France
3: Germany, Scotland
2: Canada, Italy, Russia, Thailand, Turkey
1: Argentina, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Sweden, Yugoslavia
7: More than one country (Germany, England, USA, Cuba, India, Afganistan, Turkey, Italy, Bulgaria, Russia, Spain, France, Czechoslavakia, Romania, Canada, Scotland)

Argentina
The Secrets in Their Eyes by Eduardo Sacheri ****.5

Australia
Nice Try by Shane Maloney ***.5
A Decline in Prophets by Sulari Gentill **** 
Prime Cut by Alan Carter ***
The Holiday Murders by Robert Gott ****

Canada
Black Rock by John McFetridge ****.5
The Safe Word by Karen Long ***

England
The Stranger You Know by Jane Casey *****
The Zig Zag Girl by Elly Griffiths **
A Willing Victim by Laura Wilson ****.5
The Late Greats by Nick Quantrill ***.5
Bad Penny Blues by Cathi Unsworth **** 
Long Way Home by Eva Dolan *****
Crossword Ends in Violence (5) by James Cary ***.5
Gently Floating by Alan Hunter ***
Dark Winter by David Mark ***.5
Dead Lions by Mick Herron ****.5

France
Summertime, All the Cats are Bored by Philippe Georget ***
The Panda Theory by Paschal Garnier ***.5
Total Chaos by Jean-Claude Izzo ***.5
Pietr the Latvian by Georges Simenon ***

Germany
Potsdam Station by David Downing ****
The Spring of Kasper Meier by Ben Fergusson ***
A Night of Long Knives by Rebecca Cantrell *** 

Ireland
Unravelling Oliver by Liz Nugent ****.5
The Blood Dimmed Tide by Anthony Quinn ***.5
In The Morning I'll Be Gone by Adrian McKinty *****
Another Case in Cowtown by Mel Healy ***
Keep Away From Those Ferraris by Pat Fitzpatrick *****
Disappeared by Anthony Quinn ****.5
Corridors of Death by Ruth Dudley Edwards **** 
All the Dead Voices by Declan Hughes ****
The Silver Swan by Benjamin Black ***.5
Darkhouse by Alex Barclay *****
Broken Harbour by Tana French ***

Italy
A Private Venus by Giorgio Scerbanenco ****
I Will Have Vengeance by Maurizio De Giovanni ****

Japan
Villain by Shuichi Yoshida *****

Mexico
The Hot Country by Robert Olen Butler ***

Norway
Closed for Winter by Jorn Lier Horst ****.5

Papua New Guinea
The Sun is God by Adrian McKinty ***.5

Russia
Tatiana by Martin Cruz Smith ***
Cross of Iron by Willi Heinrich ***** 
 
Scotland
Southsiders by Nigel Bird ***
The Papers of Tony Veitch by William McIlvanney *****
Bitter Water by Gordon Ferris *** 

South Africa
The Steam Pig by James McClure ****

Sweden
The Hidden Child by Camilla Lackberg ****.5

Thailand
Salty by Mark Haskell Smith ***
Behind the Night Bazaar by Angela Savage ***.5

Turkey
The Gigolo Murder by Mehmet Murat Somer ****
Istanbul Puzzle by Laurence O'Bryan ***

USA
The Boy in the Snow by MJ McGrath **.5
Keystone by Peter Lovesey *** 
Bite Harder by Anonymous-9 ****
All God's Children by Arthur Lyons ***
Because the Night by James Ellroy ***
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald ***
Pest Control by Bill Fitzhugh *****
I Married a Dead Man by Cornell Woodrich *****
The Red Right Hand by Joel Townsley Rogers ***
The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler *****
Little Caesar by W.R. Burnett ***.5
The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz ****
Hard Bounce by Todd Robinson  ****.5
Grind Joint by Dana King *****
Washington Shadow by Aly Monroe ***.5
The Carrier by Preston Lang ***.5
Dog On It by Spencer Quinn ****
Casual Rex by Eric Garcia ***.5
Briarpatch by Ross Thomas ***.5
Raylan by Elmore Leonard ***.5
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye by Horace McCoy ***.5
To Die in Beverly Hills by Gerald Petievich ****
Salt River by James Sallis *****
Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis ****
Bird Dog by Philip Reed ****.5
Night Moves by Randy Wayne White ***
Tropical Freeze by James W. Hall ***.5
Margin of Error by Edna Buchanan ***
Hurricane Punch by Tim Dorsey ***.5
Tropical Heat by John Lutz ***
Live by Night by Dennis Lehane ****.5
The Big Goodbye by Michael Lister ***
The Wrath of Angels by John Connolly ****
Visitation Street by Ivy Pochoda ***** 

Yugoslavia
The Man From Berlin by Luke McCallin ****

More than one country
The Midnight Swimmer by Edward Wilson **** (Germany, England, US, Cuba)
Flashman by George Macdonald Fraser **** (England, Scotland, India, Afganistan)
The Bellini Card by Jason Goodwin *** (Turkey, Italy)
Night Soldiers by Alan Furst **** (Bulgaria, Russia, Spain, France, Czechoslavakia, Hungary)
All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses an Eye by Christopher Brookmyre **** (Scotland/France)
To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway *** (Cuba, USA)
Entry Island by Peter May *** (Canada, Scotland)