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Destinations To Die For: 20 Locations From Classic Crime Novels

Crime novels have for centuries shaped the way we see space, be it cities or the countryside, and the best novels can bring to life locations that we hardly know – or have never even heard of. Charles Dickens did it majestically with London, as did Raymond Chandler a century later with Los Angeles. The most popular crime novels – even with made-up street names, bars and restaurants – help define these places we now so effortlessly visit. We present 20 fantastic crime novels and take a look at some of their iconic locations.

By Paul Wheatley

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Destinations To Die For: 20 Locations From Classic Crime Novels.

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Vienna, Austria: Graham Greene’s The Third Man – Graham Greene’s classic, dark evocation of post-war Vienna has arguably never been bettered, though Greene only wrote the book as preparation for the screenplay. The equally classic film of the same name, starring Orson Welles and Trevor Howard, came first. “The Third Man was never written to be read, but only to be seen,” said Greene. Portraying the four-power occupation of Vienna, it leads readers on a foreboding trail around the city – featuring numerous landmarks such as the Wiener Risenrad (ferris wheel), the Stadtpark and Harry Lime’s (Welles) apartment in Palais Pallavicini.

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Destinations To Die For: 20 Locations From Classic Crime Novels.

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National University of Marcos, Lima, Peru: Mario Vargas Llosa’s Conversation in the Cathedral – With a Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010, Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa has for some time been a giant of more than just Peruvian literature. Conversation in the Cathedral is one of South America’s great works, revolving around Santiago Zavala, a student and activist in Peru’s capital of Lima. Llosa places Zavala at his own former university, the architecturally significant University of San Marcos (dating back to 1551). The book examines the Peruvian dictatorship and Zavala’s father’s possible role in a murder. [Photo: Wikimedia Commons]

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Destinations To Die For: 20 Locations From Classic Crime Novels.

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Plötzensee Prison, Berlin, Germany: Hans Fallada’s Every Man Dies Alone – Based on a true story of anti-regime postcards that mysteriously appeared in the German capital during the Third Reich, Hans Fallada’s Every Man Dies Alone has at times an unbearably oppressive atmosphere – if discovered, the perpetrators face certain death. The protagonists are Otto and Elise Hampel, whose son has died in the Second World War. [Spoiler Alert] A Gestapo officer tracks them down, and like many other resisters, they are executed at Plötzensee Prison, which still exists in the Charlottenburg area. [Photo: Wikimedia Commons]

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Destinations To Die For: 20 Locations From Classic Crime Novels.

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Train from Paris to Istanbul (France-Turkey): Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express  – Though there are various routes that the historic and modern Orient Express takes, the passage from Paris to Istanbul is the one most often evoked when recalling the classic train. Called the Simplon-Orient-Express, Agatha Christie used it for one of her most popular crime novels. Amidst the luxury of this most famous of train journeys, crossing the continent with significant stops in locations such as today’s Serbian Belgrade and Croatia’s Vinkovci, Hercule Poirot must work out who killed American Samuel Ratchett. [Photo: Wikimedia Commons]

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Destinations To Die For: 20 Locations From Classic Crime Novels.

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Baskerville Hall, Hay-on-Wye, England: Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, Hound of the Baskervilles – Perhaps the most famous detective of them all, Sherlock Holmes ventures across London, name-checking some of the British capital’s most renowned locations. While the Sherlock Holmes Museum is located at the famous 221B Baker Street address, the address never existed in Victorian London. Visitors are on more secure ground if they visit Baskerville Hall, the scene of one of Holmes’ best crime stories. Doyle was a regular visitor, though it’s actually three hours away in Hay-on-Wye.

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Destinations To Die For: 20 Locations From Classic Crime Novels.

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Kolkata, India: Abir Mukherjee’s A Rising Man – British-born Abir Mukherjee is one of a number of writers looking back to Indian-British history for inspiration in his crime thrillers. In his fascinating debut novel A Rising Man, former Scotland Yard detective Captain Sam Wyndham heads to the police force in Kolkata (then Calcutta) and is tasked with finding the person responsible for the brutal murder of a British official. Mukherjee brings to life not only the poor streets of 1919 Calcutta, but also the luxurious homes of the elite – many still exist, in a city that, a century later, is considered India’s cultural capital.

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Destinations To Die For: 20 Locations From Classic Crime Novels.

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New Delhi & Bangalore, India: Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger – A debut novel with an India theme that made even bigger waves was Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger. Although not strictly a crime novel, the all-pervasive nature of corruption in a modernising India is central to the book. The story is narrated through the eyes of Balram Halwai, who moves from a rural village to the bustling cities of New Delhi and then Bangalore. As Balram slips into an ever more corrupt lifestyle, he even resorts to murder as the novel darkens.

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Destinations To Die For: 20 Locations From Classic Crime Novels.

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Berlin, Germany: Erich Kästner’s Emil and the Detective – Erich Kästner’s Emil and the Detective has long (rightly) been considered a classic crime novel. Published in 1929 for kids, it follows Emil as he sets out on a train journey from Neustadt to the capital, Berlin. He discovers that the money his mother entrusted him with has been stolen; with help from his friends, he attempts to find out who took it. Landmark railway stations (Zoologischer Garten and Friedrichstraße) feature, plus the rebuilt Café Josty, which in the 1920s attracted famous artists.

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Destinations To Die For: 20 Locations From Classic Crime Novels.

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London, England: Charles Dickens’ Bleak House – The streets and houses of London were par for the course from the pen of Charles Dickens. Elements of the thriller, detective novel and intrigue are central to Bleak House, a vast, complex book that revolves around untangling a web of murder, legal issues, secret identities and love. Dickens brings into play familiar London locations, from St Paul’s and Blackfriars Bridge to Chancery Lane and Lincoln’s Inn Fields. [Photo: Wikimedia Commons]

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Destinations To Die For: 20 Locations From Classic Crime Novels.

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Los Angeles, California, US: Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep – A giant of crime novel writing, Raymond Chandler’s private detective Philip Marlowe has inspired countless others since the 1930s. The Big Sleep alludes to death, and what starts with Marlowe delving into blackmail quickly turns becomes a murder investigation. Locations across Los Angeles pervade the story, even if some appear under pseudonyms: Marlowe sets an early scene in General Sternwood’s estate, thought to be modelled on Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills. Of course, he also relies on various locations along what we know as Hollywood Boulevard. [Photo: LunchboxLarry/Flickr]

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Destinations To Die For: 20 Locations From Classic Crime Novels.

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Arizona Desert, Phoenix and Scottsdale, US: Dorothy B Hughes’ The Expendable Man – Similar to Chandler, Dorothy B Hughes is a doyenne of US crime writing, and one of her best is her tense-ridden noir classic The Expendable Man. Packed with ethical and moral issues, plus social and racial tension, it starts with medical intern Dr Hugh Densmore on his way to a wedding across a desert road from LA to Phoenix, Arizona. Along the road, with temperatures hitting 100 degrees Fahrenheit, he picks up a hitchhiker …who is later found dead in a Scottsdale canal, next to Phoenix.

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Destinations To Die For: 20 Locations From Classic Crime Novels.

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New York City, New York, US: Paul Auster’s NY Trilogy – Now available in one volume under the title of The New York Trilogy, Paul Auster’s City of Glass, Ghosts and The Locked Room were published in just two years, 1985 and 1986. The labyrinthine urban landscape is central to City of Glass, as are conceptions of space: distinct from classical crime or detective novels, a writer endlessly walks New York streets attempting to solve what appears to be an unsolvable mystery.

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Destinations To Die For: 20 Locations From Classic Crime Novels.

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Skåne, Sweden: Henning Mankell’s Faceless Killers – Detective thrillers from Scandinavia have become fashionable in recent decades, and Henning Mankell was at the forefront of their success. With a judge as a father, plus an early career as a merchant seaman and stagehand, he had a varied enough background to inspire him. In Faceless Killers, Mankell situates his most famous detective, Kurt Wallander, amidst the flat farming plains of Skåne in southern Sweden – where Mankell had a farm.

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Destinations To Die For: 20 Locations From Classic Crime Novels.

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Gorky Park, Moscow, Russia: Martin Cruz Smith’s Gorky Park – The protagonist of Martin Cruz Smith’s Communist-era Gorky Park is Inspector Arkady Renko, who takes his investigation to several locations around Moscow, vividly setting the scene for this crime story. Gorky Park, opened in 1928 and named after author Maxim Gorky, is a cultural and leisure area of the city. Renko investigates three gruesome corpses found here, located not far from the Moskva River. [Photo: Honza Soukup/Flickr]

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Destinations To Die For: 20 Locations From Classic Crime Novels.

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Porquerolles, France: Georges Simenon’s My Friend Maigret – For dedicated fans of long series of detective thrillers, look no further than Georges Simenon’s 59 Inspector Maigret books. To make the challenge more attractive, however, Simenon’s brilliance ensures the overall quality across the series is very high. If you don’t wish to start at book one (Peter the Latvian), My Friend Maigret is a great option – and rather than set in Maigret’s usual Parisian haunts, this time he’s on the sun-kissed Porquerolles, an island off the Côte d’Azur in southern France.

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Destinations To Die For: 20 Locations From Classic Crime Novels.

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Glenrowan & Old Melbourne Gaol, Victoria, Australia: Peter Carey’s The True History of the Kelly Gang – Peter Carey’s The True History of the Kelly Gang quickly won classic status, winning the Booker prize in 2001. The novel is based on the infamous Kelly Gang, whose leader, Ned Kelly, was caught in June 1880 in a dramatic last stand in the town of Glenrowan – now home to the Ned Kelly Museum. He was hanged at Melbourne Gaol, which is now also a fabulous city centre museum. [Photo: Jorge Castro Ruso/Flickr]

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Destinations To Die For: 20 Locations From Classic Crime Novels.

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Buenos Aires, Argentina: Claudia Piñeiro’s A Crack in the Wall – Buenos Aires architect Pablo Simó has a secret, and it’s the kind that should never be discussed. A woman stops off at his office to ask him and his co-workers whether they knew where she could find Nelson Jara. They do, because they left him buried beneath a building three years earlier. A bestseller in Argentina, Claudia Piñeiro is one of Latin America’s best living crime writers.

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Destinations To Die For: 20 Locations From Classic Crime Novels.

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Monte Carlo, France & Cornwall, UK: Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca – Murder, fire, sunken ships and a web of intrigue underpin the plot of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca – some feminists also rate it as an important, even subversive book. Never out of print since 1938, the unnamed narrator is a young female in her 20s, and it takes in first the glamour of Monte Carlo and then the natural beauty of the Cornish countryside in southern England.

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Destinations To Die For: 20 Locations From Classic Crime Novels.

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British Museum, London, England: EW Hornung’s Raffles – The brilliance of EW Hornung’s Raffles is that the star of his short stories is the criminal, rather than the police. Humorous, intelligent, well-respected in London society and not without honour, Raffles and his sidekick, Bunny Manders, are inverted contemporaries of the more famous Sherlock Holmes (Horning and Conan Doyle were related). In A Jubilee Present, Raffles and Bunny plan a robbery of a ‘room of gold’ at the British Museum, located in Kensington, London.

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Destinations To Die For: 20 Locations From Classic Crime Novels.

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Edinburgh, Scotland: Ian Rankin’s Knots & Crosses – Knots & Crosses was the first outing for Ian Rankin’s much-loved Detective Sergeant John Rebus. Since then, fans have absorbed the details of Rebus’ travels around the Scottish capital of Edinburgh. Knots & Crosses follows the characteristically dour detective through the streets as he hunts a serial killer – familiar locations include The Royal Oak Pub, St Leonard’s Police Station and Arthur’s Seat in Holyrood Park.