Top seven detective series set in foreign locales

At the Christian Science Monitor, Colby Bermel named the top seven detective series set in foreign locales.

Two entries on the list:

"Omar Yussef" series, by Matt Beynon Rees

Set in today’s Middle East, Matt Beynon Rees’ works recount the mystery-solving of reluctant history-teacher-turned-detective Omar Yussef, who lives in a Palestinian area of the West Bank. Yussef’s first case is an effort to prove that one of his former students, arrested for allegedly assisting Israel snipers to assassinate a member of the Palestinian Martyrs Brigade, is innocent.

"Dr. Siri Paiboun" series, by Colin Cotterill

The only doctor left in 1970s communist Laos, the eccentric 72-year-old Siri Paiboun is appointed to be the government’s chief medical examiner. Hardly a qualified professional, the sardonic Siri uses unorthodox methods (talking with forest spirits and the dead, perhaps?) to solve crimes like bizarre murders and mysterious disappearances.

Read about the other series on the list.

Visit Colin Cotterill's website, and learn more about Dr. Siri Paiboun at The Page 69 Test: Anarchy and Old Dogs and My Book, The Movie: Curse of the Pogo Stick.

Visit Matt Beynon Rees' website and blog. Learn more about Omar Yussef at: The Page 69 Test: The Collaborator of Bethlehem; My Book, The Movie: The Collaborator of Bethlehem; The Page 69 Test: A Grave in Gaza; The Page 69 Test: The Samaritan's Secret; The Page 69 Test: The Fourth Assassin; and My Book, The Movie: The Fourth Assassin.

--Marshal Zeringue