Watching Novine (The newspaper) on netflix lead me to explore crime fiction from the Balkans

 I enjoyed the show Novine (The newspaper) a Croatian crime show on Netflix. It was thrilling and thankfully, not too many deaths. I loved the realism of the show. This piqued my curiosity about crime fiction from East European regions. After googling, I discovered and borrowed the following books from Toronto public library. The chief reason I am interested in crime fiction from other countries is to know their society, culture, the 'psychology' of the common man there and of course the underbelly of the country. 

Of the ones I read, I really enjoyed the trilogy of Alen Mattich's Marko Della Torre series  set in Yugoslavia, Croatia , Serbia that is

Zagreb cowboy

Killing pilgrim

The heart of hell

I finished but enjoyed to a lesser extent Tom Callaghan's A spring betrayal set in Kyrgyzstan. This is probably the first book set in this unknown country I have read. It was horrifying to discover (and confirm by reading about actual crime rates in this country) the types of crimes in this country and very sad that the corruption lets the perpetrators go scot-free. 

I  read The exiled by Hiekkapelto Kati which is about a female police officer (brought up in Finland but from Serbia)  set in a part of Serbia bordering Hungary. One realizes the impact of refugee-immigrants from African, Asian and East European countries as one reads this book.  I can't say I liked the book much but did learn a tiny bit about what life/culture in Serbia-Hungary is like. 

I have borrowed and yet to read

Zagreb noir

Lie in the dark by Dan Fesperman

Tom Callaghan's A killing winter

The more I read crime fiction from these mysterious countries,(mysterious as they hardly ever figure in the news as much as say USA, UK, India, China, Saudi Arabia, etc)  the  more thankful I am that to be in a democratic and more transparent country like Canada. 

The governments in these countries seem to be so utterly rotten, corrupt, powerful and controlling, that the common man, in order to survive, may have to lose both his ethics and sanity! If one is a female or poor or marginalized in anyway, one may as well be dead in these countries!