EricCWelch

Racial problems are not just endemic to the United States. Germany, it would appear, has its own problems. Jakob Arjouni is a new German mystery writer who has been variously described as the successor to [b:Raymond Chandler|2052|The Big Sleep|Raymond Chandler|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41AGA624Z5L._SL75_.jpg|1222673] and Ross Mac- Donald. While I would not go that far, perhaps, his detective, of Turkish extraction but German citizenship, does show many of the elements characteristic of the “hard-boiled” detective. In this story, Kemal Kayankaya is hired to find Sri Dao, an immigrant from Thailand whose visa has expired. She had been brought over to participate in Frankfurt’s thriving sex trade (prostitution is evidently legal in Germany). She had then been promised a set of newly forged documents (for a substantial price) that would permit her to stay legally in Germany. Kayankaya’s investigation takes him deep into the underworld of brothels, corrupt cops and dishonest immigration officials. He also suffers from the negative stereotyping attached to foreign workers by bigoted native Germans — even though he is a native himself — because of his name and swarthy, i.e., foreign, appearance. Good addition to the ranks of the “hardboiled