I have been to only one place outside India and that is Nepal. More and more it seems to me that in this lifetime at least, I won’t venture outside India (though there are a few places that I am very keen to visit so one never really knows). Through books, however, I have been to quite a few places on this globe. On this page, I’ll be keeping a track of my global treks. If a country has a significant presence in a book, I’ll consider myself to have made a journey to that place.
So off I go…
ARGENTINA
2025
Two Mirrors by Peter de Polnay (1944)
AUSTRALIA
2021
Grim Pickings by Jennifer Rowe (1991)
2022
The Barrakee Mystery by Arthur Upfield (1929)
2025
Greenlight by Benjamin Stevenson (2018)
Either Side of Midnight by Benjamin Stevenson (2020)
BELGIUM
2024
The Broken Ear by Herge (1937)
The Secret of the Unicorn by Herge (1943)
BERMUDA
2021
Murder in Bermuda by Willoughby Sharp (1933)
CAMBODIA
2023
The Four Faces by Han Suyin (1963)
CHINA
2022
FRANCE
2021
Les invites de Minuit (The Seventh Guest) by Gaston Boca and John Pugmire (1935)
The Poisoners by George R. Preedy (1936)
2022
The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden (1958 – but set in 1920s)
2023
Paris: He Walked in Her Sleep by Peter Cheyney
The Occupation Trilogy by Patrick Modiano (1960s – but set during the Occupation)
2024
French Riviera: One of Those Ways by Marie Belloc Lowndes (1929)
Paris: Das große Einmaleins (Men Never Know) by Vicki Baum (1935)
The Thought Reading Machine by Andre Maurois (1937)
Paris: The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley (2022)
Les Mystifies (The Reluctant Assassin) by Alain Reynaud-Fourtan (1962)
Ripley Under Ground by Patricia Highsmith (1970)
2025
Hercule and the Gods by Pierre Audemars (1944)
French Riviera: Mystery of the Villa Aurelia by Burton E. Stevenson (1933)
So You don’t get lost in the neighborhood by Patrick Modiano.
2026
French Riviera/ Monte Carlo: Twenty-Four Hours in the Life of a Woman by Stefan Zweig (1927)
GERMANY
2021
Three Comrades by Erich Maria Remarque (1936)
2023
Stud. Chem. Helene Willfuer by Vicki Baum (1928)
2024
Das große Einmaleins (Men Never Know) by Vicki Baum (1935)
2025
Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne (1867)
Secret Sentence by Vicki Baum (1926)
Homecoming by Bernhard Schlinck (2006)
ICELAND
2024
Marrið í stiganum (The Creak on the Stairs) by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir (2018)
2025
Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne (1867)
INDIA
2021
A Gathering of Friends by Ruskin Bond (2015)
As Death Stared Back by Ajinkya Bhasme (2019)
Death Seeking Immortal by Rajeev Balakrishnan (2016)
Goa: Kiss of Salt by Smita Bhattacharya (2019)
2022
Dasa Kumara Charitam by Dandin (650-750 CE)
Bengal/ Cashmere: Tales from The Arabian Nights
2023
All Lies says Krishna by J. Rajasekharan Nair (2019)
The Immortals of Meluha (2008)
The Puffin Book of Funny Stories (2005)
Lahore and Amritsar: Chhata Darya (The Sixth River) by Fikr Taunsvi (1948)
Assam: Combat of Shadows by Manohar Malgonkar (1962 but set b/w 1938 &1940)
2024
Bengal: Malancha (Neerja) by Rabindranath Tagore (1934)
NW Frontier/ Afghanistan border: The Drum by A.E.W. Mason (1937)
Bharat Mein British Rajya by Chatursen Shastri
Kakori ke Diljale by Ram Dulare Trivedi (1939)
Prison Days by Sher Jung (1991. Set during the 1920s)
Big Bhishma in Madras: In Search of the Mahabharata with Peter Brook by Jean-Claude Carriere (1997)
Waiting for Swaraj by Aparna Vaidik (2021. Set during the 1920s)
2025
The Murder of the Mahatma by G.D. Khosla (1963)
The Sinister Summer Holiday by Anirban Bhattacharyya (2022 but set during the 1980s)
IRAN (PERSIA)
2022
IRELAND
2023
Whistle for the Crows by Dorothy Eden
2024
Troubles by J.G. Farrell (1970 but set during 1919-1921)
2025
The House by the Churchyard by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (1863)
Snow by John Banville (2020 but set during the 1950s)
ITALY
2024
The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark (1970) Presumably
Hotel Vesuvius by Johan Fabricius (1945)
IXANIA (FICTIONAL)
2021
The Dark Frontier by Eric Ambler
MALTA
2020
The Information Officer by Mark Mills (2009 but set during the early forties: WWII)
MEXICO
2023
The Cactus and the Crown by Catherine Gavin (1962 but set during the Second Empire)
2024
The Ruins by Scott Smith (2006)
Serenade by James M. Cain (1937)
PERU
The Threshold of Fear by Arthur J. Rees (1925)
TIBET
2023
Mansarovar: The Immortals of Meluha by Amish (2008)
RUSSIA
2024
The Elephant Never Forgets by Ethel Lina White (1937)
The Dead Mountaineer’s Inn by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (1970)
SPACE: THE FINAL FRONTIER
2020
Mindshadow by J.M. Dillard (1986. During the first five-year mission)
2023
The Best of Science Fiction (ed.) by Groff Conklin (1946 but set in both contemporary times and the future)
2024
Starfleet Academy: Aftershock by John Vornholt (1996. Cadets at the Academy)
Sanctuary by John Vornholt (1992. During the first five-year mission)
The Lost Years by J.M. Dillard (1989. Between the Original series and the Motion Picture)
SPAIN
2024
Winter in Madrid by C.J. Sansom (2006 but set in post civil-war Spain)
SWEDEN
2024
Pippi Langstrum (Pippi Longstocking) by Astrid Lindgren (1945)
SWITZERLAND
2024
Die by the Book by Laurence Meynell (1966)
2025
The Survivors by Anne Edwards (1968)
Homecoming by Bernhard Schlinck (2006)
TIBET
2025
Tintin in Tibet by Herge (1959)
UK
2019
Messiah by Boris Starling (1999)
2020
That Summer Affair by Sarah Challis (2007)
2021
The Majestic Mystery by Denis Mackail (1924)
The Hand of Doom by J.M. Walsh (1927)
The Sark Street Chapel Murder by Thomas Cobb (1930)
And Call it Accident by Marie Belloc Lowndes (1936)
Bury Him Darkly by Henry Wade (1936)
The Injured Lover/ The Second Key by Marie Belloc Lowndes (1936)
Judy of Bunter’s Buildings/ The Magnificent Hoax by E. Phillips Oppenheim (1936)
The Santa Klaus Murder by Mavis Doriel Hay (1936)
The High Sheriff by Henry Wade (1937)
The Hunted Man by Walter S. Masterman (1938)
The Old Manor by Cecil Freeman Gregg (1945)
An Afternoon to Kill by Shelley Smith (1953)
A Clubbable Woman by Reginald Hill (1970)
Death Trap by Harry Carmichael (1970)
Hunt the Slipper by Henry Cecil (1977)
2022
The Family Man by Anne Meredith (1942- Set in the last decades of Victorian England)
The Hungry Goblin by John Dickson Carr (1972 – Set in Victorian England of 1896)
The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey (1929)
The Murder on the Enriqueta by Molly Thynne (1929)
The Treasure House of Martin Hews by E. Phillips Oppenheim (1929)
Death of a Star by G.D.H. and Margaret Cole (1932)
Death at Broadcasting House by Val Gielgud & Holt Marvell (1934)
Death as an Extra by Val Gielgud & Holt Marvell (1935)
Dr. Tancred Begins by G.D.H. and Margaret Cole (1935)
The Twisted Tree by Frank Baker (1935)
The Cloze Papers by Kenneth Livingston (1936)
Measure for Murder by Clifford Witting (1941)
The Mouse who wouldn’t play Ball by Anthony Gilbert (1943)
Four-Ply Yarn by Miles Burton (1944)
Murder with Impatience by Robert Verron (1944)
Subject-Murder by Clifford Witting (1945)
The Writing on the Wall by Herbert Adams (1945)
The Chequer Boad by Nevil Shute (1947)
Ask a Policeman by E.C.R. Lorac (1955)
The Double Turn by Carol Carnac (1956)
The Solitary Child by Nina Bawden (1956)
The Seeds of Hate by Harry Carmichael (1960)
Evil Intent by John Wainwright (1966)
The Religious Body by Catherine Aird (1966)
Life Cycle by Harry Carmichael (1978)
2023
What Came to Cinderella by Curtis Yorke (1926)
Third Time Unlucky by Laurence W. Meynell (1935)
Missing from their Homes (ed.) by H.E. Bates (1936)
Scandal at the Home Office by Frank A. Clement (1937)
The Nursemaid who Disappeared by Philip MacDonald (1938)
Death on the Boat Train by John Rhode (1940)
Murder at Lilac Cottage (1940)
Steffan Green by Richmal Crompton (1940)
Miss Milverton/ Poison is a Bitter Brew by Anne Hocking (1941)
Scotland: Clough Plays Murder by Luke Parsons (1943)
Dead Man’s Effects/ The Cat’s Whisker by H.C. Bailey (1944)
He Walked in Her Sleep by Peter Cheyney (1946)
Murderers Make Mistakes by Freeman Wills Crofts (1947)
Seven Lean Years by Celia Fremlin (1961)
The Smartest Grave by R.J. White (1961)
No Dust in the Attic by Anthony Gilbert (1962)
Henrietta Who? by Catherine Aird (1973)
Death of a Heavenly Twin by Anne Morice (1974)
The Golden Boy of Centre Court: How Bjorn Borg Conquered Wimbledon by Graham Denton (2021 but set in the seventies and early eighties)
2024
Cressida: No Mystery by Marie Belloc Lowndes (1928)
One of Those Ways by Marie Belloc Lowndes (1929)
Rope to Spare by Philip MacDonald (1932)
The Case is Closed by Patricia Wentworth (1937)
The Case of Alan Copeland by Moray Dalton (1937)
Case Without a Corpse by Leo Bruce (1937)
Poison Ivy by Peter Cheyney (1937)
Death Leaves No Card by Miles Burton (1939)
The Legacy by Robert Eton (1939)
Death Invades the Meeting by John Rhode (1944)
Mine Own Executioner by Nigel Balchin (1945)
Murder on Bag Hill by Clive Ryland (1945)
The Staff-Room by Gordon Daviot (1954)
And Death Came Too by Anthony Gilbert (1956)
The Burden by Mary Westmacott (1956)
Die by the Book by Laurence Meynell (1966)
In Loving Memory by Emma Page (1970)
Every Second Thursday by Emma Page (1981)
Last Walk Home by Emma Page (1983)
Spies by Michael Frayn (2002 but set during the early Forties War Years)
A Fete Worse Than Death by Dolores Gordon-Smith (2007 but set in the early twenties)
Mad About the Boy? by Dolores Gordon-Smith (2008 but set in the early twenties)
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides (2019)
The Whistling by Rebecca Netley (2021 but set in 1860)
2025
Vera by Elizabeth von Arnim (1921)
May Fair by Michael Arlen (1925)
The Threshold of Fear by Arthur J. Rees (1925)
The Wintringham Mystery by Anthony Berkeley (1927)
Death Greets a Guest by Charles Ashton (1936)
Oil Under the Window by Norman Berrow (1936)
A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey (1936)
Here Comes the Copper by Henry Wade (1938)
Exit John Horton by J. Jefferson Farjeon (1939)
Mr. Babbacombe Dies by Miles Burton (1939)
Who died at the Grange? by Michael Halliday (1942)
With Willing Hands by Diana Ridley (1945)
The Odd Flamingo by Nina Bawden (1954)
Frame-Up by Andrew Garve (1964)
The Secret House of Death by Ruth Rendell (1968)
The Survivors by Anne Edwards (1968)
An April Shroud by Reginald Hill (1975)
The Killing of Katie Steelstock/ Death of a Favourite Girl by Michael Gilbert (1980)
Fete Fatale (Disposal of the Living) by Robert Barnard (1985)
Out of the Blackout by Robert Barnard (1985)
Case Histories by Kate Atkinson (2004)
White Nights by Ann Cleeves (2008)
The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley (2018)
The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson (2023)
Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward (2023)
2026
Wales: Put Out the Light by Ethel Lina White (1931)
Uncle Silas by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (1864)
The Beautiful Miss Burroughes by Anne Meredith (1945 – but set in the later half of the nineteenth century)
The Ballad of the Running Man by Shelley Smith (1961)
The Scene of the Crime by John Creasey (1961)
The Witch of the Low Tide by John Dickson Carr (1961 – but set in Edwardian England)
USA
2021
Death in the Dovecot by Q. Patrick (1932)
The Album by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1933)
Death in the Back Seat by Dorothy Cameron Disney (1936)
A Puzzle for Fools by Patrick Quentin (1936)
The Black Shrouds by Conyth Little (1941)
Voice Out of Darkness by Ursula Curtiss (1948)
Last Seen Wearing by Hillary Waugh (1952)
Before the Fall by Noah Hawley (2016)
2022
The Black Corridors by Conyth Little (1940)
The Black Thumb by Conyth Little (1942)
The Black Curl by Conyth Little (1953)
The House that Died by Josephine Gill (1956)
2023
The Norths Meet Murder by Frances & Richard Lockridge (1940)
The So Blue Marble by Dorothy B. Hughes (1940)
Hours to Kill by Ursula Curtiss (1961)
Portrait in Brownstone by Louis Auchincloss (1962)
An Affair of the Heart by Jean Potts (1970)
Rest You Merry by Charlotte McLeod (1978)
A Head full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay (2015)
2024
The Door by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1930)
The Forgotten Fleet Mystery by F. Van Wyck Mason (1936)
Poison Ivy by Peter Cheyney (1937)
Serenade by James M. Cain (1937)
The Thought Reading Machine by Andre Maurois (1937)
A Grave Undertaking by Lionel White (1961)
Rich Man, Poor Man by Irwin Shaw (1970)
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio (2017)
2025
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos (1925)
The Professor’s House by Willa Cather (1925)
So I Killed Her by Leonard O. Mosley (1936)
This Death was Murder by March Evermay (1940)
Follow this Fair Corpse by Laurence Dwight Smith (1941)
Crimson Friday by Dorothy Cameron Disney (1943)
Look Your Last by John Stephen Strange (1943)
The Crimshaw Memorandum by Lionel White (1967)
The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin (1972)
Snow by Ronald Malfi (2010)
The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson (2023)
Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay (2024)
2026
Epidemic by Frank G. Slaughter (1961)
Just Another Sucker by James Hadley Chase (1961)
*
VIETNAM
a hot cup of pleasure