About Us

Launched in 2003, we are a London based independent publisher. We aim to bring our readers high quality thrillers and other contemporary crime fiction books from abroad. We are dedicated to the crime genre and publish dark, sexy and often humorous novels that expose the seamier side of society. To understand a culture you need only examine its crimes. And have a great deal of fun with our books on the way.

Our list includes talented authors from Continental Europe, Latin America, the US and Australia. Most of our books are translations that have won prizes and received critical acclaim in their home countries and we have introduced a number of celebrated crime and thriller writers whose works were not available before in English. These include Tonino Benacquista of France, Friedrich Glauser of Switzerland and Gianrico Carofiglio of Italy, and many others.

“No apologies for including two books from Bitter Lemon Press in our 50 best mystery reads of 2005: their list of foreign crime is so good.” Independent

“Bitter Lemon Press deserves much applause for their eye catching book design and their mission of bringing exceptional international literary noir to an Anglophone audience.”
Rain Taxi

“Reading around the small presses always gives me a sense of adventure. They tend to search out foreign authors who bring reformative zeal to genre conventions, discarding old saws and introducing new international themes”
New York Times, from Marilyn Stasio’s introduction to reviews of Holy Smoke and Havana Red

“With Thumbprint alone Bitter Lemon Press fully justifies its mission as a new publisher to bring the best of European and Latin American crime fiction to English speakers.”
Telegraph

Click on the links to the left for further information about Bitter Lemon Press.