For almost 25 years, Nodirbek Ganiev, an Uzbek citizen, was hiding in the Chui region with a fake passport. At home, he is suspected of murder with particular cruelty and…
Tom CallaghanJanuary 23, 2021
“2 thousand 184 owners of firearms and 26 objects of the permit system were checked....
Tom CallaghanJanuary 18, 2021
Back in mid-September, I wrote about my admiration for the Laidlaw books by William McIlvanny.
Tom CallaghanJanuary 16, 2021
Employees of the South-West customs in the Osh region stopped an attempt to import a large batch of contraband cigarettes into the republic.
Tom CallaghanJanuary 16, 2021
The good thing about living in a country with two Christmases and three New Years (if you count the Chinese) is that the decorations stay up for longer...
Tom CallaghanJanuary 15, 2021
It’s one of the maxims of advertising (but one rarely followed) that you have to stand out in order to be successful.
Tom CallaghanNovember 5, 2020
In the village of Romanovka, a 27-year-old resident of the Chui region was threatened with a knife, and more than 50,000 soms ($600) and a mobile phone were taken from…
Tom CallaghanNovember 4, 2020
A Bishkek animal rights activist wrote, “Last night I saw a dog near the intersection of Yunusaliev and Dzhantoshev streets. She ran out of one of the many Korean restaurants…
Tom CallaghanOctober 26, 2020
In Batken, customs officers stopped the import of 11.5 tons of contraband fruits into the republic.
Tom CallaghanOctober 24, 2020
In the mountains of Issyk-Kul, a memorial installation was erected in memory of the victims of the 1916 uprising. The installation on Mount Zharylgan-Too, on the northern shore of Lake…
Tom CallaghanOctober 23, 2020
The reason why Mukhammedkalya Abylgaziev was summoned to the financial police is still officially unknown.
Tom CallaghanOctober 22, 2020
Officers of the State Committee for National Security, together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, detained two citizens of Kyrgyzstan engaged in robberies to finance the terrorist underground.
Tom CallaghanOctober 21, 2020
In Bishkek, suspects in beating up a resident of the capital were detained. At 02.00, the police received a message that unknown persons were beating a man on Manas Avenue.
Tom CallaghanOctober 20, 2020
Every year, Penguin hold the Student Design Award: there were over 2,000 entries in 2020. This was the winner of the Adult Fiction category.
Tom CallaghanOctober 19, 2020
A car with contraband jewelry was detained at the Chaldybar - Avtodorozhniy checkpoint wth Kazakhstan on October 14.
Tom CallaghanOctober 18, 2020
The White House was seized on the night of October 5-6 as a result of thousands of protests disagreeing with the results of the October 4 parliamentary elections. There were…
Tom CallaghanOctober 16, 2020
In the Jalal-Abad region, the activities of an underground drug production workshop were suppressed.
Tom CallaghanOctober 15, 2020
Nurmat Bolponov, deputy head of the Drug Trafficking Service, shot at his subordinate Yesterday the head of one of the departments came to the office of the deputy head of…
Tom CallaghanOctober 14, 2020
Cliff Janeway is a retired cop - nothing new in the world of crime fiction, you might say. But the profession he’s taken up is not one you’d expect -…
Tom CallaghanOctober 12, 2020
I admit to a weakness for location in the books I read: it’s one of the reasons I’ve set my books in Kyrgyzstan.
Tom CallaghanOctober 9, 2020
Last night was quiet, and it’s reassuring to see the true nature of the Kyrgyz people at work.
Tom CallaghanOctober 8, 2020
Kyrgyzstan is now in complete chaos: various political forces are trying to seize control of the country. Almost all of them are illegal.
Tom CallaghanOctober 7, 2020
Elections were held on Sunday, and today, a crowd of around 6,000 people assembled in the main square for a peaceful protest about bribery and corruption leading to rigged ballots.
Tom CallaghanOctober 6, 2020
Would you read a book where the unnumbered chapters (except the first and last) can be moved around in any order?
Tom CallaghanOctober 5, 2020
In the Suzak district of the Jalal-Abad region, police officers had to shoot in the air while detaining a suspect.
Tom CallaghanOctober 4, 2020
A resident of Bishkek contacted the police and said that in January a man promised to help him sell a car for $ 10,800.
Tom CallaghanOctober 3, 2020
Three new covers for Orwell’s seminal ‘1984’. Not surprising, I suppose that all three feature the motif of an eye, taking as their inspiration from the slogan that dominates the…
Tom CallaghanOctober 2, 2020
The excellent crusading online magazine, ‘ColdType’ this month features ‘Catch Your Breath’, which first drew breath on this blog.
Tom CallaghanOctober 1, 2020
Erkin Bakirov, deputy director of the bankruptcy department under the Ministry of Economy, was detained, after being caught offering a bribe of 100,000 soms ($1,250) to an official.
Tom CallaghanSeptember 30, 2020
In September, the AKS GKNB detained the head of the Kulundu frontier post in the course of operational-search measures when giving a bribe to an employee of the state committee…
Tom CallaghanSeptember 29, 2020
The capital's police have detained the suspects in the robbery at Keremet Bank, the press service of the city's police department said.
Tom CallaghanSeptember 28, 2020
At four in the morning, no phone call is ever good news. A patrol car had stopped in front of an alley off Frunze so the driver could empty his…
Tom CallaghanSeptember 26, 2020
Tennessee Williams wrote ‘America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Everywhere else is Cleveland.’
Tom CallaghanSeptember 25, 2020
The State Committee for National Security detained a police colonel trying to sell drugs.
Tom CallaghanSeptember 24, 2020
In Jalal-Abad, two members of an organized criminal group were recently detained, suspected of committing robberies.
Tom CallaghanSeptember 23, 2020
The former Minister of Health, Kosmosbek Cholponbaev, is charged with negligence and abuse of office during the coronavirus pandemic.
Tom CallaghanSeptember 22, 2020
A David Mitchell novel is always a delight, if not always an unalloyed one. For me, ‘Ghostwritten’ is still his best work, even if ‘The Bone Clocks’ is perhaps his…
Tom CallaghanSeptember 21, 2020
I may not care much for this type of mystery or thriller novel, but the covers for this British Library Crime Classics series are a testament to the ability of…
Tom CallaghanSeptember 20, 2020
On September 11, a citizen applied to the State Committee for National Security with a request to take action against the judge of the Kara-Suu region "A.Zh.S.", who extorted money…
Tom CallaghanSeptember 19, 2020
Homicide Detective Hoke Moseley might be based in Miami, but he’s a long way from the glitter and sophistication of TV’s Crockett and Tubbs.
Tom CallaghanSeptember 17, 2020
Abror Sabirov, son of Shukhrat Sabirov, the director of the State Agency for Antimonopoly Regulations of Kyrgyzstan, was placed in jail-1 in Bishkek for two months.
Tom CallaghanSeptember 16, 2020
The smell hits you first, so you know what lies ahead, even before you enter the room.
Tom CallaghanSeptember 15, 2020
In the village of Khunchi, Chui oblast, a truck driver was detained, transporting almost 500,000 packs of cigarettes without excise stamps.
Tom CallaghanSeptember 14, 2020
The future of Kyrgyzstan depends, in part, on the rise of ecotourism; of people wanting to travel to discover the natural beauty and wildlife of this small, mountainous and remote…
Tom CallaghanSeptember 13, 2020
Kyrgyzstan is about to have elections in a couple of weeks time. The Central Election Commission checked 1,912 registered parliamentary candidates for criminal records.
Tom CallaghanSeptember 12, 2020
When William McIlvanney wrote his Laidlaw trilogy, Scottish crime fiction was in short supply.
Tom CallaghanSeptember 11, 2020
In Bishkek, a man illegally kept almost five kilograms of drugs at home. Maybe it helped him solve his puzzles…
Tom CallaghanSeptember 10, 2020
Despite the text being the same (apart from spelling), the UK and US book markets are clearly very different.
Tom CallaghanSeptember 9, 2020
The SCM GUVD of Bishkek received information that citizen E.E., born in 2000, carried the skin of a rare wild animal, and was making attempts to illegally sell it.
Tom CallaghanSeptember 8, 2020
I’ve written before about how a book cover can make or break the success of a book.
Tom CallaghanSeptember 6, 2020
The Internal Affairs investigator of the Tokmak police department was placed under house arrest after demanding a bribe.
Tom CallaghanSeptember 5, 2020
There are some extra categories not covered here: Forgot I already had a copy Given to me, but I forget by whom Bought as a present but decided to keep…
Tom CallaghanSeptember 4, 2020
Although the 18 titles in the Burke series by Andrew Vachss tail off in impact towards the later novels, the intensity of earlier books such as ‘Flood’, ‘Blue Belle’ and…
Tom CallaghanSeptember 3, 2020
https://youtu.be/BUjJ26rPiZ8 Last night's firework's display to celebrate 29 years of Kyrgyz independence
Tom CallaghanSeptember 1, 2020
Three officers of the Service for Combating Illicit Drug Trafficking were detained in Bishkek, after being found with 3 kilos...
Tom CallaghanAugust 30, 2020
I’ll be honest: I haven’t read ‘Gallows Court’ by Martin Edwards. And books set in pre-war London, the Golden Age of crime fiction, tend not to feature high on my…
Tom CallaghanAugust 29, 2020
In Kadamjay, four men robbed and beat residents, threatening them with a pistol
Tom CallaghanAugust 28, 2020
The main character (and the most terrifying) in Jack O’Connell’s books is not a person, it’s a place. Quinsigamond, a post-industrial New England city, where derelict warehouses, porn theatres and…
Tom CallaghanAugust 27, 2020
‘My babulya’s been murdered.’ Not words you ever want to hear, especially when you’ve put your jacket on, decided to walk home though the park, anything to avoid wearing your…
Tom CallaghanAugust 25, 2020
Bishkek police recently confiscated a cache of weapons and drugs, believed to belong to an organised crime gang.
Tom CallaghanAugust 24, 2020
No Corruption The Kyrgyz authorities devote a lot of time and energy to stamping out the problem of corruption
Tom CallaghanAugust 23, 2020
Bantiki - heralding the start of autumn I've been asked what exactly are the bantiki that were mentioned in Tuesday's short story, 'Amateurs'.
Tom CallaghanAugust 21, 2020
It’s said that one publisher, reading the manuscript of ‘I Was Dora Suarez’ was so appalled that he vomited. It’s not an unlikely response.
Tom CallaghanAugust 20, 2020
The cover of ‘The IPCRESS File’ by Len Deighton, that is. Afraid the white dustjacket would get marked and dirty, sitting around in bookshops.
Tom CallaghanAugust 19, 2020
Amateurs - An Akyl Borubaev story The squad room was empty, the only sound the whisper of dust gently settling on filing cabinets stuffed with unsolved cases.
Tom CallaghanAugust 18, 2020
'This is a bookshop. We sell books' In Saturday's Guardian, a publisher, Sharmaine Lovegrove wrote that about publishers should work in bookshops to discover the unexpected pairings between readers and…
Tom CallaghanAugust 17, 2020
An interview with Corinna Zifko at Quercus when AN AUTUMN HUNTING was published in August 2018.
Tom CallaghanAugust 15, 2020
Unless a bookcase collapses and buries you under a landslide of paperbacks, collecting books will rarely kill you (although they will damage your wealth, eyesight and marital harmony).
Tom CallaghanAugust 14, 2020
Robert Campbell (1920-2000) was a prolific novelist and screenwriter, even earning an Academy Award nomination.
Tom CallaghanAugust 13, 2020
Looking at the cover, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Stephen King’s forthcoming book, ‘Later’ came out in the late 50s. The vintage pulp style of illustration reeks of bad…
Tom CallaghanAugust 12, 2020
After midnight in the Kulturny Bar, where I was upsetting the regulars and planning to get myself a gun. Of course, I already had one.
Tom CallaghanAugust 11, 2020
With this blog now underway like a rusty tramp steamer nerving its way into new waters, you might like to note a couple of future weekly events.
Tom CallaghanAugust 10, 2020
It seemed an innocuous habit at first, one my parents even encouraged. Harmless to begin with. The odd Puffin paperback here and there, and then later, Penguin Classics, before moving…
Tom CallaghanAugust 9, 2020
Except here, it seems. The virus appears not to like sunlight, fresh air and open spaces that people can enjoy while still keeping their distance. Children seem to be the…
Tom CallaghanAugust 8, 2020
It's two years ago today since I went to the Ata-Beyit memorial complex outside Bishkek, where the great Kyrgyz writer, Chingiz Aitmatov is buried. It's a beautiful place, with a…
Tom CallaghanAugust 7, 2020
The world of crime/ noir/ thriller books is, understandably, dominated by a few best-selling authors. You know, the ones whose covers stare out at you in every airport, promising distraction…
Tom CallaghanAugust 6, 2020
In reality, I normally spend my days on my private terrace overlooking Montego Bay, sipping a cold Red Stripe and enjoying exotic sushi. But I want you to believe that…
Tom CallaghanAugust 5, 2020
The message came in early one morning, the sun barely beginning to clamber over the mountains to the north-east of the city. The lockdown had taken all the taxis and…
Tom CallaghanAugust 4, 2020
As you might expect from a novelist, I'm keenly interested in book cover design. Not least because the success or failure of a book cover has a direct impact on…
Tom CallaghanAugust 3, 2020
Trust the Kyrgyz to create a vodka for this situation. If only it worked.
Tom CallaghanAugust 1, 2020
Rather than another post about Bishkek’s bar scene, I thought a mini-story about Akyl Borubaev might pass a couple of moments. After all, that’s hopefully why people read this blog…
Tom CallaghanJuly 31, 2020