Mark Lawson takes an international look at celebrated literary detectives, talking to their creators to explore how mystery fiction reflects society's trends and tensions.

Throughout its long history, crime fiction has broadened our horizons, introducing us to unfamiliar places, people and cultures and showing us new ways of looking at the world. In this fascinating series, Mark Lawson takes a global tour of the genre, putting detective novels under the magnifying glass to examine how they have depicted—and predicted—social and political change. Focussing on famous fictional investigators—from Hercule Poirot, Jules Maigret, Van der Valk and Martin Beck; through Dalgliesh, Rebus, Jane Tennison and Harry Hole; to Benny Griessel, Tess Monaghan and Easy Rawlins—he explores what these iconic protagonists can tell us about the historic character of their nations.

Through the framework of their cases, he pursues the shadows of the Second World War and the Cold War; conflicts between the politics of the left and right; the rise of nationalism; and the pressures caused by migration. He also finds out how crime novels have portrayed transitional societies in South Africa and Northern Ireland; examined the legacies of military rule in Argentina and the Castro revolution in Cuba; and tackled post-colonialism in Australia and Nigeria.

Helping Lawson with his inquiries are authors including Andrea Camilleri, who discusses the effects of both the Mafia and Berlusconi on Italian society; Brian McGilloway, who talks about the Troubles and the wave of Irish crime fiction that the peace process has provoked; and Petros Markaris, whose detective series prophesied the Greek financial crisis. Plus, Laura Lippman and Walter Mosley reveal how they introduced the experience of women and black Americans into their work; Russian writer Boris Akunin and Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov meditate on Dostoevsky, Putin, censorship and their different approaches to crime writing; and in a special episode on TV detectives, Lawson talks to creative talent from the ITV hit Broadchurch, the Danish show The Killing and the French success Spiral about the medium's suitability as a crime scene and the rise of female investigators.

Production credits Written and presented by Mark Lawson Produced by Robyn Read and Martin Williams

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: Series 1 Belgium - Hercule Poirot and Jules Maigret 22 October 2012 With Val McDermid, Lord Grey Gowrie, Andrea Camilleri and David Suchet; Germany - Inspector Barlach 23 October 2012 With Josie Rourke, Simon McBurney, Jerzy Kromolowski, Mary Olson-Kromolowski, Katharina Hall and Ferdinand von Schirach; Czechoslovakia - Lieutenant Boruvka 24 October 2012 With Paul Wilson; Netherlands - Commissaris Van Der Valk 25 October 2012 With Lord Grey Gowrie and Saskia Noort; Sweden - Inspector Martin Beck 26 October 2012 With Jo Nesbø, Henning Mankell, Åsa Larsson, Camilla Lackberg, Jens Lapidus, Val McDermid and Gunnar Staalesen; UK - Commander Dalgliesh and Chief Inspector Wexford 29 October 2012 With PD James and Ruth Rendell; Sicily - Inspector Rogas 30 October 2012 With Paul Bailey, Gianrico Carofiglio, Andrea Camilleri and Petra Reski; Spain - PI Pepe Carvalho 31 October 2012 With Antonio Hill and Jason Webster; Britain - DCI Jane Tennison 1 November 2012 With Lynda La Plante, Saskia Noort, Ian Rankin and Val McDermid; Italy - Inspector Montalbano 2 November 2012 With Andrea Camilleri; Germany - PI Kemal Kayankaya 5 November 2012 With Jakob Arjouni; Scotland - DI John Rebus 6 November 2012 With Ian Rankin; Sweden - Kurt Wallander and Lisbeth Salander 7 November 2012 With Henning Mankell, Kenneth Branagh, Liza Marklund, Camilla Läckberg and Eva Gabrielsson; Norway - Harry Hole 8 November 2012 With Jo Nesbø, Liza Marklund and Gunnar Staalesen; Russia and Ukraine - Erast Fandorin 9 November 2012 With Boris Akunin, Ian Rankin and Andrey Kurkov

Series 2 Greece - Inspector Costas Haritos 8 July 2013 With Petros Markaris; Argentina - Superintendent Perro Lascano 9 July 2013 With Ernesto Mallo and Claudia Pineiro; Ireland - Inspector Benedict Devlin 10 July 2013 With Brian McGilloway; South Africa - Detective Captain Bennie Griessel 11 July 2013 With Deon Meyer and Sifiso Mzobe; Screenland - DS Ellie Miller, DI Sarah Lund, Captain Laure Berthaud 12 July 2013

Series 3 Cuba 17 November 2014 With Leonardo Padura and Caroline Garcia-Aquilera; USA 18 November 2014 With Laura Lippman and Walter Mosley; Poland 19 November 2014 With Zygmunt Miloszewski and Joanna Jodelka; Australia 20 November 2014 With Peter Temple and Gabrielle Lord; Nigeria 21 November 2014 With Helon Habila and CM Okonkwo