"Travelers' Rest"

by Michael Berg

"Michael Berg is the pen name of Michel van Bergen Henegouwen, a former Dutch radio and TV host turned full-time writer. The author of a dozen novels, he is a recipient of the most prestigious honor for crime-fiction works in the Dutch language, the Gouden Strop (or Golden Noose) Award. His short fiction previously appeared in EQMM in 2015, translated then too by Josh Pachter."

This was my third translation of a story by my friend Michael Berg; the first, "The Last Run," appeared in the September/October 2015 issue of EQMM, and the second, "Welcome to Amsterdam," was in Amsterdam Noir, which I co-edited with Rene Appel.

When Michael first sent me "Travelers' Rest," the main character was an American woman and the story included a gratuitous sexual reference near the end. Since he was interested in selling the story to EQMM's "Passport to Crime" department, though, I suggested he make the character Dutch and cut the sex. He agreed, and the story wound up being very easy to translate.

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