A Wedge Drives Out a Wedge

Ironic detective stories by the popular Polish writer Joanna Chmielewska have long captivated millions of readers. Chmielewska’s original style cannot be confused with anything else. A dynamically developing plot is packed with humor and situations and a language that are uniquely hers.

And it all began with “The Cleaver”—that’s what her detective was called in Polish. It was published in 1964. A hopelessly in love Joanna, trying to find a cure for love, decides to act on the principle of “cut by cut” and starts a phone flirtation with a mysterious stranger. Completely unexpectedly for herself, she gets drawn into a criminal story…