In perhaps the most dramatic Scandinavian invasion since the Vikings, Nordic novelists are taking American readers by storm. The call for Henning Mankell’s popular mystery series featuring Inspector Kurt Wallander and portraying anxieties of modern Swedish society predates the juggernaut
In perhaps the most dramatic Scandinavian invasion since the Vikings, Nordic novelists are taking American readers by storm. The call for Henning Mankell’s popular mystery series featuring Inspector Kurt Wallander and portraying anxieties of modern Swedish society predates the juggernaut of the late Steig Larsson’s inventive trilogy which begins with the serious page-turner Girl with the Dragon Tattoo featuring Lisbeth Salander. Check your local library for more Nordic novels and curl up on a hot summer night with a cool caper from one of these Scandinavian authors.
Happy reading!
NORWAY
Out Stealing Horses
By Per Pettersen
Translated from Norwegian by Anne Borne
An early morning out stealing horses leads to the death of one boy and a resulting lifetime of guilt and isolation for his friend in this moving tale about the painful loss of innocence and of traditional ways of life that are gone forever. Pettersen also wrote In the Wake, To Siberia and the recent I Curse the River of Time.
The Redbreast
By Jo Nesbo
A tale moving from the final months of World War II to the present and from the Russian Front to contemporary South Africa follows the dual adventures of a freedom-seeking war martyr and an alcoholic police officer who is drawn into a mystery with past origins. This is the first in the Detective Harry Hole series that includes Nemesis and The Devil’s Star.
The Water’s Edge
By Karen Fossam
Translated from Norwegian by Charlote Barslund
Konrad Sejer and his young partner Jacob pursue a child snatcher. Splitting the narrative among the police investigation, the crumbling marriage of the victim’s family and the nameless killer, Fossum sets in motion an inevitable collision that’s as unsettling as it is unexpected. This is the sixth in Fossam’s Inspector Sejer mystery series which includes Don’t Look Back, He Who Fears the Wolf, When the Devil Holds the Candle, The Indian Bride, Black Seconds and the newly released Broken.
What is Mine
By Anne Holt
Translated from Norwegian by Kari Dickson
Oslo University psychology professor Johanne Vik hardly misses the emotional chaos of her former career as an FBI profiler. But terrifying circumstances find the Norway-born divorcee teaming with Police Inspector Adam Stubo to catch a vengeful perpetrator before he strikes again. Holt, one of Scandinavia’s most successful crime writers, also wrote What Never Happens.
SWEDEN
Astrid and Veronika
By Linda Olsson
In this somber debut Veronika returns to a small town in Sweden after a childhood following her diplomat father around the world. But the “stillness” of the landscape and the memories of her recently dead fiancé paralyze her until she meets the reclusive septuagenarian Astrid. As the seasons change so do their lives. Anne Tyler and Jodi Picoult fans will appreciate the lyrical prose and the themes of heartbreak and loss.
The Ice Princess
By Camilla Lackberg
Translated from Swedish by Steven T. Murray
After she returns home to find that her friend Alex was found in an ice cold bath with her wrists slashed, biographer Erika Falck researches her friend’s past in hopes of writing a book and joins forces with detective Patrik Hedstrom who has his own suspicions about the case. This is the first of Lackberg’s seven novels set in the Swedish coastal town of Fjallbacka to be published in the U.S. Her successive hardboiled crime titles should be on the horizon.
Faceless Killers
By Henning Mankell
In this first of Henning Mankell’s popular Kurt Wallender mysteries to appear in English, the detective investigates the brutal murder of an elderly farm couple. The author uncovers an unusual aspect of life in modern Sweden–a streak of fear and prejudice against the many newcomers from Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe who have sought asylum there. Wallender’s personal life can seem more depressing than even a provincial Swedish detective should be asked to bear, but his investigative skills are strictly first rate. Look for Mankell’s Kennedy’s Brain, The Man Who Smiled or The Dogs of Riga. For more Swedish crime novels try authors Ake Edwardson, Asa Larsson or Hakan Nesser.
FINLAND
Snow Angels
By James Thompson
American-born Thompson, who’s lived in Finland for the past decade, offers a bleak look at the ravages of that country’s long, dark winter as well as intriguing glimpses of Finnish culture in his solid U.S. debut, the first in a new crime series. Shortly before Christmas, Kari Vaara, the police chief of the Lapland town of Kittilä, gets a phone call informing him that the body of a Somali refugee and minor film star has been found in a snowfield on a reindeer farm. Tangled small town relationships fuel this noirish thriller. Look also for Finnish author Jan Costin Wagner.
DENMARK
The Quiet Girl
By Peter Hoeg
Translated from Danish by Nadia Christensen
Høeg built his bestselling mystery, Smilla’s Sense of Snow, around the science of ice. In this labyrinthine, intellectual thriller, Høeg focuses on the nature of sound, and in particular the music of Bach. In a near future where an earthquake and resulting flood have submerged a portion of the city of Copenhagen, Kasper Krone, a world-famous clown and passionate Bach fan, is recruited by the government help locate a young girl that shares his peculiar psychic abilities. The blend of science, erudition and slow revelations will appeal to readers with a taste for the literary offbeat. Look also for Danish author Christian Jungersen, Icelandic author Arnuldur Indrioason.
• Carolyn Larson, head librarian at Lihu‘e Public Library, brings you the buzz on new, popular and good books available at your neighborhood library. Book annotations are culled from online publishers’ descriptions and published reviews.
