Nordic Noir. Arnaldur Indridason -- Silence of the Grave

Arnaldur Indridason

Silence of the Grave

A Reykjavik Thriller

Translated from the Icelandic by Bernard Scudder

Praise for Books by Arnaldur Indridason

 “His novels are gripping, authentic, haunting and lyrical." --Harlan Coben

“(Indridason applies) his austere style to a crime of such emotional breadth and sociological complexity that it acquires the sweep and consequence of epic storytelling…” – The New York Times Book Review on Silence of the Grave

Silence of the Grave

As a result of discovering Arnaldur Indridason and his creation, Inspector Erlendur, I have made it my goal to travel to Iceland in this lifetime.

Silence of the Grave won the Glass Key for best Nordic crime novel and Britain’s top crime fiction award, the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger. The discovery of a shallow grave at a construction site leads Erlendur to dig deep into Iceland’s past to solve this mystery. The history of Iceland is filled with many tragic stories:  of failed relationships and heartache, of domestic violence and fear, of family loyalty and shame. As Erlendur deals with a crime that occurred 60 years ago, he also confronts the demons from his own past that haunt him over the course of this crime fiction series. This personal struggle is mirrored in the glacial presence that is Iceland.

Arnaldur Indridason

Prior to becoming a novelist, Arnaldur Indridason worked as a journalist and film critic for Morgunblaðið .  He is best known for the Reykjavik Murder Mysteries. The series has been published in 26 countries and translated into over 20 languages.

Arnaldur Indridason rarely gives interviews, however I located a profile by Jake Kerridge in The Telegraph on the publication of Indridason’s thriller Strange Shores in 2013:

The Telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/Arnaldur-Indridason-interview
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10283048/Arnaldur-Indridason-interview.html

Reykjavik Murder Mysteries

You can see an overview of the books by Arnaldur Indridason on the Crime Fiction Lover website:

Crime Fiction Lover.com/2014/01/a-guide-to-arnaldur-indridasons-detective-erlendur
http://www.crimefictionlover.com/2014/01/a-guide-to-arnaldur-indridasons-detective-erlendur/

Cinema

In 2006, Indridason’s crime thriller, Jar City, was made into a film; here is the link to the YouTube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSdkE6CX9n4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSdkE6CX9n4

The Guardian raved about the movie Jar City:  "'It's a typical Iceland murder,' murmurs one cop at the crime scene. 'Messy and pointless.' This almost offhand comment …strikes a note of dread, indicating the start of a bleakly existential policier centred around Inspector Erlendur played, in a marvellous performance of unwavering equability, by Ingvar Eggert Sigurdsson.”

The Guardian.com/film/2008/sep/14/thriller
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/sep/14/thriller
 

GoodReads – Meet Your Next Favorite Book

GoodReads website lists 9,508 ratings and 726 reviews for Silence of the Grave.

Nordic Noir. Jo Nesbo -- The Snowman

Jo Nesbo

The Snowman

Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett

Praise for books by Jo Nesbo

“Jo Nesbo is my new favourite thriller writer and Harry Hole my new hero.”-- Michael Connelly

 “The Snowman by Jo Nesbo is relentless. His terrifying transformation of a childhood icon permeated my sleep.”-- Patti Smith

 “Many authors know how to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Jo Nesbo’s one of the few who keeps them there.”-- Linwood Barclay

The Snowman

Jo Nesbo’s detective Harry Hole is the most amazing, gifted super hero in crime fiction. The ten detective novels that feature Harry Hole have now sold more than 28 million copies and have been translated into over 50 languages.

The Snowman begins with a young boy who wakes to find his mother missing and a large snowman in their yard—wearing the missing mother’s scarf. It ends with Harry Hole’s soulmate Rakel, hands bound and standing on an enormous snowman in her bedroom. The snowman’s slow disintegration places her in danger of being decapitated by a red hot bovine cutting loop which has been placed around her neck. Harry Hole must act quickly to defuse the situation and find the insane serial killer who engineered the macabre scene. This brilliant crime thriller confirms Jo Nesbo’s position as an international star.

Photo from Penguin Random House website

Jo Nesbo

Jo Nesbo is a true renaissance person—in addition to being a talented novelist, he is a financial analyst and a member of the band Di derre (Them There), whose album topped the charts in Norway. When a book publisher proposed that he pen a memoir about his band and their exploits on the road, Nesbo created the character of Harry Hole and his debut crime novel, The Bat, was published to great acclaim. The Bat went on to win the Glass Key Award for best Nordic crime novel. In 2008, Jo Nesbo established the Harry Hole Foundation. This charity aims "to reduce illiteracy among children in the developing world."

Jo Nesbo has designed an intriguing website; you can visit the site here and watch a number of videos of interviews with Jo Nesbo about his work:

Jo Nesbo.com/jo-nesbo
http://jonesbo.com/jo-nesbo/

Read an excerpt

You can read an excerpt from The Snowman here:

Jo Nesbo.com/book/the-snowman
http://jonesbo.com/book/the-snowman/

View the Book Trailer

And view a trailer for The Snowman here:

Jo Nesbo.com/harry-hole
http://jonesbo.com/harry-hole/

GoodReads – Meet Your Next Favorite Book

GoodReads lists 44,208 ratings for The Snowman and 4,136 reviews.

Cinema

In the near future, you will be able to enjoy the film based on The Snowman. Variety reports that Michael Fassbender is in talks to star as detective Harry Hole. Check out the article in The Guardian about this good news here:

The Guardian.com/film/2015/sep/09/michael-fassbender-jo-nesbo-the-snowman
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/09/michael-fassbender-jo-nesbo-the-snowman

Explore Oslo Through the Eyes of Jo Nesbo

And to close this blog page, I would like to suggest that you view the tour that Book Editor Mark Medley of The Globe and Mail made of Oslo through the eyes of Jo Nesbo here:

The Globe and Mail.com/life/travel/destinations/exploring-oslo-through-the-eyes-of-homegrown-crime-writer-jo-nesbo/article25794825
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/destinations/exploring-oslo-through-the-eyes-of-homegrown-crime-writer-jo-nesbo/article25794825/

Nordic Noir. Karin Fossum -- He Who Fears the Wolf

Karin Fossum

He Who Fears the Wolf

Translated from the Norwegian by Felicity David

Praise for He Who Fears the Wolf

“A superb writer of psychological suspense.” – The New York Times

He Who Fears the Wolf

Karin Fossum, Norwegian Queen of Crime, is the creator of the successful Inspector Konrad Sejer crime thriller series. In He Who Fears the Wolf, she explores society’s reaction to a mentally disturbed individual who becomes a scape goat for the murder of a woman who lives alone in a remote wooded area in Norway. Once again small-town prejudice ensures the detective must dig deep below the surface to discover the perpetrator.

Karin Fossum

Fossum’s approach to crime fiction writing includes the craft of a poet and the empathy of one who has worked with the sick and with those who need help in conquering addiction. Her work has been translated into 25 languages. Fossum’s critically-acclaimed debut crime thriller Don’t Look Back won the Glass Key Award in Scandinavia and Calling Out for You was shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger.

Books by Karin Fossum

For a complete overview of Karin Fossum’s oeuvre, please visit the Crime Fiction Lover’s website at:

Crime Fiction Lover.com/a-guide-to-karin-fossums-inspector-sejer
http://www.crimefictionlover.com/2013/07/a-guide-to-karin-fossums-inspector-sejer/

Cinema

Don’t Look Back was made into the movie entitled The Girl by the Lake.

Check out the trailer for The Girl by the Lake here:

Imdb.com/video/imdb/vi305725977
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi305725977

Or on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-7sIWNu4F4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-7sIWNu4F4

The film won the Italian Oscar (Donatello Award) for Best Picture.

GoodReads – Meet Your Next Favorite Book

GoodReads lists 3,632 ratings and 254 reviews for He Who Fears the Wolf.

Nordic Noir. Camilla Läckberg -- The Lost Boy

Camilla Läckberg

The Lost Boy

Translated from the Swedish by Tiina Nunnally

Praise for The Lost Boy

“Heart-stopping and heart-warming…a masterclass in Scandinavian crime writing.”
—Val McDermid

“Läckberg is an expert at mixing scenes of domestic cosiness with blood-curdling horror.” 
– The Guardian

“…after just a few chapters I’m hooked… The creeping suspense makes me think of Johan Theorin or maybe even John Ajvide Lindqvist.” --Södermanlands Nyheter

The Lost Boy

From Sweden’s Queen of Crime, The Lost Boy is the seventh crime thriller featuring detective Patrik Hedström and his wife, writer Erica Falck. A woman and her young son return to the family home on the remote “Ghost Isle”—the locals say the island is haunted.  Then her high school sweetheart is found, murdered. Hedström and Falck work out a grim family secret that lies behind the tragic events.

Photo from Camilla Läckberg website

Camilla Läckberg

Camilla Läckberg is the first Scandinavian mystery writer that I discovered. She is a hugely successful author of crime fiction, cookbooks and children’s books. Her detective novels are set in her home town, the fishing village Fjällbacka in Sweden, giving each of her fiction titles that claustrophobic atmosphere of a small town. Her novels are Number One bestsellers in 55 countries; they have been translated into 37 languages. I would put her in the same bestseller category as Jo Nesbo and Stieg Larsson.

A knowledgeable pro at marketing, Läckberg launched her publishing career with the debut novel The Ice Princess and made sure to visit every bookstore in Sweden to ensure her engagement with her fans, who currently number in the millions. Her breakthrough novel The Stonecutter was nominated for The Crime Novel of the Year Award in 2005. Her most current novel—her ninth in the Fjällbacka series, is The Lion Tamer published in Sweden in 2014.

You can check out Camilla Läckberg’s extensive and informative website here:

Camilla Lackberg.com
http://www.camillalackberg.com/

Cinema

2013 saw the premiere of the first film based on the fifth book in the Fjällbacka crime thriller series -- The Hidden Child. This is the first in a cinematic series called The Fjällbacka Murders. You can watch the trailer on YouTube here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEb3t2klTUk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEb3t2klTUk

Or view the trailer on Camilla Lackberg’s website:

Camilla Lackberg.com/cinema/
http://www.camillalackberg.com/cinema/

Claudia Galli Concha plays the lead role as Erica Falck, while Richard Ulfsäter is DI Patrik Hedström. The film was directed by the Oscar-winning director Per Hanefjord.

The Cosy Crime Walk Mystery Tour of Fjällbacka

So popular are the Fjällbacka crime thrillers that a tour company is running mystery tours in Läckberg’s home town. Known as “The Cosy Crime Walk,” the tour gives the visitor an opportunity to experience the gruesome murder scenes, the characters and the events mixed together with stories of the Fjällbacka Archipelago, from the 17^th century to the present.

Check out this website for details:

Vastsverige.com/en/Tanum/products/Lackberg-murder-mystery-tour
http://www.vastsverige.com/en/Tanum/products/159285/Lackberg-murder-mystery-tour/

Nordic Noir. Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö - The Locked Room

Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö – The renowned crime-writing duo

The Locked Room

A Martin Beck Police Mystery

Translated from the Swedish by Paul Britten Austin

Praise for the Martin Beck Series

“Lively, stylistically taut…Sjöwall and Wahlöö changed the genre.” – Henning Mankell

“One of the most authentic, gripping and profound collections of police procedurals ever accomplished.”–Michael Connelly

First English-language edition jacket cover. Via Wikipedia

The Locked Room

This is the eighth book in the ten-book crime fiction series that authors Sjöwall and Wahlöö entitled The Story of a Crime. A straight police procedural , The Locked  Room is a classic in the mystery genre—a man is found, shot dead, in an apartment whose door is locked from the inside; there is no gun on the premises; the window is closed; and the curtains are drawn.

The detective who solves the mystery is Martin Beck, who is returning to work at the Central Bureau of Investigation in Stockholm in 1972, after recovering from a bullet wound.

Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö

Swedish writers Sjöwall and Wahlöö were both left-wing journalists who met in 1961 while working in the magazine industry. In 1962, they married, started a family, and wrote the Martin Beck series, taking alternate chapters and working late into the night while their children slept. As political radicals, Sjöwall and Wahlöö revealed the incompetence of the Swedish police force in the series, in addition to commenting on the societal issues in the Swedish welfare state. This tradition has been upheld by such note-worthy crime fiction writers as Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson.

In addition to working for several Swedish newspapers, Wahlöö wrote radio and TV plays, film scripts, short stories and novels.  Sjöwall was also a poet.  In 1975, Wahlöö died at the age of 49.

This year, Sjöwall will celebrate her 80^th birthday and mark the 50^th anniversary of the publication of the first book in the Martin Beck series, Roseanna. She lives in Sweden and continues to work as a writer, a poet and a translator.

Maj Sjöwall

The Telegraph ran a profile of Maj Sjöwall in 2015, on the occasion of the 50^th anniversary of the publication of Roseanna:

The Telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/authorinterviews--The-couple-who-invented-Nordic-Noir
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/authorinterviews/11741385/The-couple-who-invented-Nordic-Noir.html

The Martin Beck Series

The Scandinavian Books website has an overview of the ten books in the Martin Beck series:

http://scandinavianbooks.com/crime-fiction/swedish-author/sjowall-wahloo.html
http://scandinavianbooks.com/crime-fiction/swedish-author/sjowall-wahloo.html

Read an excerpt

The Locked Room, published by Penguin Random House, comes with an Introduction by Michael Connelly.  Read an excerpt from the book at:

Penguin Random House.com/books/the-locked-room-by-maj-sjowall-and-per-wahloo-with-a-new-introduction-by-michael-connelly
http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/168102/the-locked-room-by-maj-sjowall-and-per-wahloo-with-a-new-introduction-by-michael-connelly/

Cinema

All of the books in the Martin Beck series have been adapted into film. Six of these films featured Swedish actor Gösta Ekman as Martin Beck. In North America, Walter Matthau played a detective based on the character of Martin Beck in The Laughing Policeman (which was set in San Francisco, and based on the original Martin Beck mystery). Martin Beck has also been played by Belgian actor Jan Decleir and British actor Derek Jakobi. In 1995, the Mystery Writers of America named The Laughing Policeman the second best police procedural after Tony Hillerman’s Dance Hall of the Dead.

You can check out the movie trailer for The Laughing Policeman here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0y_ZLXMbv4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0y_ZLXMbv4

ABOUT THE LOCKED ROOM

The stunning eighth installment in the Martin Beck mystery series by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö is a masterful take on a classic locked room mystery.

A young blonde in sunglasses robs a bank and kills a hapless citizen. Across town, a corpse with a bullet shot through its heart is found in a locked room–with no gun at the scene. The crimes seem disparate, but to Martin Beck they are two pieces of the same puzzle, and solving it becomes the one way he can escape the pains of his failed marriage and the lingering effects of a near-fatal bullet wound. Exploring the ramifications of egotism and intellect, luck and accident, this tour de force of detection bears the unmistakable substance and gravity of real life.

SEE MORE

GoodReads—Meet Your Next Favorite Book

GoodReads website has 2,125 ratings and 140 reviews for The Locked Room.