The Tenant is an electrifying debut of literary suspense from international bestselling author Katrine Engberg that introduces two police detectives struggling to solve a shocking murder and stop a killer hell-bent on revenge. Originally published in Denmark in 2016, Katrine Engberg’s debut, The Tenant, marked the beginning of what would become the internationally acclaimed and…
The Heart Keeper by Alex Dahl centers on two families: one reeling from the untimely loss of their beloved daughter, and the other who have found a new beginning thanks to a miracle—a new heart.
For a Scandinavian crime fiction devotee like yours truly, no author’s legacy looms larger than that of Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, whose Martin Beck books are largely considered the launching point for the Nordic Noir sub-genre. Writing in the 1960s and 1970s, husband and wife duo Sjöwall and Wahlöö broke new ground in the…
Stalker by Lars Kepler is the fifth book in the chilling Joona Linna series set among the Swedish National Crime Unit. Lars Kepler’s Stalker is hard to classify. The novel is a crime narrative, but it contains elements of mystery, police procedural, adventure, psychological thriller, and even a bit of classic noir. Furthermore, its length…
Eighteen Below by Stefan Ahnhem is the third book in the internationally bestselling Fabian Risk series, a chilling story of stolen identity and serial murder. Even on a bright day in May, there’s a chill in the atmosphere in Helsingborg, Sweden. Stefan Ahnhem grabs our attention with a gripping opening scene and then effortlessly juggles…
Spanning the icy streets of Reykjavík, the Icelandic highlands and cold, isolated fjords, The Darkness is an atmospheric thriller from Snowblind writer Ragnar Jonasson — the first in the Nordic Noir mystery series. I ‘How did you find me?’ the woman asked. There was a tremor in her voice; her face was frightened. Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir…
Tense and suspenseful, the only reason to stop racing through the pages of Jorn Lier Horst's Ordeal will be to pause for a quick glance over your shoulder (Available August 8, 2017). Frank Mandt died after a fall down his basement steps, the same basement that holds a locked safe bolted to the floor. His…
If you like the setting of your murder mysteries to take place in a cold, snowy climate, you’re not alone. The newest and bloodiest murder mysteries now seem to take place in Scandinavia. There’s something about murder, mystery, and the bitter cold that seem to go together, and it seems that readers have been entertained…
As with many other crime novels, my books are a mirror of the world and the society I live in. Swedish crime fiction often explores very dark themes and is greatly concerned with social issues and the problems of living here. Readers obviously feel a fascination with what we might call “Nordic melancholy,” concocted from…
Hell Fire by Karin Fossum is the 12th Inspector Sejer Mystery, following the murder of a mother and her son and the masterfully intertwined parallel story of a separate mother/son relationship. This was my first time reading an Inspector Sejer Mystery. I’m normally not one to jump into a series midway, but I held my…
