Not too many years ago, it
would have
been hard to think of examples of Scandinavian crime fiction beyond the
Martin Beck series and Smilla's
Sense of Snow.
Suddenly, readers are blessed with a deluge of choices. What has led to
such a renaissance of crime fiction from a part of the world not known
for its criminal tendencies?
Vit
Wagner
has two answers. One is simple enough: Hennning Mankell. The popularity
of his Kurt Wallander series - both in Sweden and abroad -
made
publishers recognize that there was a vast market for other writers to
tap. (To dig a little deeper, Bill
Ott
suggests that the fall of the Iron Curtain and the subsequent wave of
immigration into the Scandinavian countries set up the tensions that
drive Mankell's fiction and made it instantly accessible to audiences
in the US.)
The other is bit more complicated. Wagner
points to the 1986 assassination of Swedish Prime Minister Olof
Palme, still unsolved. It left many emotionally
fraught questions
dangling; not just the relatively trivial "who did it?" but more
complex ones about modern society and violence. According to author and
critic Marie Peterson, the only literature that explored the impact of
the assassination, felt deeply throughout Scandinavia, was crime
fiction.
As Peter
Rozovsky has
pointed out, Scandinavian writers are not so much interested in the
solving of puzzles or the voyeuristic experience of crime, but rather
in "the slow, rippling effect of a violent act on the minds, souls and
social fabric of those they leave behind." In many ways, crime fiction
has taken the place of the 19th century social novel, particularly in
Scandinavia.
Whatever has led to this wealth of
freshly-translated fiction, readers have plenty to choose from. Reading
crime fiction can give the curious reader a feeling for
Scandinavian culture, society, and landscapes. This Website
and companion
blog are intended to help the armchair traveler on their
journeys.
Entries
are arranged by country. Each entry includes (when available)
biographical information about the author, titles translated into
English, links to Worldcat records for Swedish, UK, and US
publications, translator's name, and a selection of reviews. (Please
note - your library holdings may not be reflected in the Worldcat
links, since not all libraries are included and libraries may own
different editions of the same work. Be sure to check your own library
catalog.) To the left you'll find a feed from blogs that pay particular
attention to contemporary
international crime fiction.
Start-up funding for this project
was provided through a Research, Scholarship and Creativity grant from
Gustavus Adolphus College. Thanks are also due to Karen Meek, whose Eurocrime
Website was an invaluable resource and R. Guy Erwin who kindly shared his
extensive bibliography of Nordic mysteries with me.
Please feel free to contact
the compiler - Barbara
Fister - with any additions, corrections, or1 suggestions. |
browse
authors
A B C
D E F
G H I
J K L
M N O
P R S
T W Y
Adler-Olsen,
Jussi
Alvtegen,
Karin
Arnaldur
Indriðason
Árni þórarinsson
Bagge,
Tapani
Birkegaard,
Mikkel
Blædel,
Sara
Blanche, August
Bodelsen,
Anders
Bornemark,
Kjell-Olof
Burman,
Carina
Ceder,
Camilla
Christensen,
Lars Saabye
Dahl,
Arne
Dahl,
K. O.
Davidson,
Leif
Davys,
Tim
Edqvist,
Dagmar
Edwardson, Åke
Egeland,
Tom
Egholm,
Elsebeth
Ekman,
Kerstin
Ekström, Jan
Enger,
Thomas
Eriksson,
Kjell
Fagerholm,
Monika
Fioretos,
Aris
Friis,
Agnete
Frimansson,
Inger
Fossum,
Karin
Gazan,
Sissel-Jo
Gerhardsen,
Carin
Grebe, Camilla & Åsa Träff
Griffiths,
Ella
Grytten,
Frode
Guillou,
Jan
Hellstrom,
Borge & Anders Roslund
Hjorth,
Michael & Hans Rosenfeldt
Hoeg, Peter
Holt,
Anne
Horst,
Jørn Lier
Indriðason,
see Arnaldur
Indriðason
Jansson,
Anna
Jansson,
Tove
Joensuu,
Matti Yrjänä
Juul, Pia
Jungersen,
Christian
Jungstedt,
Mari
Kaaberbøl,
Lene
Kallentoft,
Mons
Kallifatides,
Theodor
Kazinski,
A. J.
Kepler,
Lars
Kirstila,
Pentti
Koppel,
Hans
Läckberg
Camilla
Lampi,
Heimo
Lang,
Maria
Lapidus,
Jens
Larsen,
Michael
Larsson, Åsa
Larsson,
Bjorn
Larsson,
Stieg
Lehtolainen, Leena
Liffner,
Eva-Marie
Mankell,
Henning
Markllund,
Liza
Nesbø,
Jo
Nesser, Håkan
Nielsen,
Torben
Nykanen,
Harri
Ohlsson,
Kristina
Ørum, Poul
Östergren,
Klas
Östlundh, Håkan
Persson,
Leif G. W.
Peterzen,
Elisabet
Riverton,
Stein
Roslund, Anders, see Hellstrom,
Borge & Anders Roslund
Rygg,
Pernille
Sariola,
Mauri
Sarvig,
Ole
Scheen,
Kjersti
Sigurðardóttir,
see Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
Silbersky, Leif, see Svedilid,
Olov & Leif Silbersky
Sipila,
Jarkko
Sjöwall, Maj & Per
Wahlöo
Staalesen,
Gunnar
Svedilid,
Olov & Leif Silbersky
Theorin,
Johan
Thompson,
James
Träff, Åsa
see
Grebe
Tursten,
Helene
Wagner,
Jan Costin
Wahlberg,
Karin
Wahloo,
Per see also Sjowall,
Maj & Per Wahloo
Wallentin, Jan
Westö,
Kjell
Yrsa
Sigurðardóttir
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