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Readings about Hygge

he Nordic countries each have their own great litera­tures. Think of Denmark’s H.C. Andersen and Karen Blixen and Iceland’s sagas and Nobel prize winner Halldor Laxness. Finland has Aleksis Kivi and Tove Jansson. Swedish Selma Lagerlof and Vilhelm Moberg are also well known, as are NorwegianHenrik Ibsen and Sigrid Undset.

The many con­tempor­ary writers are less well known but often as good; authors like Per Petterson, Morten Ramsland, Roy Jacobsen, Lars Saabye Christ­ensen and Klas Oster­gren.

We present a selection of both the classical and the con­tempor­ary litera­tures of the Nordic countries.

The Troubled Man, by Henning Mankell, is the most recent novel in Mankell’s series about Swedish detective Kurt Wallander. It is quite possible that it is the last book ever to be written in this excellent and remarkable series that has entertained so many for so long. Read more …

The Hypnotist, the debut novel by Swedish Lars Kepler that became such an incredible success so quickly in Sweden, is a very violent and shocking book. It features detective Joona Linna and at the center stage is the use of hypnotism in solving a violent crime. You will love this one! Read more ..

Harry Hole, the Inspector in the Oslo police that is the main character in Jo Nesbo’s books, is a strange, complex man with the soul of an addict. Two girls have been brutally murdered in Oslo, the police haven’t a clue, and Harry Hole enjoys his opium dreams in Hong Kong. Now the powers that be want him to come home. They need him. But for what? To solve a complicated case? To be a pawn in their games? To be the fall guy? A top notch crime fiction from Nesbo!

Leif GW Persson is a professor of criminology, and in this clever crime fiction novel he provides a possible explanation for the assassination of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme in February 1986. To do this, he takes us deep into the not so pretty underbelly of Swedish law enforcement – we meet sloppy and greedy cops, psychopaths in the service of the secret police, clandestine services and shady agents. 

Red Wolf is the fifth book in Swedish crime fiction writer Liza Marklund’s series featuring reporter Annika Bengtzon. It is very good, suspenseful, and very entertaining, with an excellent, very exciting plot. Perhaps Marklund’s best! 

Ashes to Dust, the third book in Yrsa Sigardardottir’s series about Thóra Gudmundsdóttir, is a dark mystery that mostly takes place at Vestmannaeyjar (The Westman Islands). Four people that were murdered when the volcano there erupted more than 30 years ago have been found, and Thóra’s client is the prime suspect. 

Bad Intentions is the seventh book in Norwegian author Karin Fossum’s series about Konrad Sejer translated into English. It is a deep psychlogical thriller where layers of lies turn friends gradually into enemies and result in murder. 

Vengeance is the lastest in the series called Helsinki Homicide written by Finnish author Jarkko Sipila. It is a fast paced and very noir crime fiction thriller about life in the dark and violent underbelly of Helsinki; a world of drug addicts, pushers, gangs and criminal ties to Lithuania and Russland. A great new crime fiction by Sipila!