The Petrona Award 2022 - Winner

 

Winner of 2022 Petrona Award announced

The winner of the 2022 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year is: 

FATAL ISLES by Maria Adolfsson, translated from the Swedish by Agnes Broomé and published by Zaffre.

Maria Adolfsson will receive a trophy, and both the author and translator will receive a cash prize.

The judges’ statement on FATAL ISLES:

This captivating winning novel is the first in a series featuring the beautifully flawed protagonist Detective Inspector Karen Eiken Hornby, whose take on life and work make for a strong down-to-earth and modern heroine in the relicts of a man’s world.

Set in the fictional yet completely credible location of Doggerland, this three-islands archipelago in the North Sea, reflects Scandinavian, North European and British heritages. Doggerland is shaped and influenced by its geographical position; the  atmospheric setting, akin to the wind- and history-swept Faroe and Shetland Islands, and Nordic climes, enhances the suspenseful and intriguing plot of a police procedural that combines detailed observations and thoughts on the human condition. A brutal murder sets in motion an investigation into layers of hidden secrets and of societal attitudes, and the interaction between the superbly portrayed characters creates a thrilling tension and believable environment. 

Comments from the winning author, translator and publisher:

Maria Adolfsson (author):

I feel so honoured and want to send my warmest thanks to the Petrona Award jury. This appreciation for my work means a lot to me!

For me it is especially exciting that the British readers enjoy exploring Doggerland together with me. I’ve always been interested in what unites people in Scandinavia and the British Isles, how we are culturally linked, and what sets us apart. To me, Doggerland is - or at least might have been - the link between us. Or to quote Herman Melville: “It’s not down on any map; true places never are.”

Agnes Broomé (translator):

I am deeply honoured to receive the Petrona Award 2022. With such an impressive shortlist it is truly humbling to be chosen. I am grateful to the jury for their unswerving commitment to bringing Scandinavian crime literature to an English-speaking readership. My warmest thanks to everyone at Zaffre for their support along this journey and, above all, to Maria Adolfsson for introducing me to Detective Inspector Karen Eiken Hornby. 

Zaffre (publisher):

Many thanks to the jury for choosing FATAL ISLES as the worthy winner of this year’s Petrona Award. It’s wonderful to see Maria’s brilliantly imaginative crime debut, expertly realised in English by Agnes Broomé, recognised for its excellence. DI Karen Eiken Hornby is a universally relatable character and Adolfsson’s vividly drawn island nation, Doggerland, is a perfectly picturesque place for the darkest deeds to occur. It is such a pleasure to publish this internationally bestselling series. 

The Petrona team would like to thank the following: firstly, David Hicks, for his generous sponsorship of the Petrona Award; secondly the co-creators and original judges of the Award: Barry Forshaw, Dr. Kat Hall and Sarah Ward and thirdly, Adrian Muller for his support via the CrimeFest platform.

Review: The Magdalena File by Jon Stenhugg

The Magdalena File by Jon Stenhugg, August 2017, Endeavour Press, ISBN: 978-1549581441

Reviewed by Ewa Sherman.

Sara Markham, 36-year-old Homicide Investigator at Sweden’s National Bureau of Investigation is called to a crime scene: a body of a tortured man was found in his own home on Sela Island. He seemed to have been electrocuted and then shot twice closely in the chest. Initial investigation showed that the victim was Leo Hoffberg, outspoken and rebellious MP who had recently quit Parliament, interested in environmental matters, former member of the Defence Department Committee. Just before his death he had seemingly delivered a letter to the Prime Minister, threatening to expose secrets and to destroy the entire city of Stockholm.

His shocked and grieving wife Kristina couldn’t fathom any reason for the murder, though she pointed at Magdalena, a cleaner from Poland, and decided to check through all her husband's possessions. Documents come to light showing that Hoffberg might have bought a manual for a Shkval, a nuclear Russian torpedo.

But as Sara begins to work on the case, she gets contradictory messages from her superiors. She’s also required to look for Martin Spimler, whose boat was found drifting empty in the waters opposite Stockholm’s City Hall. The missing man, a retired Navy diver was interested in a ‘fish project’ and travelled to Estonia some time ago with Hoffberg.

At the back of her mind is the tragedy of MS Sally, brought to her attention at the victim’s home. The sinking of MS Sally in September 1994, off the coast of Sweden and close to Estonia, had put the entire nation into a state of mourning. The wreckage of the ship has never been discovered, but several theories float around, implying that the dangerous weapon, the infamous Shkval, was being smuggled to Stockholm.

The quote at the beginning of the book is indeed very apt: "Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead". The author cleverly moves between different points of views, to muddy the waters, not just for the readers for also for the main players. Hard-working Sara is kept in the dark; her boss Sven Peterson wants quick results yet seems to withhold certain information; Chief Inspector Lars Ekman, head of the Counter Terrorism seems to be pulling all the strings, and then a legendary retired US Army CID Lieutenant John Hurtree is brought to Europe as a ‘tourist’ and the only person who might have seen the elusive Schneller, an ex-Stasi secret agent. Sara tries to balance the conflicting demands and her own equilibrium while convinced that a certain Kim Lemko, somehow connected to the murdered man, and a technological company in Tallinn, is behind the murder, and also a link to the dangerous torpedo hidden underwater.

Jon Stenhugg is a pen name of a Swedish author born in California, USA. A graduate of Education, Psychology and Statistics from Stockholm University his career involved teaching and IT. THE MAGDALENA FILE follows his debut novel THE SECOND CHILD, and again demonstrates his fascination with European history. The fast-moving tight plot offers plenty of surprises, and an occasional cynical sense of humour which lightens the mood of an otherwise very serious thriller and shady politics, with the caricature-like Swedish Prime Minister and a sleazy Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs at the centre of the current investigation. Relationships between central characters keep changing as quickly as the priorities which move from the local searches to the wider international arena. The dark past is never far behind and its enigmas can have devastating consequences, as shown by the background stories of Kim Lemko and the mysterious Magdalena.

THE MAGDALENA FILE is a good solid read.

Ewa Sherman, October 2017

Review: Marked for Life by Emelie Schepp

Marked for Life by Emelie Schepp, June 2017, 384 pages, Paperback, HQ, ISBN: 1848455372

Reviewed by Lynn Harvey.
(Read more of Lynn's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

The seven-year-old girl sat in the corner. She pulled at her mama’s skirt and put it over her mouth. She imagined that she was at home in her bed, or rocking in a cradle when the ship rolled in the waves.

Norrköping, Sweden.
When Detective Chief Inspector Levin and Detective Mia Bolander arrive at the house in Östanvägen, an ambulance is in the drive and forensics are already working the scene. In the living room lies the body of a man, Hans Juhlén, head of asylum issues at the Migration Board. His wife found him when she returned from her walk. He had been shot. There are no signs of a struggle but Mrs Juhlén says that a window had been open and she had closed it. Whilst Levin continues to ask the weeping woman questions, the forensics officer dusts the window sill for prints and finds two – the hand prints of a child.

Prosecutor Jana Berzelius promptly leaves the courtroom after the trial verdict. As usual she ignores the waiting journalists and makes her way to the garage. Her cell phone vibrates and she answers her father’s call. He asks how the case went and if she will be coming to the family dinner on the first of May. She accepts the invitation; neutral respect is always the tone of Jana’s and her parents’ conversations. However the next call is not from her mother as she expects but from the Chief Public Prosecutor. An important Migration Board official has been murdered and he wants Jana to assist with the investigation. She drives straight to police headquarters and finds the investigating team already gathered in the conference room. It is clear that detective Mia Bolander is not pleased to see that Jana Berzelius is in charge. Mia dislikes and distrusts her, views her as stiff, upper-class, arrogant and with no idea of how to let her hair down. But Mia seems to be alone in her hostility as the team gets down to work and discusses the time line and crime scene: Mrs Juhlén is a person of interest, a pack of threatening blackmail letters was found in the victim’s wardrobe, the murder weapon hasn’t been found, nor are there any children or grandchildren in the family to explain the child’s prints on the window sill.

In another time and place a young girl huddles with her family and others in a crowded metal container which pitches and rolls with the movement of the ship. She plays her fingers along the steel wall, making them gallop like a horse, but this time Mama doesn’t laugh. Lots of people are crammed into this dark, airless, stinking, space. The little girl knows some of them, some of the children especially. Her galloping fingers find a metal plate on the wall. In the darkness she can just make out letters … V … P and what her mother tells her is an X... O and then some numbers. She counts them. Six numbers...

The strength of Emelie Schepp’s dark crime story about people trafficking is its strong plot centred on prosecutor Jana Berzelius, a clever, elegant and successful woman but a woman with a secret, hidden from even herself until the body of a murdered boy is found. A scarred name marks the back of the child’s neck. Jana too has scars on the back of her neck. Soon her ever-present nightmares begin to change, becoming flashbacks which set her in pursuit of the boy’s killer in tandem with the police investigation – but for reasons of her own.

The story of MARKED FOR LIFE is strong and striking and begs to be filmed. Perhaps that’s what its author might have hoped for – for I found the actual writing flawed. Odd turns of phrase and grammar sat badly with me, sometimes even getting in the way of the action. No translator is credited with this English language version. The characterisation is also thin, with the exception of Jana herself and her distorted mirror image, the unlikeable police detective Mia Bolander who looms large. I ended up feeling as though I was viewing a dark and fascinating story through an equally dark glass.

Emelie Schepp’s début novel, MARKED FOR LIFE started out as self-published. It would have been good if a sympathetic editor had taken it under their wing. However it has attracted favourable community reviews and Swedish 2016 Specsavers Crime Time Reader’s Prize. For fans, the good news is that Emelie Schepp has written a further two novels in her Jana Berzelius series which are due to be published over the next two years.

I remain some kind of grouch in saying that, for me, this novel was an uneven read except for its original and absorbing plot.

Lynn Harvey, August 2017

Publishing Deal - Susanne Jansson

[I discovered this a bit belatedly]..from The Bookseller:

In the Mire, the atmospheric Swedish debut which prompted a Europe-wide frenzy for rights at last week's London Book Fair, has been snapped up by Hodder & Stoughton after a three-way auction.

Crime and thriller publisher Ruth Tross bought British and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, as part of a two-book deal and will publish In the Mire by Susanne Jansson on the Mulholland list in early 2019.

[] "eerie" thriller, about two women who are forced to confront “buried horrors of the past” in a mire in rural Sweden []

It's also been snapped up in the US. From Publishers Lunch Weekly [with a bit more about the plot]:

Susanne Jansson debut IN THE MIRE, following a young biologist who returns to the rural town where she grew up in order to make up with her traumatic past, only to get pulled into the hunt for a serial killer who draws inspiration from the Iron Age when people buried their human sacrifices in peat bogs - a natural ecosystem that preserves bodies for thousands of years, to Grand Central.

Review: To the Top of the Mountain by Arne Dahl tr. Alice Menzies

To the Top of the Mountain by Arne Dahl, tr. Alice Menzies (June 2015, Vintage, ISBN: 0099587572)

Reviewed by Lynn Harvey.
(Read more of Lynn's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

“Should we check, then?” asked Paul Hjelm. “If all this is just a figment of our imagination, two frustrated CID officers who aren't happy with it being just a pub brawl?”

Stockholm, Midsummer – Paul Hjelm and Kerstin Holm of the city's Violent Crimes Division are interviewing witnesses about the killing of a football fan during a bar-fight between rival supporters. Their young witness is quiet to the point of being uncooperative, claims to have had his back to the fight and to have been reading a book the whole time. All right, he had turned round now and then and he had heard the crack and had seen the blood streaming from the guy's head. When there had been a rush for the exit, before the doormen blocked it, the killer had been one of the first to get out, alongside the other Hammarby fans. Most of a group by the door got out as well.
Kerstin and Paul have only recently been reunited as work colleagues after the beak up of their old unit. Its members had been dispersed to various squads and their boss Hultin “retired”. After Kerstin takes the witness off to the police artist in an attempt to get a picture of the guy who slammed a beer glass onto another's head, the pair catch up on news before resuming their meticulous interviews of a bar-load of witnesses.

A man is released from Kumla prison on a fine summer morning and walks towards a waiting van. He checks his wallet and a small device that looks like a calculator. Glancing between the prison and the van, he presses a button on the device and smiles as he climbs into the van which speeds away before the sound of the explosion can reach it. Ex-A-Unit colleagues Arto Södersteft and Viggo Norlander, currently on loan to Kumla's regional CID, are called in to investigate the prison blast. The explosion has spread most of Lordon Vukotic's body around the walls of his cell. He had been a member of drug dealer Rajko Nedic's circle but lately Vukotic had become a model prisoner, training to be a business lawyer, perhaps Rajko's business lawyer. Norlander, a new father with baby-sick on his shoulder, is half asleep. It surprises the waiting investigating team to see him suddenly take efficient and energetic command. But Norlander is determined to get the case cracked. It's almost Midsummer's Eve and he means to celebrate it with his new daughter.

Just one or two old colleagues to reunite. The giant, one-time “Mr Sweden”, Gunnar Nyberg, is now part of the National CID's “Paedophile Hunters” team. He spends his days in front of a computer screen watching some of the most dreadful things he has ever seen – but just now he is bumping into ex-colleague Paul Hjelm at a café near headquarters.
With an explosion and gun fight on an industrial estate claiming the lives of several drug dealers and far-right extremists, Jorge Chavez, another ex-A-Unit man enters the picture. Investigative threads from all of these cases start to intersect. It seems as though the original A-Unit is about to be reassembled…

Arne Dahl's TO THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN presents a sprawling spider of crime. Murder, drugs, neo-Nazi terrorism and paedophile rings intersect to reunite the old Intercrime Unit. Even boss Hultin is dragged out of retirement to head the team again. The exciting, involving plot builds suspense to the end: an examination of love and hate through crime fiction, all facets, both ends of the scale – lovers and ex-lovers, family and children, colleagues and teams, nationalism, racism and a lot of things in between. I enjoyed the previous book BAD BLOOD. This one has a different translator in Alice Menzies and there seems to be a slightly more disjointed feel to the narrative – but this may be true to Dahl’s writing. Although TO THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN became part of Series One of the Swedish Arne Dahl television series, don't be deterred from reading the book if you watched the series. Dahl's writing is a wry, richly charactered experience and well worth exploring in its own right.

Lynn Harvey, England
December 2015

Review: Without a Trace by Liza Marklund tr. Neil Smith

Without a Trace by Liza Marklund translated by Neil Smith, June 2015, 352 pages, Corgi, ISBN: 0552170968

Reviewed by Michelle Peckham.
(Read more of Michelle's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

This tenth book in the series that features the journalist Annika Bengtzon, focuses around the mystery behind the disappearances of two women. One is Nora, the wife of the ex-politician Ingemar Lerberg, who has just gone missing. The other is Viola Söderland, who went missing twenty years ago.

At the start of the book, Nora’s husband Ingemar, is being tortured rather horrifically and the perpetrators clearly want to know where Nora is. His almost lifeless body is found and reported anonymously, and Annika is sent to cover the story. Viola’s disappearance was covered by Annika’s boss: Anders Schyman, in a TV documentary for which he was given an award for Excellence in Journalism. Although the consensus was that Viola had been murdered, Anders found evidence that the billionairess, faced with some kind of financial crisis, had planned her disappearance very carefully. But on searching the web for information about Ingemar, a man whom Schyman knew and sometimes socialized with, he comes across a website calling itself the ‘Light of Truth’ where the author has started to call into question Schyman’s story about Viola, and appears to have started a personal attack on Schyman himself. These two threads form the main part of the story.

Meanwhile, there is the usual family background as part of the story. Annika is now living on Södermalm, a very cool and trendy part of Stockholm, with Jimmy Halenius (with whom she got together in the last book, while her ex-husband Thomas was kept hostage in Africa), her two kids, and his two. Thomas, also appears from time to time, and true to form, is feeling very sorry for himself after their break up, as well as very self conscious about the hand he lost while captive, which is now simply replaced with a hook. And there is the re-appearance of Nina, assigned to National Crime, and working with Annika’s long term inside contact ‘Q’. Nina and Annika also know each other from the past (as detailed in an earlier book). Nina is in charge of finding out who tortured Ingemar, and what has happened to Nora, and it’s she who starts to uncover Nora’s secret life, as we start to find out something about Viola’s through Annika.

There are also the interesting reflections on how journalism has changed, with there no longer being the print deadline, but with Annika videoing herself in front of the crime scene, editing some footage, and uploading the video as well as text on line, as soon as she is ready. But is Annika a little battle-weary? At one point she comments on how she could write several of the articles on line, without even leaving the office and going to see anyone, as the same types of stories resurface again and again. Annika also has an intern to look after, Valter Wennegren, son of the man who owns the paper, who turns out to be very useful. The ‘Light of Truth’ also highlights the ability of anyone to write anything they like online, and how destructive this can be especially when what appears to be a hot story, is taken up by other online media and goes into the mainstream. It’s interesting to see how Schyman, himself a veteran journalist, deals with the character assassination and how doubts raised about him and his integrity raised by an anonymous blogger start to take on a life of their own, as myths are circulated as truths.

WITHOUT A TRACE is a book with lots of bits and pieces, that just about hangs together as a whole. There is much musing on journalism, Annika’s role in it, her slightly jaded approach to it all, and yet still her engagement with it, and love of her job. The pressures of her new family and various uncertainties there also play an important part in the book, while the stories of Nora and Viola are almost plot devices to compare journalism then, and now. That is, one is rather less concerned as to what has happened to these two women, than how the stories are (or were) presented. I always enjoy Marklund’s books, and this is no exception, and while it didn’t have the taut drama of some of the previous books, it was a thought-provoking read.

Michelle Peckham, October 2015

Review: An Event in Autumn by Henning Mankell tr. Laurie Thompson

An Event in Autumn by Henning Mankell, tr Laurie Thompson (September 2015, Vintage, ISBN: 1784700843)

There was no sign of other bones. Just that hand sticking up out of the ground. He bent down again and poked cautiously into the earth. Was there a whole skeleton under there, or was it just the hand? He was unable to decide for sure.

I was writing this piece about the “Wallander” novella AN EVENT IN AUTUMN when the news broke that it's author, Swedish writer and playwright Henning Mankell, had died. Mankell was my first introduction to Scandinavian crime fiction and for me he was its yardstick. As such, the quote that starts this review is not just an example of good writing but could well stand for the essence of good crime fiction. The irony is that Mankell never set out to be a crime writer. He had returned to Sweden from a long stay in Africa in the early 1990s and was struck by the increase in racism in Swedish society. He decided he wanted to write about it and he also decided that a crime story was the perfect vehicle for writing about the subject and that he would need “a policeman” to carry out the investigation. Thus Kurt Wallander, a character intrinsic to Scandinavian crime fiction, was born.

AN EVENT IN AUTUMN started as a novella for the Dutch market. Some of its plot points were later taken as foundation for an episode in the third season of Kenneth Branagh's BBC television's Wallander series. The novella itself was translated into English by veteran Mankell translator Laurie Thompson (who, sadly, also died earlier this year) and published in the UK for the first time in 2014. It is beautifully written and equally beautifully translated.

Ystad, Sweden. October, 2002.
Wallander has worked until the early hours. He is tired. He reviews his feelings about being a policeman, now, at this time, then leaves the office for his flat which he currently shares with his daughter Linda. It's Linda who wakes him next morning with news of a phone call, much to Wallander's annoyance. It is his day off, he shouts. But Martinson isn't calling about a case, he is calling about a house. It belongs to a relative of Martinson's wife. The relative has had to go into a home and now they want to sell the house. Is Wallander interested in looking at it? That dream of a house in the country and the companionship of a dog? Wallander walks to the police station where Martinson gives him a bunch of keys and tells him that the house is not far from where Wallander's father used to live. Wallander isn't too sure about that but takes the keys, collects his car and drives out into the countryside – to what turns out to be an old farmhouse standing in a neglected garden of fruit trees and currant bushes. He enters the house and walks around the rooms. It would need work. It's been neglected. Then he rings Martinson and after some cautious, reluctant haggling he says that he will take it but that he wants to discuss it first with his daughter. He walks around the house again, taking note of things to be done, trying to imagine living there. Once more he goes out into the garden, tasting the water from the pump, imagining a bowl of water set out for a dog. Back in his car he hesitates. He had seen something when he had tripped in the garden. A small rake? A root?….

What Wallander has found is a hand – the bones of a hand which lead to a search for the rest of the skeleton and an investigation into the past of the house and of its successive owners, their putative crimes and real crimes. This short novella, a crime story about a buried victim and a buried crime, successfully carries us from beginning to end in contemplative, smooth-flowing and psychologically observant narrative. For many reasons this is a book you cannot miss. Ending with an essay by Henning Mankell on the genesis of the Wallander novels and the relationship between the writer and his character “Kurt Wallander” (as seminal a character in crime fiction as Maigret, Marlow or Poirot) it also gives those who found THE TROUBLED MAN to be a difficult farewell to the character and series – a gentler, more autumnal remembrance of Wallander and his creator.

Lynn Harvey, England
October 2015

(Read an earlier Euro Crime review of AN EVENT IN AUTUMN.)

Review: The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz tr. George Goulding

Today sees the release of book 4 in the Millennium series begun by Stieg Larsson, and now continued by David Lagercrantz in the shape of The Girl in the Spider's Web, translated by George Goulding.

London-based reviewer Craig Sisterson was able to get a copy at midnight and has very kindly shared his review with Euro Crime. This review first appeared on Crime Watch this morning:

The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz translated by George Goulding, 448 pages, August 2015, MacLehose Press, ISBN: 0857059998

She's back. After all the waiting, anticipation, and controversy, Lisbeth Salander is back.

It starts with a hand, beating rhythmically on a mattress in an unknown bedroom. Why is the hand beating? Whose hand is it? Whose bedroom? What does it mean?

None of those questions are answered until much later in THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB, and by then David Lagercrantz has taken readers on a heck of an absorbing ride.

Let's address the elephant in the room: not everyone will be happy with this novel. Many people in the books world seem to have decided to avoid it or dislike it on principle: that no-one should continue Stieg Larsson's series, the three books of an intended ten that he'd written but never published before his heart attack.

But those who approach THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB with at least a partially open mind will find themselves pleasantly surprised; it's a very good book. It's terrific to see Salander, who is much more than an antisocial goth hacker, back fighting against injustice in a new adventure. In her own inimitable way.

Undoubtedly the creation of Salander was Stieg Larsson's greatest genius in his initial trilogy: while his tales were swirling epics addressing some dark issues simmering below the seemingly perfect surface of Scandinavian society, Salander was the lightning rod that elevated the stories into something more.

In THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB Lagercrantz does a fantastic job at delving deeper into Lisbeth Salander, offering readers more of an insight into this 'grown up version of Pippi Longstocking' (as Larsson considered her). Lagercrantz treads the fine line between providing more texture about an enigmatic character, without losing the mystery and uncertainty that makes them so compelling in the first place.

Salander is the kind of iconic character who doesn't even need to be in the room to have a presence. Like James Bond, Zorro, Robin Hood, or Sherlock Holmes, she casts a shadow over a wider world, lingering in the minds and hearts of those she's touched, friends and foes alike.

Early on in THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB, Mikael Blomkvist is battling against money-driven evisceration of Millennium, the magazine he loves, when he meets a potential source in a bar to discuss a story tip. Things are stock-standard, and Blomkvist's eyes are glazing as he listens to chat about technology and corporate espionage, when he - and the reader - is suddenly electrified by the passing mention of a female hacker. From there, the story becomes much more interesting, for Blomkvist and the reader.

As Blomkvist delves deeper, the story gets bigger and bigger. A world-renowned Swedish computer scientist, a verifiable genius, has seemingly abandoned his work and boarded himself up in his home. He wants to talk to Blomkvist, but is attacked before they can meet. His work has disappeared, and the only witness is an autistic child, who know becomes the target of a shadowy criminal organisation.

Lagercrantz does well juggling all the players in this tale, from the driven staff of the NSA, who see spying on everyone as the way to protect their country's interests, to Eastern European gangsters, Swedish authorities, and shadowy figures from Salander's own past. While Salander and Blomkvist are the stars, there is a broad cast of fascinating cast of characters who add texture and intrigue - and Lagercrantz does an elegant job keeping THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB building then racing along rather than becoming convoluted.

For those who love Scandinavian crime for the way it delves into social and personal issues, there is plenty of that on offer in the fourth Salander book, from issues of privacy, what the public is entitled to know, to the various ways technology can be used and abused, the changing face of the media, and much more.

For me however, it is the evocation of Salander, who is one of the finest characters created in contemporary fiction, which is the real highlight of THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB. Much like Christopher Nolan did with his tremendous re-imagining of Batman, Lagercrantz delves deeper into Lisbeth while keeping her very much who she is. We see more and understand more, but remain fascinated, intrigued, and unsure.

And when the final page came, I was no longer doubtful of whether the books should be continued or not. In fact, I am very much hoping that we will see more from Lagercrantz, Blomkvist and Salander in future.

Craig Sisterson
August 2015

Review: The Man Who Watched Women by Hjorth & Rosenfeldt tr. Marlaine Delargy

The Man Who Watched Women by Hjorth & Rosenfeldt translated by Marlaine Delargy, June 2015, 528 pages, Century, ISBN: 1780894554

Reviewed by Geoff Jones.
(Read more of Geoff's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

Stockholm, Sweden. The Riksmord is the national based homicide squad and their leader is Torkel Hoglund. Reporting to him are Ursula Andersson (a forensic expert who is married but having an affair with Torkel), Vanja Lithner and Billy Rosen.

There have been three brutal murders in the city. Women dressed in a particular nightdress with their hands and feet bound. They have been raped and have had their throats cut. The way the murders have been executed is reminiscent of a serial killer named Edward Hinde. But Hinde has been in the Lovhaga prison for fourteen years.

The man who helped put Hinde behind bars is Sebastian Bergman. A psychologist and profiler he has written books about Hinde. However life is getting difficult for Bergman. He lost his wife and daughter in a Tsunami and has never fully recovered. He has a history of seducing women and has lost count of his conquests. Amongst these is the mother of Vanja Lithner, although she has no idea Sebastian is her father, and hates the man.

With the Press making life difficult, Torkel and his team must find the connection between a copycat and the original serial killer. Sebastian wants to interview Hinde but Vanja feels she should be the one. Feelings are running high, as Billy the fourth member of the team feels he should play a more prominent role. Whilst the “office politics” are played out another murder is about to happen. Is Hinde involved and if so how? Can Sebastian recreate his best achievements and help the Riksmord team to solve who is the killer?

The authors are famous in Sweden for TV and film writing and they have written a few Sebastian Bergman books, but this is only the second published in the UK. A TV series based on the character was shown on BBC Four. This is a well written exciting story; the pace is fast but actually speeds up near the end which leaves you holding your breath as events unfold. I’ll be definitely reading more about Sebastian and highly recommend this book.

Geoff Jones, August 2015

TV News: Echoes from the Dead on BBC4

BBC Four continues to treat us Scandi-drama fans. After the gripping 1864 (I have 2 episodes left still), next Saturday (13th) at 9pm we have the film of Johan Theorin's Echoes from the Dead.

Echoes from the Dead (2008 in English) is the first book in a loose quartet with the final part, The Voices Beyond, being released in English on 2 July.

In Maxine's review of Echoes from the Dead, tr. Marlaine Delargy, she wrote: "On finishing the book, I can only advise that if you read one crime-fiction novel [published] this year, make it this one."

Review: The Boy in the Shadows by Carl-Johan Vallgren tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles

The Boy in the Shadows by Carl-Johan Vallgren, tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles (January 2015, Quercus, ISBN: 1784291293)

THE BOY IN THE SHADOWS is Swedish literary author Carl-Johan Vallgren's first crime novel and indeed looks to be the first part in a series.

The prologue set in 1970 describes the disappearance/kidnap of a seven-year-old boy at a crowded Stockholm train station when he is separated from his father and younger brother. The rest of the story is set forty years later.

Danny Katz is a former drug addict with a facility for languages and computer hacking which the military have put to good use. Now a civilian he is self-employed and receives some business help from his old military superior Julin. Katz is contacted by the beautiful Angela the wife of an old translator colleague, Joel, from the rich Klinsberg clan. Joel and Katz, though not friends, shared a dorm and Joel told his wife that Katz was the only person he could trust. When Joel goes missing, Angela contacts Katz and though he is not a PI he agrees to look into Joel's disappearance. Joel has recently received some clues that might uncover the mystery of his brother's kidnapping all those years ago...

Katz has some contacts and begins to trace Joel's last journey but it is not long before he finds himself having to disappear when he's suddenly framed for murder...

This first part of the book, about 100 pages, lured me into thinking we have a GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, cold case type mystery to solve however things strike off in much more of a thriller direction with Katz going underground and trying to turn the tables, on those framing him. In addition the narration switches between Katz and Eva, a friend from Katz's youth home days. They both had a rough start to life and have had some personal and professional successes but cannot shake off their inheritance. With its threads involving conspiracies, blackmail and voodoo it is a slightly fantastical tale but is none the less gripping for it and though it didn't go the way I perhaps wanted it to it was an involving read. The main characters are for me its strongest suit and I'm pleased that we may meet Katz and Eva again.

The (surprisingly) uncredited translation is by Rachel Willson-Broyles.

Favourite Discoveries of 2014 (4)

Today's instalment of favourite discoveries of 2014 comes from Lynn Harvey who chooses a Swedish writer.

Lynn Harvey's Favourite Discovery of 2014

My favourite discovery of 2014 was a retro-read of the three "Öland" books of Swedish writer Johan Theorin who writes a wonderful mixture of modern crime and psychological chill. The towering presence in these books is Öland itself, a long, flat island connected to the Swedish mainland by a bridge. Once peopled by fishermen, sailors and quarrymen it has become a desirable summer holiday destination for successful Swedes. In Theorin's hands, the island still resonates with its history, landscape, folklore and ghosts, alongside its incomers – not to forget – enough modern day crime to satisfy the Euro Crime reader

The first in the series, ECHOES FROM THE DEAD, deals with the legacy of a child's sudden disappearance some twenty years before. In true Theorin style the story combines present day life with a look back into the community's history and its characters before driving through to its moving and suspenseful end. The second, THE DARKEST ROOM, is a truly atmospheric winter read. A young family moves into a run-down manor house at Eel Point. As Öland begins to face the Baltic winter blizzards, one of the family is found drowned. Theorin weaves supernatural and natural strands together so well that it seems that both worlds will collide in its tense conclusion. Finally, with THE QUARRY, we are more firmly rooted in present day Öland, predominantly peopled by holiday homers, returners, and a few elderly islanders. But there are still traces of past tragedies and secrets which filter in with the fog, fairies, trolls and the contemporary crimes of murder and greed. All of the Öland novels are beautifully translated into English by Marlaine Delargy and I think they are jewels in the realm of Scandi-Noir.

The final part in Johan Theorin's Öland quartet, The Voices Beyond, will be published in July.

Review: The Second Deadly Sin by Asa Larsson tr. Laurie Thompson

The Second Deadly Sin by Åsa Larsson tr. Laurie Thompson, January 2014, 320 pages, MacLehose Press, ISBN: 0857051725

Reviewed by Michelle Peckham.
(Read more of Michelle's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

Rebecka Martinsson is once again involved in a murder investigation in this latest outing from Åsa Larsson (book five in the series). She was once a hot-shot lawyer in Stockholm, but circumstances in earlier books have brought her back to where she grew up, and she now lives in Kiruna, in the house that was once her grandmother's. She is working as the district prosecutor, and has an impeccable reputation for her preparedness and meticulous attention to detail.

As the story opens, a troublesome bear is shot dead, and is found to have a human hand in his stomach. Next, Rebecka and Eriksson, her police colleague, discover a woman, Sol-Britt, stabbed to death in her house. Outside, her grandson Marcus is found hiding outside in a children’s playhouse, and is clearly traumatised. What has he seen? What does he know? Why was Sol-Britt murdered and what is the connection to the discovery of the hand in the bear’s stomach?

Rebecka should be directing the investigation but a second district prosecutor, Carl Van Post, is nursing a grudge and manages to persuade the chief prosecutor, Björnfot, that he should take charge, leaving Rebecka to conduct her own undercover investigation while 'on holiday' (by her own choice). Police Inspector Anna-Maria Mella, a friend and a colleague, is still involved in the investigation, and keeps Rebecka informed on the quiet. It seems that the murdered woman comes from a family that has suffered a series of tragic events. For example, as well as her own murder, Sol-Britt's son had been killed in a hit and run accident some time earlier. Sadly, as a consequence, Marcus was living with his grandmother Sol-Britt because his mother then refused to look after him.

Interspersed between chapters about the current investigation, is a story set some years before, in 1914, about a school teacher who goes out to Kiruna to run a school, and ends up falling in love with a local entrepreneur. Her story is also a tragic one of unrequited love and its consequences. Gradually, the links between the current investigation and the past events reveal themselves, and Rebecka’s determination and meticulousness enable her to discover the unpleasant truth.

Åsa Larsson's books have a strong feeling of female empowerment, and not just through the strong female leads of Rebecka and Anna-Marie. This book manages to cleverly pass comment on how arrogance, pompousness and at times, weakness in a subset of men can lead to undesirable outcomes (though I should say that most men in the story are depicted in a much more favourable light!). It also shows how strong ties and co-operation between women are important in finding solutions. Rebecka's vulnerability and sense of past, combined with her strong-mindedness determination, thoughtfulness, and ever-developing character is something the reader can empathise and engage with. An interesting plot, combined with intriguing characters, means that all I want now is to read the next outing in the series! And, as always, there is a great translation from Laurie Thompson.

Michelle Peckham, August 2014

Review: Black Lies, Red Blood by Kjell Eriksson tr. Paul Norlen

Black Lies, Red Blood by Kjell Eriksson translated by Paul Norlen, May 2014, 350 pages, Allison & Busby, ISBN: 0749015039

Reviewed by Lynn Harvey.
(Read more of Lynn's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

“What connection do you think there is between the murdered man and Brant?”
“Not a clue,” said Lindell.
“But if you know him.”
“I don't know him.”
“But something...”
“Don't you hear what I'm saying? I don't know him!”

Uppsala, Sweden.
Ann Lindell is lying next to her lover of just a few weeks. It has been a long time since she has felt desired and the flat has been filled with talk, although talk of the present, no past or future. She knows that he is a journalist and he knows that she is a police detective, little else. Ann is just realising that she is in love – when Anders gets up and tells her he has to go and that he will be away for a week or two.

On waste land beneath a viaduct lies a man's body, bludgeoned to death. There is no clue to his identity except a slip of paper with a phone number. He looks like a vagrant and a short distance away is an old site-trailer where he might have been sleeping.

Ann finds it hard to concentrate during the morning meeting. She keeps thinking about Anders Brant and about their love-making. It is clear to the rest of the team that she is not paying attention. Self-conscious, she leaves the room “to make a phone call” but in reality she sits in her office trying to take stock. Her boss steps in and asks how she's doing. Ann parries his concern by suggesting that they ask at the local homeless shelter about the dead man and also suggests that it was a "wino killing a wino" but is pulled up by the reminder that they found no alcohol in the body. Finally – she cannot hide her shock when the chief tells her that the phone number found on the body is that of Anders Brant, a local journalist. He spots her reaction and asks if she knows Brant. Ann answers that they have met socially, but no – she doesn't really know him. She resolves the unspoken issue by suggesting that she works on her "cold case": a missing sixteen-year old whom no-one has seen since she left her home on a shopping trip one spring morning.

The police visit to the homeless shelter gives the dead man an identity, a circle of "friends", and an ex-wife. They interview the ex-wife and she tells them that the dead man had been a sober, hard-working scaffolder until an accident left him unable to continue working. After that – everything went downhill, the drink took over and the marriage fell apart.

Meanwhile Ann has given in to the urge to research Anders Brant on the internet. A colleague rings to tell her that he is at Brant's flat. He tells her that the last sight of him was that morning when he came home in a taxi and half an hour later left again, carrying a small suitcase. Angrily Ann shuts her computer. Anders is now "Brant" in her mind. She returns to the missing girl, further upset to find that the investigation overlooked a reported sighting. The girl was seen on the morning of her disappearance, walking along the road towards Uppsala with a young man in a grey hoody. The caller said that he had been test-riding a moped when he saw them and when he doubled back a short while later the couple were nowhere in sight...

BLACK LIES, RED BLOOD is Swedish writer Kjell Eriksson's fifth "Ann Lindell" novel to be translated into English (this time by Seattle-based Paul Norlen who has also translated books by Leif GW Persson and Carin Gerhardsen). The series is set in Eriksson's native Uppsala and features detective Lindell and her police colleagues. In this story Ann's emotional life as well as her police work are under the microscope when a lover becomes a suspect in the death of a homeless man. Ann attempts to sidestep the implications of her relationship by concentrating on the case of a missing teenager. Meanwhile her lover, Anders Brant, is in Brazil, reconnecting with another love, contemplating his own feelings for Ann, and himself becoming a witness to murder. It's a tangled story of lies, impulse and death.

Eriksson writes at the political sharp-end of Swedish crime fiction, perhaps more so than Henning Mankell. A one-time union activist, he insists that his novels are about the lives of "ordinary" working people as well as the homeless and the immigrant. BLACK LIES, RED BLOOD is no exception, formed from his familiar cross-section of characters' lives which intersect during a crime investigation. Occasionally Eriksson follows such characters out of the context of a central criminal plot, a technique which might leave hard-wired crime fiction fans – focused on chasing towards a whodunnit conclusion – adrift amongst his characters and regarding such diversions as red herrings. But to me these digressions are the result of Eriksson's urge for realism and social reportage and if that informs the spirit of Scandi-noir for you – then BLACK LIES, RED BLOOD is also the latest in your essential reading.

Lynn Harvey, July 2014.

Review: Into a Raging Blaze by Andreas Norman tr. Ian Giles

Into a Raging Blaze by Andreas Norman translated by Ian Giles, July 2014, 528 pages, Quercus, ISBN: 1782066039

INTO A RAGING BLAZE is former Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs employee Andreas Norman's first novel and it is a detailed and absorbing look at the modern-day world of surveillance and government intelligence gathering.

Carina Dymek is a dedicated worker at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She has worked her way up and is hoping for a promotion shortly. She has a beautiful new boyfriend, Jamal, who works in another government department, and all seems to be going well for her.

At a routine meeting in Brussels, Carina speaks out against what she perceives as racist comments by another country's representatives and when she goes for lunch she is sought out by a man calling himself Jean. He says that Carina has a conscience and hands her a USB stick containing a top secret document about the possible formation of EIS, the European Intelligence Service, which he says needs stopping. Carina reluctantly agrees to take it back and pass the information on, though she is puzzled because she feels that the relevant people must already know about it.

Shortly after Carina disseminates the document, her life changes. Suspended for handling unauthorised documents, she is suspected of being a traitor and her Egyptian-born boyfriend's life is put under the microscope. Carina flees from the security service and knows the only way to clear herself is to find “Jean”. And so a chase begins between the authorities and Carina.

Ironically, Carina's only hope might come from Bente Jensen, the head of the Swedish Security Service (Sapo) unit in Brussels who begins to doubt the terrorist plot that the Swedish and British Secret Services think they have uncovered.

INTO A RAGING BLAZE starts off with a bang with an assassination in Brussels. It then spends some time laying the groundwork of the Ministry, Carina's job and life and her relationship with Jamal. After the USB stick incident the tension slowly builds but the pace is still steady. Carina has help from friends and unwittingly plays into the authorities' hands and it's only when she returns to Brussels later in the book, that the tension really mounts. The espionage plot is quite gripping – the British, especially, don't come out this book too well but nor do the Swedish authorities - but what makes this book fascinating, at least to me, is its apparent authenticity as to how the EU, Security Services and so on works. I particularly enjoyed the sections told from Bente Jenson's point of view – a woman in a top role - and doing it well.

At over 500 pages, INTO A RAGING BLAZE is a tad too long but I found it to be a quick read. If you've enjoyed Stella Rimington's books then do give INTO A RAGING BLAZE a try.

Maria Lang's books to be available as ebooks

BBC Four have bought the Swedish crime series Crimes of Passion, based on Maria Lang's books. No schedule date for it yet but (not too coincidentally I imagine) the three books that have been translated into English, back in the '60s are being made available as ebooks.

No More Murders is released today, to be followed by A Wreath for the Bride in May and Death Awaits Thee in June, all published by Mulholland Books.

Jealousy and cruelty lurk under the pleasant surface of the small town of Skoga in this classic murder mystery from Sweden's answer to Agatha Christie.

If you are in the US, the DVD of Crimes of Passion is available eg. from MHZ.

Based on the classic crime novels by Maria Lang and featuring Ola Rapace from Skyfall and the Swedish series, Wallander, Crimes of Passion is a collection of stylish whodunnits set in postwar Sweden. The stories follow the exploits of the brainy and beautiful literature student Puck; wherever she goes, mystery and murder are never far behind. Together with fellow academic Eje and police chief Christer, they witness the passions, betrayals and intrigue in the lives of respectable and seemingly quiet-living Swedes. Crimes of Passion was filmed in the beautiful region of Bergslagen in south central Sweden. It’s far north, but there’s nothing chilly about these folks, given their secret lives and steamy affairs.
 

Watch a trailer for the episode Death of a Loved One here.

Publishing Deal - Christoffer Carlsson

From The Bookseller, news of a Swedish trilogy by Christoffer Carlsson being published in English by Scribe:

The first novel in the trilogy, The Invisible Man from Salem, won the Swedish Crime Academy’s 2013 Best Crime Novel of the Year award, and has since been shortlisted for Scandinavia’s 2014 Glass Key award for best crime novel. Already a bestseller in Sweden, it follows a young police officer called Leo Junker who becomes embroiled in the search for the killer of a young woman who is found shot in his apartment building.

The second novel in the series is called The Abominable Detectives, while the third is as yet untitled. The series will shortly be developed into a three-season TV drama by Swedish Film and Television production company StellaNova Film.

This will be Carlsson’s English-language debut. 

Scribe will publish The Invisible Man from Salem in 2015.

Publishing Deal - Joakim Zander

Head of Zeus will be publishing Swedish author Joakim Zander's The Swimmer next year. (I'm not sure who is translating yet). From The Bookseller:

Head of Zeus has acquired Swedish “fast-paced thriller” début The Swimmer by Joakim Zander after a heated auction.

The book about a father searching for his daughter was recently sold at auction in 18 countries including HarperCollins US, which bought the book for a seven-figure sum.

Head of Zeus will publish in hardback and e-book in July 2014.

Publishing News: Swedish Crime Short Story Collection

From the press release at Booktrade, details of an upcoming Swedish short story collection which includes an entry from Stieg Larsson:

Head of Zeus announced that they will be the UK publishers of the much-talked about anthology of Swedish crime stories, A Darker Shade, edited by John-Henri Holmberg.

A landmark anthology, this will be the first collection of Swedish crime stories translated into English. It features unpublished fiction from international phenomenon Stieg Larsson and his long-term partner Eva Gabrielson as well as bestsellers Henning Mankell, Per Wahloo, Maj Sjowall and more.

Editor Holmberg is a writer, editor and translator and was a close personal friend of Larsson whom he met through their shared love of science fiction and crime fiction.

Editorial Director Laura Palmer said 'This is a truly exciting project. Not only is it the first English anthology of the hugely popular genre of Nordic Noir but it contains never-before-published stories from Henning Mankell, Per Wahloo and – the cherry on the cake – Stieg Larsson.'

Head of Zeus will publish on 7th January 2013 as part of the worldwide release. The book will be strictly embargoed until publication.

Film News: Easy Money released in the UK

The film Easy Money based on Jens Lapidus's book of the same name was (finally) released in the UK on Friday. Easy Money is the first book in the Stockholm Noir trilogy and the second and third books have also been filmed.

The series stars Swedish-American actor Joel Kinnaman, from the US remake of The Killing.

Read Laura's review of the book.