14 SUNDAY, JULY 26, 2020Denmark
JUSSI ADLER-OLSENOne of Den-
mark’s most popular crime au-
thors, Adler-Olsen brings great
inventiveness to the depiction of
sadistic brutality in his disturb-
ing Department Q novels. MUST
READ“The Absent One”
SARA BLAEDELHer best-known
series is about a truculent Dan-
ish homicide detective, Louise
Rick (a housebroken Lisbeth
Salander), who often takes up
the cause of marginalized women
in her cases. MUST READ“The
Midnight Witness”LEIF DAVIDSENThe foreign corre-
spondent’s trenchant novels offer
an intrigue-filled look at Euro-
pean politics. MUST READ“The
Russian Singer”
SOREN AND LOTTE HAMMERThis
brother-and-sister writing team
delivers a solid series about the
melancholy homicide chief at the
Copenhagen Police Department.
MUST READ“The Vanished”
PETER HOEGIt wasn’t Stieg Lars-
son who sparked Americans’
love affair with Nordic crime
novels. It was Hoeg, whose
Greenland-set crime thriller
“Smilla’s Sense of Snow” became
a surprise best seller when it was
translated into English in 1993.
MUST READ“Smilla’s Sense of
Snow”RAGNAR JONASSONAlthough he
specializes in classically crafted
whodunits, Jonasson also has a
gift for describing the fierce,
daunting beauty of his Icelandic
settings. MUST READ“Snow-
blind”
YRSA SIGURDARDOTTIR Like
many of her fellow Scandinavian
writers, Sigurdardottir has creat-
ed a memorably morose police
detective (after all, asking them
to deal with cruel crimes in such
cold and isolation is an invitation
to depression). MUST READ“The
Day Is Dark”Northern Exposure /Your Guide to Nordic Noir/By Tina Jordan and Marilyn Stasio
Looking for something cold and dark on a hot summer day?
What, exactly, is Scandinavian noir? They’re thrillers with a few things in common —
a dour sensibility, a belief that political issues (as opposed to, say, lurid serial mur-
ders) are the bedrock of modern crime fiction. They often feature forbiddingly bleak
settings and what seem to be rather morose police detectives. Some people believe
Stieg Larsson was the one who ignited the craze for these books; others point out that
they were popular long before the Lisbeth Salander books began to appear. No matter.
If you’re looking for a dark, chilly read, pluck one from this list.ANTTI TUOMAINENYou don’t
expect to laugh when you’re
reading about terrible crimes,
but that’s what you’ll do when
you pick up one of Tuomainen’s
decidedly quirky thrillers. MUST
READ“The Man Who Died”Iceland
VIKTOR ARNAR INGOLFSSONIn his
best books, set in remote parts of
Iceland, Ingolfsson weaves in
strands of history, folklore and
sociology; you’ll learn how to
collect eiderdown from duck
nests and gather kittiwake eggs.
MUST READ“The Flatey Enigma”
STEINAR BRAGIBragi’s psycho-
logical thrillers, tinged with an
almost Lovecraftian sense of
horror, are as much about the ills
of contemporary society as they
are about individual crimes.
MUST READ“The Ice Lands”
ARNALDUR INDRIDASONIndrida-
son’s favorite themes — loss
and abandonment — haunt
his despondent Reykjavik
detective, Erlendur
Sveinsson, who has been
haunted for years by the
childhood disappearance
of his younger brother in a
snowstorm. MUST READ
“Arctic Chill”LENE KAABERBOL AND AGNETE
FRIISTheir disturbing novels, all
exposés of social injustice, are
led by the righteous Red Cross
nurse Nina Borg. MUST READ
“The Boy in the Suitcase”
SOREN SVEISTRUPSveistrup, the
creator of the Danish crime show
“The Killing,” has written only
one book, a graphic, gruesome
police procedural about a body-
part-collecting serial killer. MUST
READ“The Chestnut Man”Finland
KATI HIEKKAPELTO Her novels are
a bracing mix of crime and social
commentary, but what sets
Hiekkapelto apart are her narra-
tives, a dizzying blend of twists,
switchbacks and turns. MUST
READ“The Defenceless”
MATTI JOENSUUJoensuu, a Finn-
ish cop, wrote beloved, fantasy-
laced books starring Detective
Sgt. Timo Harjunpaa of the Hel-
sinki Police Department’s violent
crimes unit. MUST READ“The
Priest of Evil”
LEENA LEHTOLAINENIn Lehto-
lainen’s edgy series, the personal
life of cop-turned-lawyer Maria
Kallio keeps interfering with the
crimes she’s trying to solve.
MUST READ“Copper Heart”
JARKKO SIPILANot many vol-
umes of Sipila’s biting, dry Hel-
sinki Homicide series have been
translated into English, but the
ones that have are excellent.
MUST READ“Against the Wall”ILLUSTRATIONS BY HOKYOUNG KIMTINA JORDANis the deputy editor of
the Book Review. MARILYN STASIOis
the crime columnist.Sxxx,2020-07-26,BR,014,Bs-4C,E1.pdf
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