English Translations of Scandinavian/Nordic Mysteries & Thrillers discussion

Sharon wrote: "Kathy wrote: "Sharon wrote: "Kathy wrote: "Carla wrote: "I have started "Mercy" by Jussi Adler-Olsen. I've heard great things about the author. I'm excited to jump into this book!"

I love Jussi Ad..."

I found three on Netflix! Wonderful. Had no idea. I see they are subtitled, which is fine for me, but my husband probably won't watch even though he loves the books, too.

Kathy wrote: "Sharon wrote: "Kathy wrote: "Sharon wrote: "Kathy wrote: "Carla wrote: "I have started "Mercy" by Jussi Adler-Olsen. I've heard great things about the author. I'm excited to jump into this book!"

..."

We love them. Most tv we watch is sub titled as we prefer international books, films and tv. You get used to it and the quality is so much better.

Well I liked his first two. After that I thought they were too far-fetched. Sorry.

Helen wrote: "Well I liked his first two. After that I thought they were too far-fetched. Sorry."

The books? I stopped reading him after #4 and 7 is due out soon. The films are imho better as the characters are better. In the books he just made each character OTT too far fetched for me. No police nor legal would tolerate such behavior. Films work well. Two main characters really well cast. Intense but believable...
Strangely, the author has criticized the films and the actors announced lately they will stop with the series because of his remarks. Imo the writer is rather short sighted with his attitude.

Guess I misted a few of them

Kathy wrote: "Carla wrote: "I have started "Mercy" by Jussi Adler-Olsen. I've heard great things about the author. I'm excited to jump into this book!"

I love Jussi Adler-Olsen! I've read them all."

I have read all of them and enjoyed them immensely. Glad there is a new one. Where can I find the film versions?

I'm now reading Purity of Vengeance. My public library has them all. I started at # 1 and reading through. The library gave me the large print edition, so now I've requested that for this series. It is a strange experience so I guess it is adding to the read (the large print). I enjoy the characters and the sequencing of the plot. Some are a bit far fetched but Carl M, Assad and Rita anchor the more far flung characters and plot twists, for me.

I'll look into the T.V. show, which I didn't know existed, after I've read them. Thanks for that info! Loving this series of novels!

Mae wrote: "I'm now reading Purity of Vengeance. My public library has them all. I started at # 1 and reading through. The library gave me the large print edition, so now I've requested that for this series. I..."

Good for you....
They are actually films released over the last few years.
Here first three are on Netflix already.

Kathy wrote: "Carla wrote: "I have started "Mercy" by Jussi Adler-Olsen. I've heard great things about the author. I'm excited to jump into this book!"

I love Jussi Adler-Olsen! I've read them all."

That's great! My father-in-law recommended the author to me. So far so good!

Just finished . A very different mystery story & I really enjoyed it.

Sandy wrote: "Just finished . A very different mystery story & I really enjoyed it."

I'm really interested in reading that book.

Nice research: Karin Fossum https://www.mysterytribune.com/the-ul...

Currently reading a new series for me, Thomas Enger, starting with Burned. Quite a good writer IMO....

Swann's last Song by Charles Saltzberg. My first with this author...recommended on a mystery lovers group on fb. A good PI read.

Sharon wrote: "Nice research: Karin Fossum https://www.mysterytribune.com/the-ul...

Currently reading a new series for me, Thomas Enger, starting with B..."

I've been meaning to read that series for ages, Sharon. Will watch for your comments.

My review for

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Swann's Last Song by Charles Salzberg.

Starting by Thomas Enger

Sandy wrote: "Starting by Thomas Enger"

Just on the second book of the series, Pierced but look forward to your comments re number four.....

Just starting "The Unlucky Lottery" - Hakan Nesser

This one's also titled Munster's Case, and I'm reading it too! Just getting into it. Chapter 7.

Mae wrote: "This one's also titled Munster's Case, and I'm reading it too! Just getting into it. Chapter 7."

They are all good in that series, enjoy.

Starting Thomas Enger, third of five in the series Scarred.

Sharon wrote: "Starting Thomas Enger, third of five in the series Scarred."

Love this series.

Dave wrote: "Yesterday I finished reading "Between Summer's Longing and Winter's End" by Leif G.W. Persson. Despite the predominately poor reviews, I found this book extremely engaging and entertaining.

I am 2/3 through Another Time, Another Life by Leif GW Persson. I, too, like the laying out of the plot, in that the 1973 political event is placed (in the far past) with unsolved parts of a public event, then the "murder" 16 years later goes unsolved. Fast forward 11 years and now, with political background input, both far past and recent past mysteries are solved. Slow, dense reading, with the heavy presence of the Stasi, and East Germany before the Berlin Wall fell. Very good novel for political junkies. Political murder mystery.

Funny to me, the "hook" came at page 247. Now, that is a confident author, that leaves a few interesting character crumbs, then believes the reader will stick with him. I hung in there, and now, I'm hooked!

Molly wrote: "I'm on the third book in the Erlendur series by Arnaldur Indridason, "Voices." Maybe it's the subject matter, or I'm reading far too late at night, but the premise of this book seems a little silly..."

I am a fan of Erlendur series. I am curious if people liked the Ake Edwardson books. I lost interest when the author became overly involved in making his breakfast. The detail dragged and a daily activity was rendered too mundane to hang with the plot. I usually like the day-to-day detail of other people's lives but this one really lost me. Did anyone else experience this?

Sharon wrote: "Sandy wrote: "Starting by Thomas Enger"

Just on the second book of the series, Pierced but look forward to your comments re number four....."

Sorry Sharon, meant to post this before now re: Cursed

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Sandy wrote: "Sharon wrote: "Sandy wrote: "Starting by Thomas Enger"

Just on the second book of the series, Pierced but look forward to your comments re number four....."

Sorry Shar..."

Reading this now. Shame it'll be so long for fifth to arrive in English. Very good series. Like the character development and continuing and developing storyline with twists and additions. Think the writer having been a journalist in digital press really makes the characters seem real....

Mae wrote: "Molly wrote: "I'm on the third book in the Erlendur series by Arnaldur Indridason, "Voices." Maybe it's the subject matter, or I'm reading far too late at night, but the premise of this book seems ..."

Mae wrote: "Molly wrote: "I'm on the third book in the Erlendur series by Arnaldur Indridason, "Voices." Maybe it's the subject matter, or I'm reading far too late at night, but the premise of this book seems ..."
I love the Erlendur series. The depth is unsurpassed.

Currently reading "Carved in Bone" by Jefferson Bass. the author(s) are the team of the professor who founded the Body Farm being kept under the football stadium at the University of Tennessee. In depth detail throughout. this is actually the first book in the series. I've read 7 and went back to start at the beginning.

Sharon wrote: "Sandy wrote: "Sharon wrote: "Sandy wrote: "Starting by Thomas Enger"

Just on the second book of the series, Pierced but look forward to your comments re number four......."

I don't want spoil anything Sharon, but you HAVE to let me know what you think of the ending ok?

Sandy wrote: "Sharon wrote: "Sandy wrote: "Sharon wrote: "Sandy wrote: "Starting by Thomas Enger"

Just on the second book of the series, Pierced but look forward to your comments re ..."

I will for sure.....mind you can well guess as each of the books in the series have ended with a hanger to connect or TBC next book...rather one of the aspects of the series I have enjoyed. AND why I am sorry to have to wait for number five. He said on FB that it would not arrive in English till 2018.... In four I do miss the police detective but like that Nora is a main character here.....

Just read the DUTCH description of book five which came out in November 2016!! BOY it will be a very exciting ending but WHY oh why does English take so ....long???

Sharing this interesting list of

Could not wait for final book five so downloaded the Dutch and to my delight and amazement am half way through. So exciting I can barely put it down....glad I did not wait for English this time....
Thomas Enger, Norway.
Burned, Henning Juul #1, 2010. iBook
Pierced, Henning Juul #2, 2011. iBook
Scarred, Henning Juul #3, 2014. iBook
Cursed, Henning Juul #4, 2014. iBook
Banavsar #5, 2015 Doodsteek, 11/16 Dutch. iBook.

UPDATE ....BOOK FIVE IS A VERY GOOD READ.... ALL THE QUESTIONS GET ANSWERED AS THE BODIES PILE UP WITH SOME GOOD TWISTS AND TURNS....VERY MUCH RECOMMEND THESE FIVE BOOKS IN A ROW.

Pekoe Most Poison by Laura Childs.

Sharon wrote: "Could not wait for final book five so downloaded the Dutch and to my delight and amazement am half way through. So exciting I can barely put it down....glad I did not wait for English this time......."

green with envy.... :]

Got Yrsa Sigurðardóttir's The Undesired fm the library. But I can't seem to find it here in Goodread. Is it in another title or something? Anybody read it?

???!!! wrote: "Got Yrsa Sigurðardóttir's The Undesired fm the library. But I can't seem to find it here in Goodread. Is it in another title or something? Anybody read it?"

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

You are so familiar with Goodread! I couldn't find the book for the longest time. Will check your file to see how you think about this book.

I love the Erlender series by Arnaldur Indridason. They are amazingly detailed and wonderful in bringing a cold case and a current crime together. The background story of his early life is fabulously and cleverly revealed also.

Lucy wrote: "I love the Erlender series by Arnaldur Indridason. They are amazingly detailed and wonderful in bringing a cold case and a current crime together. The background story of his early life is fabulous..."

I, too, love the Erlender series by A. Indridason.

Just starting

Finally catching up on some reviews.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Shadow District / The Man from Manitoba. Arnaldur Indriðason, Victoria Cribb. Pre ordered iBook April 2017.

http://www.crimefictionlover.com/2017...

Arnaldur Indridason talks about The Shadow District
crimefictionlover• March 14, 2017

The Icelandic writer Arnaldur Indridason is a quiet and thoughtful man, who has studied his own country, its history and its literature, in great detail. These are qualities that shine through in the novels he wrote about Detective Erlendur, which began with Sons of Dust in 1997 and concluded with Strange Shores in 2010 (translated in 2014). Whether Erlendur returns or not, the writer hasn’t decided, but he has begun a new series. Beginning with The Shadow District, which arrives in May, Arnaldur will look at life in Iceland during World War II, through the medium of a crime story. It’s not often journalists get the chance to speak to him, but we managed to ask Arnaldur a few questions about his new books…
Your next book translated into English will be The Shadow District, the start of a new series. What’s this one about and what was the inspiration behind it, or where did the idea for it come from?
It is about a young girl found murdered behind the National Theatre in Reykjavík in 1944, during the Second World War in Iceland when we were occpied by the British and American forces. The idea was to write about the war years in Iceland from the point of view of the crime novel because first of all it had never been done before and secondly because very little has been written about the period in fiction generally. Historians have done it somewhat, but not fiction writers and it was about time. The period is of course fasinating for a writer because so many social changes followed the occupation. I have two policemen in the trilogy of books, one is Icelandic working in Reykjavík and the other is Canadian and a member of the armed forces – he is of Icelandic heritage and speaks Icelandic. They work together on the crimes as well issues that occur between the troops and the Icelandic citizens, especially between the Icelandic women and the soldiers.

The story is split between the present and WWII era Reykjavik. What is it about that era that catches your imagination, why this period in Icelandic history?
It was at that time that Iceland became part of world politics and the isolation of the island was broken for good. It marks the beginning of the huge changes that took place in Iceland when the county stopped being a very, very poor peasant society of farmers and farming with growing fisheries and became this rich, modern society that ended with the economic crash a few decades later. People moved to the city and to the villages, women felt freer and suddenly there were more opportunities. People became rich and as a result of the war we had an American army base in Iceland for half a century. The Second Word War was very important in Iceland, as of course it was for the world.
We are so used to Erlendur, but in The Shadow District we meet Konrad and Stephan. What are they like and how did you develop them?
There are actually three policemen in this first book, two from the wartime era and one in the present day looking back to the work of the other two. The story moves back and forth in time as I have done before in some of my previous books. Konrad is the character working in our time, a retired policeman who becomes interested in the case of the murdered girl from the war years. The other officers, Stephan (or Thorson) and Flovent are the WWII policemen on the case. Flovent and Thorson will also be the main characters in the next two books; a Canadian-born Icelander and a liaison officer between the army police and the Icelandic police. Thorson is gay, though not publically, and Flovent is haunted by memories of the Spanish Flu in 1918, to which he lost his mother and sister.
What did you find most challenging starting new series?
In this case it was going back to the war years. You need to do a lot of research and then try in your own way to find the right atmosphere for the times, and the storytelling itself is difficult. But it was great fun as I have a background in history. Writing about the issues of the war years in Iceland was also enlightning, especially the aspects surrounding the relationship between the Icelandic women and the troops. It was considered a very serious problem and they had even a word for it – ‘The Situation’.
You are tracking back into the past, as do several of the Erlendur books. What is it that you like about mysteries that span the decades? Is it nostalgia, or something more for you?
It has something to do with the element of time itself, I think. I am very much interested in the concept of time in our lives and in literature – especially the interaction between time passing in a story and the narration. How do they work together? How can time affect the narration in the same way it affects our lives? Who were we in the past? Who are we now? What has changed if anyting? These are the questions I like to ask in connection with the storytelling itself. So, it is all about time and how it affects our lives and the many elements of narration in fiction.
Can you give us any little tasters of what we can expect in future books in the series – just a rough idea of the types of crimes and circumstances?
Well, the next one out in England is about a travelling salesman who is shot in the head with an army gun and Flovent and Thorson get on the case. The one after that is about a woman who needs to pretend she still loves an old flame in order to get information from him and very possibly to kill him… This is a tough one for Flovent and Thorson.

Do you think Erlendur has been laid to rest or are there more stories for him to come?
I don‘t know about Erlendur except that he is very cold right now and that nobody knows where he is. I also know that it can take a very long time to die from hypothermia. So Erlendur has become his own missing person case and I have no idea if he will ever by found.
Readers in Western Europe and North America are in love with Iceland at the moment, though we probably have a fairly idealistic view of the country. What’s your perspective on that? Knowing that you have a bigger audience in the English speaking world than in Iceland, what is it that you communicate about your country?
I am not at all concious about what it is that I communicate about my country through my books. I just write them the way I see things. I am not a very good at analysing my own work, actually. What I have found out through the years is that foreign readers tend to have, as you say, an idealistic or naive view of the country. We do have all kinds of crime here involving drugs, rape and human trafficking, and very sadly a murder every now and then – every one of these crimes is very painful in such a small community. I have often said that I don‘t write for the travel agencies, I don‘t try to colour Iceland and Reykjavík in bright colours. I write what I see and hear and feel, and first and foremost I write only for my Icelandic readership, the Icelandic reader. This has always been the case. I have no idea of how to write for the English speaking world. I imagine there would be a horrible outcome.
The country is changing too. It’s much more open to tourists, the puffin has become a national symbol, and so on. I met an artist called Thrandur Thorarinson whose work questions certain aspects of modern Iceland and paints how Reykjavik could be, replacing the city hall with a mosque, for instance. What is your sense of the changes going on?
The great change now is all the tourism, Iceland is very popular around the world as a place to visit and experience. The economy is booming because of this and everything seems honky dory. I am sure we crime writers can find something wrong with that whole bloody mess.
The Shadow District by Arnaldur Indridason will be released ‪on 18 May‬ at £12.99. Pre-order your copy below. He will also be speaking in Corbridge, Manchester and Cambridge between 17 and ‪18 May 2017‬. Tickets can be booked here.
Click here to read about our Magical Murder Tour of Iceland, which features crime scenes in Arnaldur Indridason novels.

Read Carnival of the Dead by David Hewson (of Killing fame). A great atmospheric mystery in Venice.

Dawn wrote: "Read Carnival of the Dead by David Hewson (of Killing fame). A great atmospheric mystery in Venice."

I enjoyed reading that series and am enjoying his series set in Amsterdam currently too. Good writer that seems to really manage to write about various places very well! Even though he doesn't belong there himself.

Disgrace department q books

Carol wrote: "Disgrace department q books"

I love the Department Q books.

Hey guys, UK pub Orenda Pub. just released a bunch of books by Scandi authors on Netgalley including Thomas Enger, Kati Heikkapelto & Antti Tuomainen. Gives my wallet a break!

Sharon wrote: "The Shadow District / The Man from Manitoba. Arnaldur Indriðason, Victoria Cribb. Pre ordered iBook April 2017.

http://www.crimefictionlover.com/2017......"

Thank you for posting this, Sharon, after reading it, I realized I have missed a few of this author's books. I look forward to his new novel, start of a new series. Great!

New writer for me......Snowblind, Dark Iceland #1, Ragnar Jónasson, Translator Quentin Bates. Both Goodreads authors.
Blackout is listed as number three with Nightblind listed as number two, I could not find it and curiously Snowblind has excerpt of Blackout at the end!!! 3/5 was generous...but a nice read. Started Blackout. Have read a lot of praise for this book so curious if it will truly lift up to DARK ICELAND hype.