Scandinavian crime fiction

[thrihyrne]

Sadly I'm reading the last of Arnaldur Indriðason's books featuring Erneldur the detective. I've decided to move on to a couple of other Scandinavian authors, including someone who's apparently quite well known and popular, Henning Mankell. I'm also going to get two books by another Icelandic author, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir. I'm curious if anyone on my flist has read either Mankell or Sigurðardóttir and, if so, what comments you have about them. Thanks for any input that you have!

Comments

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

I have not read those books, but my all time favorite Scandinavian mystery writers are the team of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, they have written several and I liked all of theirs that I read. The one that stands out in my mind is The Laughing Police. These are not new. I think they were written in the 1980s. Great reads.

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

Great! I'll look for those after I go through these next few authors.

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

In looking at the Sjöwall/Wahlöö team, I see that my little local library has several of theirs, so I'll go and snatch up a couple! Thanks again for the recommendation!

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Mankell's Wallander novels are popular over here. I've mainly been watching the Swedish & English versions of the television series, which are each excellent though rather different.

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

Yes, I saw that there were TV versions of the Wallander novels and people were quite opinionated about which was superior. ;) I'm looking forward to reading the series.

[sarka.livejournal.com]

I am not a huge fan of Yrsa. She does all right but she's no Arnaldur. (Good on you to get his last name right-ð and all! How long did you have to search for the symbol? I'm assuming you don't just have it right there on your keyboard, like me...)

Arnaldur's first books were better than his latter tomes, in my opinion. The same is sort of true of Henning Mankell, too. Mankell does best when he stays within the limits of what he can do - he wrote one book about computer theft which just ended up sort of strange. I do enjoy his books, but it's a hassle getting them in Swedish, sometimes.

I'm assuming you've read Stieg Larsson?

If you're willing to veer off the Scandinavian path, my most recent discovery is the French author Fred Vargas. (Don't let the name fool you - she's a woman.) I can honestly recommend all of her books - though "The Chalk Circle Man", her first, is a bit of a bumpy ride. My favourites are "Seeking Whom He May Devour" and "Lord Have Mercy on Us All." Vargas deals mostly in hurts that are so old that motive and links between characters are difficult to find and often extremely tenuous. The main character of the books is Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, who is... well, he's not like any cop you've seen before. The best thing about every single book is the characterization. No matter how trivial, every character leaps off the page.

I'm totally a whodunit junkie, but I haven't been able to afford books in years, until now, suddenly, and then I haven't had much luck finding stuff I want to read...

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

I may skip Yrsa then, or give her a try of one book. I looked up the eth via webmonkey's special characters. Want to get my spelling right, especially with Icelandic since I'm fascinated by the language! :D

Haven't read Stieg Larsson, but I'll put him on the list, as well as Fred Vargas. And I'm not buying these books but getting them from the library. I'm too cheap!

Thanks for the comment!