New Scandinavian Crime Fiction in August

Here are some new to me authors in translation which will be published next month. I've listed the translator where known. Blurbs are from amazon or the author's website.

I shall be posting my 2012 International Dagger Speculation list shortly.

Anger Mode by Stefan Tegenfalk (1 August, Nordic Noir)
Two cars collide head-to-head on a country road with little traffic. The collision is violent. Ten year old Cecilia is catapulted through the windscreen and killed. Five years later, criminal detective Walter Grohn gets a perplexing case on his desk - one dead taxi driver and his killer who has no idea why he committed the crime. The first murder is followed by others, all equally as brutal and inexplicable. Together with his talented assistant, Jonna de Brugge, he untangles threads that lead back to the very core of the Swedish justice/judicial system.

(Stefan Tegenfalk, born 1965 in Stockholm, Sweden, where he is currently living, makes his debut with the book Anger Mode which is the first book of a trilogy about the cynical criminal detective Walter Gröhn with the Stockholm police, and Jonna de Brugge from the Special Investigations Unit, RSU.)

The Glitter Scene by Monika Fagerholm (9 August, Other Press (US edition))
Teenage Johanna lives with her aunt Solveig in a small house bordering the forest on the outskirts of a remote coastal town in Finland. She leads a lonely existence that is punctuated by visits to her privileged classmate, Ulla Bäckström, who lives in the nearby luxury gated community. It isn’t until Ulla tells her the local lore about the American girl and the tragedy that took place more than thirty years before that Johanna begins to question how her parents fit into the story. She sets out to unravel her family history, the identity of her mother, and the dark secrets long buried with her father. In the process of opening closed doors, others in the community reflect back on the town’s history, on their youth, and on the dreams that play in their minds. Soon a new story emerges, that stirs up Johanna’s greatest fears, but ultimately leads to the answers she is searching for. The Glitter Scene is a riveting mystery that explores the roles of truth and myth, reality and fiction, and the repercussions of family secrets.


Dregs by Jørn Lier Horst, tr Anne Bruce (12 August, Sandstone Press Ltd)
The small town of Stavern around midsummer: an amputated left foot in a trainer is washed ashore. And then another one. And another one. All in all four left feet in a week. The four amputated feet form the core of an unfathomable mystery.

“Dregs” by Jørn Lier Horst is the sixth instalment of the Wisting crime series set in southern Norway, and it is an outstanding addition to the ongoing saga of Police Inspector William Wisting, his journalist daughter Line, and the team of criminal investigators at Larvik police station.

The author, who has himself several years’ experience as a Norwegian policeman, brings his knowledge to bear on the descriptions of police procedures and methodical detection work, while using his linguistic dexterity and impressive authorial technique to build up tension, delineate character and make excellent use of dialogue to bring the twists and turns of this narrative to life, engaging the empathy of the reader and ensuring that the novel is a memorable, taut and realistic thriller.

(Jørn Lier Horst was born in 1970, in Bamble, Telemark, Norway. He has worked as a policeman in Larvik since 1995. His debut novel in 2004, Key Witness, was based on a true murder story. The William Wisting novel series – Key Witness (2004), Goodbye, Felicia (2005), When the Sea Calms (2006), The Only One (2007), and The Night Man (2009) – has been extremely successful in his native Norway as well as Germany and the Netherlands. Dregs is his first book published in English.)

Guess What I'm Reading

I've just started a new book (in translation) and it struck me how the following action in the sentence below rarely appears in British crime fiction (except in Oxford and Cambridge settings perhaps) but is common in a certain European country:

When Carl got home, he leaned his bicycle against the shed outside the kitchen...

Carl is a senior detective and the lead character.

Which country do you think this book is set in :)?

pps to Translated Delights in 2011

I've just added another title to the International Dagger Eligibles - the list is up to 49 now.

The title added is Hotel Bosphorus by Esmahan Aykol from Bitter Lemon Press in April 2011. Not only does it feature a crime bookshop owner but is also states on the cover "the first Kati Hirschel murder mystery" (there are three so far).

Kati Hirschel, in her thirties, is the proud owner of Istanbul’s only crime bookshop. When the German director of a film starring an old school friend is found murdered in his hotel room Kati cannot resist the temptation to start her own maverick investigation. After all her friend Petra is the police’s principal suspect and reading all those detective novels must have taught Kati something. This is a crime story but also a wonderful book about Istanbul and Turkish society. It uses humour, social commentary and even erotic fantasy to expose Western European prejudices about Turkey as well as Turkish stereotyping of other Europeans.

More translated delights can be found here and here.

Translated Delights in 2011

Here are a few books I'm looking forward to in the New Year. I've updated my amazon list of Scandinavian Crime Fiction Published in 2011 and a fuller list of translated titles in 2011 can be found here.

Which titles are you most excited about?

January

In the depths of winter, a killer stalks the city streets. His victims are two young women, both found with twenty-four inexplicable puncture wounds, both drowned in their own blood. The crime scenes offer no clues, the media is reaching fever pitch, and the police are running out of options. There is only one man who can help them, and he doesn’t want to be found. Deeply traumatised by The Snowman investigation, which threatened the lives of those he holds most dear, Inspector Harry Hole has lost himself in the squalor of Hong Kong’s opium dens. But with his father seriously ill in hospital, Harry reluctantly agrees to return to Oslo. He has no intention of working on the case, but his instinct takes over when a third victim is found brutally murdered in a city park. The victims appear completely unconnected to one another, but it’s not long before Harry makes a discovery: the women all spent the night in an isolated mountain hostel. And someone is picking off the guests one by one. A heart-stopping thriller from the bestselling author of the The Snowman, The Leopard is an international phenomenon that will grip you until the final page.

February

The countryside around Milan is wrapped in eerie darkness as psychologist Anna Pavesi digs in the icy soil, looking for...what? Just over a week earlier, Anna had been approached with a request to investigate a fatal road accident and a missing body. Anna is no detective, but she was short of money and agreed to take on the assignment, leading her into a labyrinth of false clues and wilful deception in which nothing is at is seems. As she digs deeper, Anna realises that even her own life may be in danger...

March

Håkan von Enke, a retired naval officer, disappears during a walk in a forest near Stockholm. Wallander is not officially involved in the investigation, but he is personally affected - von Enke is his daughter's father-in-law - and Wallander is soon interfering in matters that are not his responsibility. He is confounded by the information he uncovers, which hints at elaborate Cold War espionage.

Wallander is also haunted by his own past and desperate to live up to the hope that a new granddaughter represents, and will soon come face-to-face with his most intractable adversary - himself.

Suspenseful, darkly atmospheric, psychologically gripping, The Troubled Man is certain to be celebrated by readers and critics alike.

April

Fred Vargas - An Uncertain Place
Commissaire Adamsberg leaves Paris for a three-day conference in London. With him are a young sergeant, Estalère, and Commandant Danglard, who is terrified at the idea of travelling beneath the Channel. It is the break they all need, until a macabre and brutal case comes to the attention of their colleague Radstock from New Scotland Yard. Just outside the baroque and romantic old Highgate cemetery a pile of shoes is found. Not so strange in itself, but the shoes contain severed feet. As Scotland Yard's investigation begins, Adamsberg and his colleagues return home and are confronted with a massacre in a suburban home. Adamsberg and Danglard are drawn in to a trail of vampires and vampire-hunters that leads them all the way to Serbia, a place where the old certainties no longer apply.

May

Johan Theorin - The Quarry

June

Jan Costin Wagner - Winter of the Lions
Every year since the tragic death of his wife Detective Kimmo Joentaa has prepared for the isolation of Christmas with a glass of milk and a bottle of vodka to arm him against the harsh Finnish winter. However, this year events take an unexpected turn when a young prostitute turns up on his doorstep. Not long afterwards one of Kimmo’s colleagues, a forensic pathologist, is found murdered and Finland’s most famous talk-show host is brutally attacked. When it becomes clear that the pathologist had recently been a guest on the star’s show, Kimmo is called upon to use all his powers of intuition and instinct to solve the case. Meanwhile the killer is lying in wait, ready to strike again… In Kimmo Joentaa, prize-winning author Jan Costin Wagner has created a lonely hero in the Philip Marlowe mould, who uses his unusual gifts for psychological insight to delve deep inside the minds of the criminals he pursues.

July

Karin Fossum - The Caller
One mild summer evening Lily and her husband are enjoying a meal while their baby daughter sleeps peacefully in her pram beneath a maple tree. But when Lily steps outside she is paralysed with terror. The child is bathed in blood. Inspector Sejer is called to the hospital to meet the family. Mercifully, the baby is unharmed, but her parents are deeply shaken. Sejer spends the evening trying to comprehend why anyone would carry out such a sinister prank. Then, just before midnight, his doorbell rings. The corridor is empty, but the caller has left a small grey envelope on the mat. From his living room window, the inspector watches a figure slip across the car park and disappear into the darkness. Inside the envelope Sejer finds a postcard bearing a short message. Hell begins now.

Recent and Upcoming Titles of Interest

This week I've come across a few titles that though not all Euro Crime or translated, may be of interest to this blog's readers:

Zift by Vladislav Todorov (tr. Joseph Benatov) (out now, US edition)

December 21, 1963: Having served 20 years for a murder he didn't commit, "Moth" exits Central Sofia Prison anticipating his first night of freedom. Instead he steps into a new and alien world—the nightmarish totalitarianism of Communist Bulgaria. In his first hours of freedom he traverses the map of a diabolical city, full of decaying neighborhoods, gloomy streets, and a bizarre parade of characters.

A novel of grave wit, Zift unfolds in the course of a single, frenetic night, offering a fast-paced, ghoulish, even grotesque—but also enchanting—tour of shadowy, socialist Sofia. To achieve his depiction of totalitarian absurdity, Vladislav Todorov combines the methods of hardboiled American crime fiction and film noir with socialist symbols and communist ideological clichés.

An extract can be read via the publisher's website.

Treachery in the Yard: A Nigerian Thriller by Adimchinma Ibe (out now, US edition) - intended to be the first in a series. From the publisher's website:

A stunning police procedural debut from one of Nigeria’s young up-and-coming talents, Treachery in the Yard introduces an electrifying new setting to the world of international crime fiction.

Detective Peterside is drawn into the politics of Nigeria when a bomb goes off at Mr. Pius Okpara’s home. Mr. Okpara is locked in a conflict with a political rival, as both men are seeking their party’s nomination prior to the general election.

As Detective Peterside investigates, one murder leads to another and soon events appear to be spiraling out of control. The more he digs, the more corruption surfaces. Soon he is not sure whom to trust, including even his own mentor.

An intriguing blend of locale and familiar police procedure, Treachery in the Yard provides a unique brand of international suspense.

Looking ahead - The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino (tr. Alexander O. Smith) will be published in the US in February 2011 and in the UK in August 2011. [Petrona and I were given a glowing recommendation of this title by a publicist from a rival company to the one publishing the UK edition.]

Yasuko lives a quiet life, working in a Tokyo bento shop, a good mother to her only child. But when her ex-husband appears at her door without warning one day, her comfortable world is shattered. When Detective Kusanagi of the Tokyo Police tries to piece together the events of that day, he finds himself confronted by the most puzzling, mysterious circumstances he has ever investigated. Nothing quite makes sense, and it will take a genius to understand the genius behind this particular crime...One of the biggest-selling Japanese thrillers ever, and the inspiration for a cult film, The Devotion of Suspect X is now being discovered across the world. Its blend of a page-turning story, evocative Tokyo setting and utterly surprising ending make it a must-read for anyone interested in international fiction.

The cover above may not represent the final cover. More information on the book and the author can be found in the publisher's catalogue (pdf).

Translated Crime Fiction Survey

I recently received an email from a student:

I'm a Publishing Masters student based in London. I'm writing a dissertation on translated crime fiction. As part of my research, I have created a reader survey. I am wondering whether you would be willing to flag it up on your blog.

The survey is quite painless and will only take a couple of minutes. This is the website to enter your answers.

Booktrust to promote translated fiction

From Publishing News:

Translations website
BOOKTRUST is to launch a new reader- focused website to promote translated fiction in the UK. The move is in part a response to research revealing that of 400 titles recommended in national newspapers' summer reads roundups, only 28 were translations and, of those, seven were classics. Site editor James Smith is inviting publishers who would like their titles included, or who would be willing to provide extracts, plus translators and anyone else who works to promote translated fiction in the UK and has opinions on the subject, to contact him at james.smith@book trust.org.uk by the end of September.

You can read more about Booktrust on their website.