English Translations of Scandinavian/Nordic Mysteries & Thrillers discussion

For the month of October 2023 we have 12 book to choose from. We will add books when they are known to us. Good reading.

1) The Night House by Jo Nesbø to be published on the 3rd of October 2023. Norway.

From the internationally best-selling author, a twisted, multi-layered spin on the classic horror novel

In the wake of his parents' tragic deaths in a house fire, fourteen-year-old Richard Elauved has been sent to live with his aunt and uncle in the remote, insular town of Ballantyne. Richard quickly earns a reputation as an outcast, and when a classmate named Tom goes missing, everyone suspects the new, angry boy is responsible for his disappearance. No one believes him when he says the telephone booth out by the edge of the woods sucked Tom into the receiver like something out of a horror movie. No one, that is, except Karen, a beguiling fellow outsider who encourages Richard to pursue clues the police refuse to investigate. He traces the number that Tom prank called from the phone booth to an abandoned house in the Black Mirror Wood. There he catches a glimpse of a terrifying face in the window. And then the voices begin to whisper in his ear . . .

You know who I am. She's going to burn. The one you love is going to burn. There's not a thing you can do about it.

When another classmate disappears, Richard must find a way to prove his innocence--and preserve his sanity--as he grapples with the dark magic that is possessing Ballantyne and pursuing his destruction.

Then again, Richard may not be the most reliable narrator of his own story . . .

2) Ruthless by Anne Mette Hancock to be published on the 10th of October 2023. Denmark.

For fans of Jo Nesbø and Katrine Engberg, international bestselling author Anne Mette Hancock’s third thrilling novel in the series Harlan Coben calls “the best series I’ve read this year,” is a pulse-pounding Scandinavian noir about secrets, buried truths, and what happens when we go digging into the past.

When Jan Frischof, a dying elderly man, gives a deathbed confession too unbelievable to be true, journalist Heloise Kaldan immediately knows there’s a deeper story to uncover. Her gut soon proves to be right—Jan immediately backtracks and warns her that they will both be in danger if she asks any more questions. Could this kind and elderly man really be a cold-blooded killer?

Heloise quickly realizes that this is a darker, and far more complicated, investigation. Jan is clearly afraid of something, but who or what he’s afraid of could be a dangerous question for Heloise to find the answer to. As she digs deeper, Heloise begins to see that Jan's confession is connected to a string decades-old disappearances. But next of kin and police are lying to her at every turn, and she has no idea what else Jan could be hiding.

Enlisting her friend, detective inspector Erik Schäfer, Heloise begins her descent into the past, unsure of what she will unearth.

3) Without a Trace: A Sara Vallén Thriller by Cecilia Sahlström to be published on the 10th of October 2023. Sweden.

Detectives reopen a disturbing cold case as a vicious hate crime rocks their southern Swedish town in this suspenseful Nordic noir by the author of White Lilac .

Twenty years ago, a toddler disappeared from a preschool in Lund. Despite an extensive investigation, the boy was never found. When Chief Inspector Sara Vallén receives a tip that could shed some light on the tragic incident, she and her colleague Torsten Venngren decide to reopen the case. But as they do so, Vallén’s two daughters face troubles of their own.

Klara and Bella have started a student organization to help unaccompanied refugee minors. But their efforts have made them targets for harassment by a group of Nazi sympathizers. The situation takes a shocking turn when a young refugee is found dead with a swastika carved into his forehead. Now, while searching for a boy who’s been missing for decades, Vallén must also hunt down a killer . . .

The third novel in Cecilia Sahlström’s Sara Vallén series, Without a Trace is a fast-paced crime thriller with its finger on the pulse of Sweden’s contemporary social climate.

4) Land of Snow and Ashes by Petra Rautiainen to be published on the 10th of October 2023. Finland.

Finnish Lapland, 1944: a young Finnish soldier is called to work as an interpreter at a Nazi prison camp. Surrounded by cruelty and death, he struggles to hold on to his humanity. When peace comes, the crimes are buried beneath the snow and ice.

A few years later, journalist Inkeri is assigned to investigate the rapid development of remote Western Lapland. Her real motivation is more personal: she is following a lead on her husband, who disappeared during the war.

But the villagers don’t want to dwell on the past, and Inkeri’s questions provoke hostility and suspicious silences. As she learns more about her mysterious tenant, Olavi, and tries to befriend a young Sámi girl, she begins to uncover traces of disturbing facts that were never supposed to come to light.

From this starkly beautiful polar landscape emerges a story of silenced histories and ongoing oppression, of human brutality and survival.

5) Nordic Visions: The Best of Nordic Speculative Fiction by Margrét Helgadóttir to be published on the 10th of October 2023. Scandinavia.

The first true celebration of contemporary Nordic science fiction, fantasy and horror!

A Unique Speculative Fiction Collection From The Nordic Countries

Storytelling has been a major force in the Nordic countries for thousands of years, renowned for its particular sense of dark humour, featuring pacts with nature and a view of the worlds you seldom find in other places.

Perhaps it is the freezing cold winter? The closeness to the Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic? Maybe it’s the huge ancient forests...

Most have heard about Nordic crime fiction with its dark noir flare or the Icelandic Sagas. This anthology combines all that is unique about Nordic speculative fiction, from the darkest dystopian science fiction to terrifying horror. From the rational to the eccentric, these stories combine a deep sense of place with social criticism, themes of loneliness and the concern for humanity's impact on the wilderness.

Featuring 15 stories from the best contemporary speculative authors from Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and The Faroe Islands, including John Ajvide Lindqvist, Hannu Rajaniemimany, Tor Åge Bringsværd and more, many of which are appearing in English for the very first time.

6) The Beaver Theory by Antti Tuomainen to be published on the 12th of October 2023. Finland.

Can everyone' s favourite insurance mathematician, Henri, combine the increasingly dangerous world of adventure parks with the unpredictability of blended-family life? He' s about to find out in the final instalment of the hilarious, nail-biting Rabbit Factor Trilogy. Henri Koskinen, intrepid insurance mathematician and adventure-park entrepreneur, firmly believes in the power of common sense and order. That is until he moves in with painter Laura Helanto and her daughter... As Henri realises he has inadvertently become part of a group of local dads, a competing adventure park is seeking to expand their operations, not always sticking to the law in the process... Is it possible to combine the increasingly dangerous world of the adventure-park business with the unpredictability of life in a blended family? At first glance, the two appear to have only one thing in neither deals particularly well with a mounting body count. In order to solve this seemingly impossible conundrum, Henri is forced to step far beyond the mathematical precision of his comfort zone ... and the stakes have never been higher... Warmly funny, quirky, touching, and a nail-biting triumph of a thriller, The Beaver Theory is the final instalment in the award-winning Rabbit Factor Trilogy, as Henri encounters the biggest challenge of his career, with hair-raising results...

7) White as Snow by Lilja Sigurdardottir to be published on the 12th of October 2023. Iceland.

Daní el and Á ró ra hunt a brutal killer when a shipping container with the bodies of five women is found outside Reykjavik, as Á ró ra continues the search for her missing sister. Book three in the addictive, chilling An Á ró ra Investigation series. On a snowy winter morning, an abandoned shipping container is discovered near Reykjaví k. Inside are the bodies of five young women – one of them barely alive. As Icelandic Police detective Daní el struggles to investigate the most brutal crime of his career, Á ró ra looks into the background of a suspicious man, who turns out to be engaged to Daní el's former wife, and the connections don' t stop there... Daní el and Á ró ra' s cases pit them both against ruthless criminals with horrifying agendas, while Á ró ra persists with her search for her missing sister, í safold, whose devastating disappearance continues to haunt her. As the temperature drops and the 24-hour darkness and freezing snow hamper their efforts, their investigations become increasingly dangerous ... for everyone. Atmospheric, twisty and breathtakingly tense, White as Snow is the third instalment in the riveting, award-winning An Á ró ra Investigation series, as crimes committed far beyond Iceland' s shores come home... Shortlisted for The Blood Drop – Icelandic Crime Novel of the Year, 2022.

8) The Witches at the End of the World by Chelsea Iversen to be published on the 17th of October 2023. Norway.

Rage burns brighter than any spellfire… Deep in the birchwoods of Norway, magic courses through the veins of two sisters. For years they've been alone, but sweet-tempered Kaija is tired of living in shadows and longs for a life filled with community, even if it means stifling her magic. But Minna is a witch through and through, with wrath always simmering just below the surface.

Different as they may be, both will never forget the day they were driven from their village. The day their mother burned. When Kaija leaves to pursue a new life, Minna is left alone in the darkness of the forest.

Devastated and outraged at the betrayal, Minna casts a curse to punish those who took everything from her. What she doesn't realize is that this act will incite a deadly chain of events. Soon it will destroy everything, including the life Kaija has lovingly built. But once a witch's rage boils, regret means nothing—she can't take back what's already done.

Someone will have to burn.

9) Safe as Houses: A powerful, fast-paced thriller set in Norway by Kelly Creighton to be published on the 20th of October 2023. Norway.

Some families evolve. Some erupt.

Travelling through Norway after a tough year of loss, DI Harriet Sloane leaves her family behind and falls into the company of strangers. Some of whom help her shake loose for a while. One of whom is hell-bent on wreaking revenge.

9) continued

When their paths cross, Harriet must remember how to keep her cool or risk more people losing their lives.

In this gripping thriller, Kelly Creighton gives the Belfast police procedural a Scandi noir accent while exploring the nuances of parenthood and how and when we should relinquish control and accept our losses.

10) Everything Is Not Enough by Lola Akinmade Åkerström to be published on the 24th of October 2023. Sweden.

From international bestselling author Lola Akinmade Åkerström, the highly anticipated follow-up to her debut novel, In Every Mirror She's Black, focusing on the lives of three Black women as they fight their own personal struggles in one of the most egalitarian societies, Sweden.

Can a career woman truly have it all?

Powerful marketing executive Kemi Adeyemi has finally found the man she needs, but Tobias Wikström thinks she's the most selfish woman he has ever met for asking him to give up his life in Sweden and move to the US for her own comfort. Will Kemi be forced to stay if she wants to keep him while chipping away at her hard-earned career? As things begin to sour and challenge her relationship with Tobias, someone else moves back into the picture.

Can having it all be a gilded cage?

Looking into divorce in Sweden isn't what former model-turned-flight attendant Brittany-Rae von Lundin anticipated. Only jointly owned assets are split evenly between couples. Brittany gave up her career and came with nothing into Jonny's kingdom. Having had a child with him, her greatest fear for Maya includes being cut off from the resources she's become accustomed to. With a man obsessed with a ghost, trying to get away isn't going to be easy. And the deeper she digs into his past, the darker the secrets she unravels.

Can you run from your past to have it all?

After fleeing her home through a client to seek a new life in Sweden, Yasmiin finds love in the arms of Yagiz Çelik while carving out her own small corner. But as someone from her past forces Yasmiin to become a caretaker before she's ready, she now must confront and move beyond her teenage history, while following her dreams of becoming a makeup artist.

Everything Is Not Enough follows the loosely intertwined and messy lives of Kemi, Brittany, and Yasmiin as they interrogate themes of place, prejudice, and patriarchy in Europe, proving--yet again--that Lola Akinmade Åkerström is the next great voice of nuanced contemporary women's fiction.

11) The Prey: The terrifying new novel from the bestselling author of The Doll and Gallows Rock by Yrsa Sigurdardottir to be published on the 31st of October 2023. Iceland.

Discover the utterly terrifying, chilling and gripping new novel from international bestseller YRSA SIGURDARDOTTIR, author of THE DOLL and GALLOWS ROCK

'A generator of fear quite as adroit as Stephen King' THE INDEPENDENT
'A magnificent writer' KARIN SLAUGHTER
_________

THE FIRST PHONE CALL SHOCKS A FAMILY.

Kolbeinn has been called to his old home. The new owners uncovered some photos, and a muddied child's shoe bearing the name 'Salvor'. A name Kolbeinn doesn't recognise. Soon after, he hears news of his mother's deteriorating health. Her carers say she has been asking for her daughter, his Salvor.

THE SECOND TRACKS TWO MISSING COUPLES.

Jóhanna is working with the search and rescue team in Höfn to find two couples from Reykjavik. Their phones' last location has been pinpointed to the road leading up into the highlands. In a harsh winter, the journey is treacherous, and they soon find the first body. More troubling, Johanna senses her team is being tracked through the snow.

A THIRD FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE?

Hjörvar works at the Stokksnes Radar Station in the highlands. He's alone when the phone connected to the gate the first time it's done so since he began working there five months ago. When he answeres, he can only hear interference, and what sounds like a child's voice asking for her mother.

How are these events connected?

And what may be searching for its prey out on the ice?

12) The Forsaken Fjord: A Constable Petra Jensen Novella by Christoffer Petersen to be published on the 31st of October 2023. Greenland.

When three teenagers dare each other to sail into the forsaken fjord, it’s up to Constable Petra Jensen to find them.

The Forsaken Fjord is the twentieth in the Greenland Missing Persons series of novellas and novels set in the harsh, unpredictable Arctic, rich in tradition, myth and culture.

The Forsaken Fjord continues the adventures of Constable Petra ‘Piitalaat’ Jensen, ably assisted by interesting characters, together with a few familiar faces making cameo appearances in the series.

The Greenland Missing Persons stories are set prior to The Ice Star and Seven Graves, One Winter .

13) Fafne's Treasure by John Olle Erlandsson to be published on the 1st of October 2023. Sweden.

In the summer heat, when your mind's gone all foggy and your body's gone all slack, it's easy to forget what lurks in the patchy darkness. But as fall approaches and the shadows grow longer and the night extends, its power waxes. The monster lusts.

14. Olav Audunssøn: IV. Winter by Sigrid Undset and Tiina Nunnally to be published on the 24th of October 2023. Norway.

The fourth and final volume in the Nobel Prize–winning writer’s epic of one man’s fateful life in medieval Norway Set in thirteenth-century Norway, a land racked by political turmoil, bloody family vendettas, and rising tensions between secular powers and an ascendant church, Sigrid Undset’s spellbinding masterpiece now follows the fortunes of Olav Audunssøn to the final, dramatic chapter of his life as it unfolds in Winter, the last volume of the tetralogy. When the orphaned Olav and his foster sister Ingunn became betrothed in their youth, a chain of events was set in motion that eventually led to violence, banishment, and a family separation lasting years. The consequences fracture their marriage and threaten the lineage for generations. Now, at the end of his life, Olav continues to grapple with the guilt of his sins as he watches his children, especially Eirik, make disastrous choices and struggle to find their rightful place in a family haunted by the past. With its precise details and sweeping vision, Olav Audunssøn summons a powerful picture of Northern life in medieval times, as noted by the Swedish Academy in awarding Undset the Nobel Prize in 1928. Conveying both the intimate drama and the epic proportions of Olav’s story at its conclusion, Winter is a moving and masterly recreation of a vanished world tainted by bloodshed and haunted by sin and retribution—yet one that might still offer a chance for redemption. As with Kristin Lavransdatter, her earlier medieval epic, Sigrid Undset wrote Olav Audunssøn after immersive research in the legal, religious, and historical writings of the time to create an astoundingly authentic and compelling portrait of Norwegian life in the Middle Ages. And as in her translation of Kristin Lavransdatter, Tiina Nunnally does full justice to Undset’s natural, fluid prose—in a style by turns plainspoken and delicately lyrical—to convey the natural world, the complex culture, and the fraught emotional territory against which Olav’s story inexorably unfolds.

15) Me Here Without You Now: A Love Story After the Love Story by Edie D. Browning to be published on the 11th of October 2023. Finland.

Me Here Without You Now is a love story after the love story set against the stunning but cold backdrop of Finland's winter. It is a slow burn, feel-good romance book that follows Louise who struggles to move on after losing her husband and finds herself lost in the process. Between sexting in her forties and navigating the complexities of a budding relationship with a younger man, she becomes entangled in an obsession, while losing touch with those who matter most, including her son.

As the story unfolds through the winter months and culminates just after the New Year, Louise is faced with either going further down the rabbit's hole and losing everything or confronting her past and shedding her obsessions. But how can someone who has lost so much, love again?

This heartfelt, beautiful and inspiring novel is about love, life, and the resilience of mothers that will make you laugh and cry simultaneously. It underscores that while grief is universal, healing is unique for everyone, reminding us that no matter how challenging life becomes, love, hope and healing are always within reach.

16. JULEBORD (The Holiday Party) - Book II : A Story about Recent Events - CORRELATIONS TRILOGY David Øybo to be published on the 1st of October 2023. Norway.

Should chief investigator James Wiley Redding of the Norwegian Police suspect that any of the doctors working in the small rural hospital of Godshus, located where a fjord meets the North Sea, might be linked to the gruesome discovery made on a December morning after their annual Julebord (holiday party)? Much more whodunit than a diversified nordic noir novel, JULEBORD is laced with what life is like to work in a small rural hospital, where things and humans occasionally get dirty. Not merely a piece of - at times - a bit upmarket crime fiction, the story brings to the realization that in today’s small global village we are linked to each other in some way - whether we want to be or not and cannot hide from the events that affect us all.

Ken wrote: "16. JULEBORD (The Holiday Party) - Book II : A Story about Recent Events - CORRELATIONS TRILOGY David Øybo to be published on the..."
Dear Ken, Thanks so much for including JULEBORD in your reading list! Please let me know if you would be interested in getting a complimentary author's copy! Best greetings, David Øybo