English Translations of Scandinavian/Nordic Mysteries & Thrillers discussion

For the month of November we have 7 books to choose from. As books become known to us during the month, they will be added to the rest. Good reading.

1) The Night Raven by Johan Rundberg to be published on the 1st of November 2023.

Mika is not your average orphan—and she’s about to prove it.
It’s 1880, and in the frigid city of Stockholm, death lurks around every corner. Twelve-year-old Mika knows that everyone in her orphanage will struggle to survive this winter. But at least the notorious serial killer the Night Raven is finally off the streets…or is he?
Mika is shocked when a newborn baby is left at the orphanage in the middle of the night, by a boy with a cryptic message. Who is he? And who is this “Dark Angel” he speaks of? When a detective shows up, Mika senses something even more sinister is going on.
Drawn in by Mika’s unique ability to notice small details—a skill Mika has always used to survive—the gruff Detective Hoff unwittingly recruits her to help him with his investigation into a gruesome murder. Mika knows she should stay far, far away, and yet…with such little hope for her future, could this be an opportunity? Maybe, just maybe, this is Mika’s chance to be someone who matters.

2) The Wolf by Samuel Bjork to be published on the 2nd of November 2023. Norway.

It was one of Sweden's most notorious unsolved two young boys abducted and murdered, their bodies brutally, artistically arranged.

But eight years later, when two other boys are found in similar circumstances, it looks like the killer might be back - this time in neighbouring Norway.

Led by veteran detective Holger Munch, the investigating police are baffled. There are no clues, no leads to follow. In desperation, Munch drafts in a trainee from the Police Academy, Mia Kruger, a young woman with an uncanny ability to see beyond the facts. Little does he know that Mia is battling her own demons and will soon find that her life and that of the case are entwined in ways no one could have imagined....

From the internationally bestselling author of I'm Travelling Alone, comes another mesmerically chilling psychological tale of cat and mouse where the hunter may not know that they have become the hunted before it's too late.

3) Natural Causes by Nina Lykke to be published on the 14th of November 2023. Norway.

No one can sense the undercurrents of a populace better than a general practitioner. I have seen it all: gluten free, lactose free, sugar free, every online or newspaper headline attempt to get healthy people to think that if only they stop eating bread or cheese, everything will fall into place. Middle-agers can’t fathom why they’re so tired all the time. It’s because you are starting to get old, I explain, but they think this aging thing doesn’t apply to them, just as death doesn’t apply to them either. They think they are the exception.

For two decades, Elin has been a regular general practitioner. For at least as long, she has been married to Aksel. But before Aksel there was Bjørn, who a year ago suddenly reached out to her on Facebook, and who has since turned Elin’s world upside down. She’s moved into her office, where her patients march in, all day long, with all their disgusting little infirmities and ailments. And though she likes spending the extra time in her office—even though she has to sleep on her examiniation table, bathe in the employee restroom, and hide from the security guard when he makes his rounds at night—Elin feels abandoned and even more disillusioned with life and people than she did before she stumbled into her affair.

Nina Lykke’s Natural Causes is a fierce study of people who try to keep going. At the same time, the novel is a sharp, good-natured commentary on a society where wealth and abundance has made us demanding and torpid. Lykke keeps a fine balance between stereotypical exaggeration and uncomfortable, embarrassing recognition.

4) Day by Michael Cunningham to be published on the 14th of November 2023. Various, Iceland.

As the world changes around them, a family weathers the storms of growing up, growing older, falling in and out of love, losing the things that are most precious—and learning to go on—from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Hours

April 5, 2019 : In a cozy brownstone in Brooklyn, the veneer of domestic bliss is beginning to crack. Dan and Isabel, troubled husband and wife, are both a little bit in love with Isabel’s younger brother, Robbie. Robbie, wayward soul of the family, who still lives in the attic loft; Robbie, who, trying to get over his most recent boyfriend, has created a glamorous avatar online; Robbie, who now has to move out of the house—and whose departure threatens to break the family apart. Meanwhile Nathan, age ten, is taking his first uncertain steps toward independence, while Violet, five, does her best not to notice the growing rift between her parents.

April 5, 2020: As the world goes into lockdown, the brownstone is feeling more like a prison. Violet is terrified of leaving the windows open, obsessed with keeping her family safe, while Nathan attempts to skirt her rules. Isabel and Dan communicate mostly in veiled jabs and frustrated sighs. And beloved Robbie is stranded in Iceland, alone in a mountain cabin with nothing but his thoughts—and his secret Instagram life—for company.

April 5, 2021: Emerging from the worst of the crisis, the family reckons with a new, very different reality—with what they’ve learned, what they’ve lost, and how they might go on.

From the brilliant mind of Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Cunningham, Day is a searing, exquisitely crafted meditation on love and loss and the struggles and limitations of family life—how to live together and apart.

5) The Impudent Edda by Rowdy Geirsson to be published on the 22nd of November 2023. Finland.

After 800 years, the final installment of The Edda Trilogy has at long last arrived! Picking up where its medieval forebears, The Poetic Edda and The Prose Edda , left off, The Impudent Edda not only introduces readers to a fresh, new perspective on both familiar and previously unknown narratives of Norse mythology, but also brings the world's foremost epic fantasy trilogy to its inevitable and fateful in a dank alleyway behind a dive bar in Boston.

This special Puffin Carcass Deluxe Edition presents the complete text of The Impudent Edda in English for the first time ever. Masterfully translated from the original Bostonian by esteemed Impudent Eddic scholar, Rowdy Geirsson, this volume offers readers a deeply poetic yet highly accessible version of fun and classic tales ranging from Odin's unprovoked murder of an ancient witch to Freyja's voluntary experiment as a prostitute among lecherous dwarves to Thor's drunken and petty act of larceny on the eve of Ragnarok, the final world-shattering battle of the gods.

6) Yule Island by Johana Gustawsson to be published on the 23rd of November 2023. Sweden.

An art expert joins a detective to investigate a horrific murder on a Swedish island, leading them to a mystery rooted in Viking rites and Scandinavia's deepest, darkest winter. The Queen of French Noir returns with a chilling, utterly captivating historical thriller, based on a true story. Art expert Emma Lindhal is anxious when she's asked to appraise the antiques and artefacts in the infamous manor house of one of Sweden's wealthiest families, on the island of Storholmen, where a young woman was murdered nine years earlier, her killer never found. Emma must work alone, and the Gussman family apparently avoiding her, she sees virtually no one in the house. Do they have something to hide? As she goes about her painstaking work and one shocking discovery yields clues that lead to another, Emma becomes determined to uncover the secrets of the house and its occupants. When the lifeless body of another young woman is found in the icy waters surrounding the island, Detective Karl RosÉn arrives to investigate, and memories his failure to solve the first case come rushing back. Could this young woman's tragic death somehow hold the key to the first?

7) Wolves around the Throne by S.J.A. Turney to be published on the 23rd of November 2023. Viking.

AD 1044. All eyes are on the marriage of Beatrix de Hautville to Armand de Mortain. The union could calm a tense political situation in a young, illegitimate nobleman called William is vying for the ducal throne, and making plenty of enemies along the way. One of these is Beatrix’s elder brother, Serlo, and it is hoped the joining of the two families will cool his anger. Halfdan and the wolves of Odin are bound for stormy political seas. Will they be able to navigate the currents, or will they be drawn into a brutal family feud? Packed with political machinations in the pursuit of power, this adventure is perfect for fans of Giles Kristian.

8) A Strange Intrusion: A Detective Inspector Roland Benito Thriller by Inger Gammelgaard Madsen to be published on the14th of November 2023. Denmark.

What looks like a typical robbery gone wrong leads DI Benito to extremist followers of Viking Age gods in this Danish thriller now available in English.Called to the scene of a murder outside Trige, Roland Benito assumes it’s a case of petty criminals who made a gruesome mistake. After all, home robberies have been plaguing all of East Jutland for years. But it soon becomes clear that the men who beat Albert Hovgaard to death inside his country estate were no ordinary thieves.Meanwhile, journalist Anne Larsen has been out of work since the financial crisis shuttered the Daily News. But now an unwelcome visit from the past has her investigating a series of missing homeless people. When the clues lead her to a dangerous group that believes in ancient Norse gods, she fervently wishes she had Benito’s help.The third crime thriller in Inger Gammelgaard Madsen’s Roland Benito series, A Strange Intrusion is a gritty tale of Viking Age myths and modern-day murder.

9) "Mystery Along the Baltic Sea" A. Nation to be published on the 30th of November 2023. Norway.

Rosetta and her daughter, Joyce, just made it home when she receives a notice about another job. Valuable paintings are stolen from a New York City gallery. Her benefactor, an insurance agent wants her to investigate. Before they know it, they are on their way to Norway. I took this trip last May and wove my experiences into this adventurous tale of intrigue and murder.

10) PROGRAMS by IRINA VYSOTSKAYA to be published on the 2nd of November 2023. Sweden.

Greta, a young Swedish actress, leaves her home country and twin flame girlfriend, Clara, to become a movie star known as Margo Alba. The transformation she undergoes makes her a world-famous celebrity, but her new life lacks authenticity.

Clara starts a family with Richard, who is a developer for a new generation AI. His project is to create an AI copy of the actress Margo Alba, a spitting image of the movie star, which he names Margo 2.0.

Greta, on the other hand, connects with her higher self, which materializes as Lil, Greta’s oversoul, visible only to Greta and Clara.

As the characters are about to explore each other’s worlds, their definitions of what’s real become blurry. The sovereignty of human consciousness is challenged on both linear and spiritual planes, and Greta and Clara are faced with difficult decisions to make.

As Greta’s longing for home grows stronger, Clara is torn by her desires to maintain a functional family, figure out her relationship with Lil, cope with Margo 2.0, and reunite with Greta.

11) MURDER MOST COLD a gripping and terribly twisty murder mystery by Victoria Dowd to be publishedon the 14th of November 2023. Finland.

Her husband-to-be disappears the morning of their winter wedding.

Ursula Smart is getting married. A small winter wedding, on the edge of a picturesque, frozen lake in beautiful Finland.

But life is never straightforward for Ursula Smart and her difficult mother Pandora, who wanted a big white wedding — and not in terms of snow.

As the guests settle into their cabins, things turn decidedly frosty.

Ursula wakes up on the morning of her wedding to find her groom missing — and it only gets worse when she discovers a body.

Will any of the wedding party survive Ursula’s big day?

This brilliantly twisty whodunnit is perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, Faith Martin, L.J. Ross, Merryn Allingham and Frances Lloyd.

**From the winner of the People’s Book Prize for Fiction 2021 and shortlistee for the CWa dagger Award 2023**