English Translations of Scandinavian/Nordic Mysteries & Thrillers discussion

We have eight books to read so far in September 2019 and they are:

1) Three Hours by Anders Roslund and Borge Hellstrom to be published 3 September 2019. Sweden .

The explosive third novel in the Ewert Grens-Piet Hoffmann trilogy, which began with Three Seconds.

Stockholm, Sweden. Seventy-three refugees have been found dead, suffocated in a container at Varta harbour.

Niamey, Niger. Ewert Grens arrives in a city he's never heard of, in search of a man he never thought he would see again.

Piet Hoffmann has again got himself in too deep, infiltrating a West African trafficking ring. He thinks he has two weeks to extricate himself, but will learn that his life, and that of countless defenceless people, now hangs on his actions during three desperate hours.

2) The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup to be published on 3 September 2019. Denmark.

The heart-pounding debut from the creator of the hit Scandinavian television show The Killing.

If you find one, he’s already found you.

A psychopath is terrorizing Copenhagen.

His calling card is a “chestnut man”—a handmade doll made of matchsticks and two chestnuts—which he leaves at each bloody crime scene.

Examining the dolls, forensics makes a shocking discovery—a fingerprint belonging to a young girl, a government minister’s daughter who had been kidnapped and murdered a year ago.

A tragic coincidence—or something more twisted?

To save innocent lives, a pair of detectives must put aside their differences to piece together the Chestnut Man’s gruesome clues.

Because it’s clear that the madman is on a mission that is far from over.

And no one is safe.

3) Asiaq by Christoffer Petersen to be published 5 September 2019. Greenland.

When two ships collide during an international Search and Rescue exercise off Northeast Greenland, Constable David Maratse and Constable Petra Jensen must rescue a group of journalists trapped below decks.

Asiaq is the tenth in a series of novellas to feature Constable David Maratse in Greenland. Each novella is set during Maratse’s career as a police constable, and features aspects of Greenlandic culture, tradition, and not least the stunning natural environment.

4) Iluliaq by Christoffer Petersen to be published 5 September 2019. Greenland.

When a tsunami wave from a massive iceberg threatens to swamp a tiny settlement, Constable David Maratse must persuade an old hunter and his wife to leave their home.

Iluliaq is the eighth in a series of novellas to feature Constable David Maratse in Greenland. Each novella is set during Maratse’s career as a police constable, and features aspects of Greenlandic culture, tradition, and not least the stunning natural environment.

5) Scrimshaw by Christoffer Petersen to be published 5 September 2019. Greenland.

When an elderly artist goes missing in Greenland’s capital, Constable David Maratse takes a leave of absence to bring him back home before he is ruined by the city.

Scrimshaw is the ninth in a series of novellas to fAndreas Normaneature Constable David Maratse in Greenland. Each novella is set during Maratse’s career as a police constable, and features aspects of Greenlandic culture, tradition, and not least the stunning natural environment.

6) The Silent War by Andreas Norman to be published 5 September 2019. Sweden.

As the head of Swedish Intelligence in Brussels, Bente Jensen has many enemies, even among those who ought to be her allies--such as Jonathan Green of MI6. In a city heaving with competing espionage agencies, he is the person she fears and distrusts most. She has good reason. They share a past.

Green has been part of an MI6 conspiracy to hold, interrogate, torture, and kill its political prisoners in a safe house in Syria. This explosive information has been leaked to Bente by a conscience-stricken British operative. When it is clear she can expose this operation, MI6 uses its full arsenal of dirty tricks to shame her, disgrace her, destroy her relationships, and remove her from active service.

But Green's private life has more in common with Bente's than he cares to admit. He is far from fireproof himself. Both spies will find themselves targets of the UK establishment's precisely calculated revenge.

Like its highly acclaimed predecessor Into A Raging Blaze, Andreas Norman's new novel is a morally and politically complex international thriller. Its nail-biting plot and sympathetic characters show the tragic human consequences of private and public treachery.

7) The Complete and Original Norwegian Folktales of Asbjørnsen and Moe by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jorgen Moe to be published 17 September 2019. Norway.

A new, definitive English translation of the celebrated story collection regarded as a landmark of Norwegian literature and culture
The extraordinary folktales collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe began appearing in Norway in 1841. Over the next two decades the publication of subsequent editions under the title Norske folkeeventyr made the names Asbjørnsen and Moe synonymous with Norwegian storytelling traditions. Tiina Nunnally’s vivid translation of their monumental collection is the first new English translation in more than 150 years—and the first ever to include all sixty original tales.

Magic and myth inhabit these pages in figures both familiar and strange. Giant trolls and talking animals are everywhere. The winds take human form. A one-eyed old woman might seem reminiscent of the Norse god Odin. We meet sly aunts, resourceful princesses, and devious robbers. The clever and fearless boy Ash Lad often takes center stage as he ingeniously breaks spells and defeats enemies to win half the kingdom. These stories, set in Norway’s majestic landscape of towering mountains and dense forests, are filled with humor, mischief, and sometimes surprisingly cruel twists of fate. All are rendered in the deceptively simple narrative style perfected by Asbjørnsen and Moe—now translated into an English that is as finely tuned to the modern ear as it is true to the original Norwegian.

Included here—for the very first time in English—are Asbjørnsen and Moe’s Forewords and Introductions to the early Norwegian editions of the tales. Asbjørnsen gives us an intriguing glimpse into the actual collection process and describes how the stories were initially received, both in Norway and abroad. Equally fascinating are Moe’s views on how central characters might be interpreted and his notes on the regions where each story was originally collected. Nunnally’s informative Translator’s Note places the tales in a biographical, historical, and literary context for the twenty-first century.

The Norwegian folktales of Asbjørnsen and Moe are timeless stories that will entertain, startle, and enthrall readers of all ages.

8) A Fist or a Heart by Kristín Eiríksdóttir to be published 23 September 2019. Iceland.

The past returns with a fury for a woman coming to terms with her life in this award-winning novel by an acclaimed Icelandic author making her English-language debut.

Elín Jónsdóttir lives an isolated existence in Reykjavík, Iceland, making props and prosthetics for theatrical productions and Nordic crime flicks. In her early seventies, she has recently become fascinated with another loner, Ellen Álfsdóttir, a sensitive young playwright and illegitimate daughter of a famous writer. The girl has aroused maternal feelings in Elín, but she has also stirred discomfiting memories long packed away. Because their paths have crossed before. One doesn’t remember. The other is about to forget.

Soon they’ll discover all they have in common: difficult childhoods, trauma, and being outliers who have found space to breathe in creative expression. Yet the more Elín tries to connect with the young woman and unbox painful memories, the more tenuous her grasp on reality becomes.

Winner of the Icelandic Literary Prize, A Fist or a Heart is a gripping, artfully interwoven novel of power, secrets, and isolation by one of the most bracing and original voices of the author’s generation.

As always we will add books as they become known to us. Good reading.

Thanks for the list Ken. Chestnut Man has received excellent reviews but might be a tad too dark for me. Fist really captured my attention, I’ll definitely be on the lookout for this one.
Cheers!

The Chestnut Man does sounds rather too DARK. It downloaded many weeks ago but I am behind myself as usual.......

Anyone watching BBC Four Saturday international spot right now, the Danish series Those Who Kill, is very DARK.... here is a review of the first double .......I agree with the reviewer!
https://thekillingtimestv.wordpress.c...