English Translations of Scandinavian/Nordic Mysteries & Thrillers discussion

We have ten books for the Month of October 2021 to choose from, they are:

1) The Assistant by Kjell Ola Dahl to be published the 1st of October 2021. Norway.

A seemingly straightforward investigation into marital infidelity leads a PI and his ex-con assistant on a murderous trail, in a sophisticated, riveting historical Nordic Noir thriller set in interwar and prohibition-era Norway.

Oslo, 1938. War is in the air and Europe is in turmoil. Hitler’s Germany has occupied Austria and is threatening Czechoslovakia; there’s a civil war in Spain and Mussolini reigns in Italy.

When a woman turns up at the office of police-turned-private investigator Ludvig Paaske, he and his assistant – his one-time nemesis and former drug-smuggler Jack Rivers – begin a seemingly straightforward investigation into marital infidelity.

But all is not what it seems, and when Jack is accused of murder, the trail leads back to the 1920s, to prohibition-era Norway, to the smugglers, sex workers and hoodlums of his criminal past ... and an extraordinary secret.

Both a fascinating portrait of Oslo’s interwar years, with Nazis operating secretly on Norwegian soil and militant socialists readying workers for war, The Assistant is also a stunningly sophisticated, tension-packed thriller – the darkest of hard-boiled Nordic Noir – from one of Norway’s most acclaimed crime writers.

2) The Jealousy Man and Other Stories by Jo Nesbø to be published the 5th of October 2021. Norway.

A veritable crime lover’s delight from a true master of mystery and suspense. Experience the #1 New York Times best-selling author as never before in this dark and thrilling short story collection that takes us on a journey of twisted minds and vengeful hearts.

Jo Nesbø is known the world over as a consummate mystery/thriller writer. Famed for his deft characterization, hair-raising suspense and shocking twists, Nesbø’s dexterity with the dark corners of the human heart is on full display in these inventive and enthralling stories.

A detective with a nose for jealousy is on the trail of a man suspected of murdering his twin; a bereaved father must decide whether vengeance has a place in the new world order after a pandemic brings about the collapse of society; a garbage man fresh off a bender tries to piece together what happened the night before; a hired assassin matches wits against his greatest adversary in a dangerous game for survival; and an instantly electric connection between passengers on a flight to London may spell romance, or something more sinister.

With Nesbø’s characteristic gift for outstanding atmosphere and gut-wrenching revelations, The Jealousy Man confirms that he is at the peak of his abilities.

3) Because Venus Crossed an Alpine Violet on the Day that I Was Born by Mona Høvring to be published the 5th of October 2021. Norway.

"In a way, the language is the protagonist in this book. It is luminous and vibrant, full of associations, reflections and quotes. The words embrace the world with sensuality, humour, wonder and a confusion of feelings."
—Fredrik Wandrup

In a hotel, high up in a mountain village, two sisters aim to reconnect after distant years that contrast their close, almost twin-like upbringing. Martha has just been discharged from a sanatorium after a mental breakdown. Ella agrees to keep her company in the hope that the clean winter air will provide clarity—and a way back to their childhood connection.

It's only when plans go awry, and Martha disappears in a rage, that Ella discovers a new sense of self outside her filial role. This identity is reinforced by various encounters: the hotel receptionist who takes her under her wing; the enigmatic love interest; the wistful, drunken Salvation Army soldier; the carpenter. And not least, Ella's encounter with the writings of Stefan Zweig, which have a profound impact.

Winner of the Critics' Prize 2018 and shortlisted for the Booksellers' Prize 2018, Mona Høvring's work is as sharp as it sensitive; insightful as it is original when exploring the many distractions of the heart.

4) An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed by Helene Tursten to be published the 5th of October 2021. Sweden.

Everyone’s favorite octogenarian killer is back in this new collection of stories by Swedish crime writer Helene Tursten that is sure to have you in stitches.

Eighty-eight-year-old Maud is never looking for trouble, but it always seems to find her. First, a woman in her building met an untimely end: tragic. Then, just recently, a dead body mysteriously appeared in her very own apartment, prompting an investigation by the local Gothenburg authorities. Such a strange coincidence. When it seems suspicion has fallen on her, little old lady that she is, Maud decides to skip town and splurges on a trip to South Africa for herself.

In these six interlocking stories, memories of unfortunate incidents from Maud’s past keep bubbling to the surface, each triggered by something in the present: an image, a word, even a taste. When she lands in Johannesburg at last, eager to move on from the bloody ordeal last summer, she finds certain problems seem to be following her. Luckily, Maud is no stranger to taking matters into her own hands . . . even if it means she has to get a little blood on them in the process.

Don’t let her age fool you. Maud may be nearly ninety, but this elderly lady still has a few tricks before she’s ready to call it quits.

*Includes cookie recipes*

5) The Rot by Siri Pettersen to be published the 5th of October 2021. Norway.

Book Two in Siri Pettersen's epic fantasy trilogy - The Raven Rings - at last comes to the U.S. after taking European audiences by storm.




"Blood magic, blackmail, and battle rock a rich world of fading magic to its core in this internationally bestselling Norwegian epic fantasy." - Publishers Weekly reviews Odin's Child



To protect her homeland of Ym, Hirka left it behind. She traveled through the raven rings, a stone circle that can be used as a portal, to an unfamiliar world. A world without the Might, a world where none of the people have tails, a world that seems rotten at its very core. That world is modern-day Europe.

Hirka was supposed to fit in with humans here. And her departure was supposed to be save Ym from the invasion of the blind. Yet none of that has happened. Instead, Hirka finds herself just as much of an outsider among the humans as she was among ymlings—even more so when she discovers that she has blood of the blind running through her veins. Meanwhile back in Ym, Rime—now the Ravenbearer—is fighting an ongoing battle against the blind, not to mention against his fellow Councilors, as well as with his own despair over losing Hirka.

Separated by worlds, unsure who to trust, and hunted for reasons they cannot understand, both Hirka and Rime must find a way to stop a thousand-year-old evil from destroying not only Ym, but every world in existence.

6) The Pastor by Hanne Ørstavik to be published the 5th of October 2021. Norway.

A major work of contemporary fiction from Norway by a National Book Award-nominated author, translated by a PEN Translation Prize-winner.

Liv is fascinated by words and their edges and echoes. As a student of theology in Germany, she researches how the language of the Bible was wielded against the indigenous Sami people of northern Scandinavia during the 1800s. Liv excavates their past and her own, searching for meaning in a scene of Sami children gathering cloudberries and figs, from the memory of the magical weaver woman from an Astrid Lindgren fairytale she read as a child, or in how misstep and misunderstandings can lead to isolation and pain.

After the death of a dear friend - a puppeteer with bright eyes hiding her inner turbulence - Liv leaves Germany to become a pastor in a small town in the far north of Norway. Driving through the pine forests of Finland, Liv arrives at the village of her new parish. An introvert, Liv struggles with her many roles: counselor, leader, confidant, friend. Searching for the right words to describe home, she delivers a meandering sermon that sends many of her congregation to sleep (or to the door).

Soon she is drawn into the lives of the villagers: She must find a way to comfort the parents of an adolescent who takes her own life. With each new experience and confrontation, fresh questions about scripture and empathy and who she is arise. She wonders how language, in all its plasticity, became so stiff and unbending, and slowly, she bends it back toward her, building her own vocabulary of healing.

7) A Year in the Woods: Twelve Small Journeys into Nature by Torbjørn Ekelund to be published the 12th of October 2021. Norway.

From the acclaimed author of In Praise of Paths comes a humorous and modest Walden for modern times.

Like many people today, Torbjørn Ekelund dreams of spending more time in nature. But he’s so busy with city life that he has no desire to travel far or scale the highest mountain.

So, he hatches a plan.

Ekelund decides to leave the city after work and camp near a tiny pond in the forest. The next morning, he returns to work as usual. He does this once a month for a full year. What happens over the course of that year is nothing short of transformative.

Evoking Henry David Thoreau and the four-season structure of Walden, A Year in the Woods asks if the secret to communing with nature lies in small rituals and reflection.

As Ekelund greets the same trees, rocks, streams, and soil each month, he describes his changing relationship to the landscape. He observes minute signs of growth and decay around him. And he shifts his perspective on his role within the forest, and nature itself.

Theperfect book for readers who want a deeper connection with nature, but are realistic about time and money.

8) The Corpse Flower by Anne Mette Hancock to be published the 12th of October 2021. Denmark.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo meets Sharp Objects in this internationally bestselling psychological thriller, for fans of Jo Nesbø and Henning Mankell, now for the first time in English

A Danish journalist digs deep to uncover a web of lies that stretches back to a grisly murder, but knowing the truth might put an end to her story.

It's early September in Copenhagen, the rain has been coming down for weeks, and 36-year-old journalist Heloise Kaldan is in the middle of a nightmare. One of her sources has been caught lying, and she could lose her job over it. And then she receives the first in a series of cryptic and ominous letters from an alleged killer.

Wanted in connection with the fatal stabbing of a young lawyer three years earlier, Anna Kiel hasn't been seen by anyone since she left the crime scene covered in blood. The police think she's fled the country and have zero clues as to her motive. But homicide detective Erik Scháfer comes up with the first lead when the reporter who first wrote

(Continue #8)

about the case is found murdered in his apartment. Has Anna Kiel struck again, or is there more than one killer at large? And why does every clue point directly to Heloise Kaldan?

Meanwhile, the letters keep coming, and they hint at a connection between Anna and Heloise. As Heloise starts digging deeper, she realizes that, to tell Anna's story, she will have to revisit the darkest parts of her own past--confronting someone she swore she'd never see again.

9) The Rabbit Factor by Antti Tuomainen to be published the 22nd of October 2021. Finland.

An insurance mathematician’s carefully ordered life is turned on its head when he unexpectedly loses his job and inherits an adventure park … with a whole host of problems. A quirky, tense and warmly funny thriller from award-winning Finnish author Antti Tuomainen.

What makes life perfect? Insurance mathematician Henri Koskinen knows the answer because he calculates everything down to the very last decimal.

And then, for the first time, Henri is faced with the incalculable. After suddenly losing his job, Henri inherits an adventure park from his brother – its peculiar employees and troubling financial problems included. The worst of the financial issues appear to originate from big loans taken from criminal quarters … and some dangerous men are very keen to get their money back.

But what Henri really can’t compute is love. In the adventure park, Henri crosses paths with Laura, an artist with a chequered past, and a joie de vivre and erratic lifestyle that bewilders him. As the criminals go to extreme lengths to collect their debts and as Henri's relationship with Laura deepens, he finds himself faced with situations and emotions that simply cannot be pinned down on his spreadsheets…

Warmly funny, rich with quirky characters and absurd situations, The Rabbit Factor is a triumph of a dark thriller, its tension matched only by its ability to make us rejoice in the beauty and random nature of life.

10) The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven by Nathaniel Ian Miller to be published on the 26th of October 2021. Sweden.

The “ceaselessly brilliant" story of one man who banishes himself to a solitary life in the Arctic Circle, and is saved by good friends, a loyal dog, and a surprise visit that changes everything (Adam Johnson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Orphan Master’s Son)

Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

In 1916, Sven Ormson leaves a restless life in Stockholm to seek adventure in Svalbard, an Arctic archipelago where darkness reigns four months of the year and he might witness the splendor of the Northern Lights one night and be attacked by a polar bear the next. But his time as a miner ends when an avalanche nearly kills him, leaving him disfigured, and Sven flees even further, to an uninhabited fjord. There, with the company of a loyal dog, he builds a hut and lives alone, testing himself against the elements.

The teachings of a Finnish fur trapper, along with encouraging letters from his family and a Scottish geologist who befriended him in the mining camp, get him through his first winter. Years into his routine isolation, the arrival of an unlikely visitor salves his loneliness, sparking a chain of surprising events that will bring Sven into a family of fellow castoffs and determine the course of the rest of his life.

Written with wry humor and in prose as breathtaking as the stark landscape it evokes, The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven is a testament to the strength of our human bonds, reminding us that even in the most inhospitable conditions on the planet, we are not beyond the reach of love.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>As usual we will add books as they become known to us during October. Good reading.

11) "The Glacier Wraith" by Christoffer Petersen to be published on the 21st of October 2021. Greenland. On Amazon, not yet on Goodreads.

Constable Petra ‘Piitalaat’ Jensen discovers a new side to her supervisor Sergeant Duneq when a team of celebrity ghost hunters arrives in Greenland demanding police protection.

The Glacier Wraith is the eleventh in a new series of Greenland Missing Persons novellas set in the harsh, unpredictable Arctic, rich in tradition, myth and culture.

The Glacier Wraith is novella length, ensuring the perfect ghostly read – in one sitting – this Halloween.

The Glacier Wraith introduces many new and 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.

12) The Commandments by Óskar Guðmundsson translated by Quentin Bates to be published on the 29 of October 2021. Iceland.

Óskar Guðmundsson is the kick-ass breath of fresh air that Icelandic crime fiction has been waiting for – Yrsa Sigurðardóttir

Former detective Salka Steinsdóttir finds herself unwillingly pitched into the toughest investigation of her life, just as she returns to the tranquil north of Iceland to recover from a personal trauma.

The victim is someone she had pursued earlier in her career – and had never been able to pin down. Now a killer has taken the law into their own hands and meted out brutal retribution for ancient crimes.

Salka is faced with tracking down the murderer of a stalwart of the church and the community, a man whose reputation stretches deep into the past, and even into the police team tasked with solving the case.

As the killer prepares to strike again, Salka and her team search for the band of old friends who could be either killers or victims – or both.

A bestseller in Iceland, The Commandments asks many challenging questions as it takes on some highly controversial issues.

Hidden Masterpiece by Heidi Eljarbo published the 28th of September 2021. Norway.

This book was so close to ending up in October I'm putting it there.

"Superbly written: A thrilling and suspenseful combination of art and the Resistance that kept me riveted until the very last page." -USA TODAY Bestselling Author, Kathryn Gauci

In this captivating third book in the Soli Hansen Mysteries series, a woman’s courage to follow her conviction during a horrible war leads her to the portrait of a young Jewish heiress painted three centuries earlier.

Norway 1944. Art historian Soli Hansen has gone undercover to rescue masterpieces and keep them from falling into the hands of Nazi thieves. Working with a small resistance group led by her best friend Heddy, Soli will stop at nothing to thwart the efforts of the invaders of their scenic country. Trust and loyalty mean everything when working against a merciless enemy.
Riddles and clues lead the way to a mysterious work of art. It’s a race against time, but Soli and her network refuse to give up. However, when news arrives that her sweetheart Nikolai is missing in action, she strives to concentrate on the demanding quest.
From the streets of Oslo to the snow-covered mountains and medieval churches of Nume Valley, Soli takes risks larger than her courage, trying to preserve and hide precious art. But she must decide if it’s all worth losing the man she loves.

Antwerp 1639. Fabiola Ruber’s daughter, Annarosa, wants to honor her mother’s last wish and have her portrait done by a master artist who specializes in the art of chiaroscuro. Her uncle writes to an accomplished painter in Amsterdam and commissions him to paint his beloved niece.
Struggling with religious and social persecution, the Jewish Ruber family uproots once again and travels northward. On the way, they will sojourn in Amsterdam for Annarosa’s sitting in the master painter’s studio. But will they make it there? None of them can foresee the danger of such a journey.

Suspenseful action, riddles and mystery, enduring friendship, undying loyalty, and a tender love story come together in this dual timeline novel by bestselling author Heidi Eljarbo. Perfect for fans of Lucinda Riley, Kate Morton, Rhys Bowen, and Kate Quinn.

Fair Mountain Christmas by Heidi Eljarbo published the 4th of October 2021. Norway.

Nostalgia and Christmas miracles burn bright in this uplifting and heartwarming story about new beginnings and falling in love under a blanket of stars.

Fair Mountain, December 1972.

A few days before Christmas, Juni’s editor gives her a writing assignment that throws her far outside her comfort zone. She and her terrier, Leo, retreat to her grandparents’ old cabin in the Norwegian mountains in hopes of inspiration. But the trip turns into a heart-wrenching and emotionally challenging encounter.

Memories of Juni’s childhood seep in as soon as she enters the cabin, and as for the writing assignment…what does she know about what children need for Christmas?

Juni’s focus changes when handsome Henry Norheim from Moose Lodge down the hill unexpectedly shows up outside her cottage door. His dedication to family, traditions, and Christmas celebration is contagious, but for Juni, coming out of her lonely shell is easier said than done.

As Juni’s deadline draws closer, and the snowflakes softly swirl down on Fair Mountain, she has to face up to her past, open her heart, and dare to take a step forward.

Will the miracle of Christmas live up to its promise of hope, goodwill, and love this year?