English Translations of Scandinavian/Nordic Mysteries & Thrillers discussion

For the month of April 2022 we have ten books to chose from. We will add books as they become know to us for the month of April 2022. Good reading.

1) Why Odin Drinks by Bjørn Larssen to be published on the 1st of April 2022. Viking.

Ever woken up being a God, but not knowing how to God properly?

Poor Odin must restrain his brothers, who create offensive weapons such as mosquitoes and celery; placate his future-telling wife, Frigg, who demands sweatpants with pockets; listen to Loki’s Helpful Questions; hang himself from Yggdrasil for nine days with a spear through his side (as you do); teach everyone about nutritional values of kale (but NOT celery); meet a Wise Dom, Sir Daddy Mímir, in order to outwit those who outwit him; and, most importantly, prove he is The All-Father, while his brothers are, at best, Those-Uncles-We-Don’t-Talk-About.

This nearly (except in Vanaheim) universally acclaimed retelling of the Gods' first millennium answers way too many questions, including ones on Freyr’s entendre, horse designing… and why Odin drinks.

2) Eyes of the Rigel by Roy Jacobsen to be published on the 5th of April 2022. Norway.

The third novel in a historical trilogy that began with the International Booker shortlisted The Unseen

The journey had taken on its own momentum, it had become an autonomous, independent entity, she was searching for love, and was still happily unaware that truth is the first casualty of peace.

The long war is over, and Ingrid Barroy leaves the island that bears her name to search for the father of her child.

Alexander, the Russian captive who survived the sinking of prisoner ship the Rigel and found himself in Ingrid's arms, made an attempt to cross the mountains to Sweden. Ingrid will follow in his footsteps, carrying her babe in arms, the child's dark eyes the only proof that she ever knew him.

Along the way, Ingrid's will encounter collaborators, partisans, refugees, deserters, slaves and sinners, in a country that still bears the scars of defeat and occupation.

And before her journey's end she will be forced to ask herself how well she knows the man she is risking everything to find.

Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw.

3) The Hunger of the Gods by John Gwynne to be published on the 12th of April 2022. Viking.

The Hunger of the Gods continues John Gwynne’s acclaimed Norse-inspired epic fantasy series, packed with myth, magic and bloody vengeance.

Lik-Rifa, the dragon god of legend, has been freed from her eternal prison. Now she plots a new age of blood and conquest.

As Orka continues the hunt for her missing son, the Bloodsworn sweep south in a desperate race to save one of their own – and Varg takes the first steps on the path of vengeance.

Elvar has sworn to fulfil her blood oath and rescue a prisoner from the clutches of Lik-Rifa and her dragonborn followers, but first she must persuade the Battle-Grim to follow her.

Yet even the might of the Bloodsworn and Battle-Grim cannot stand alone against a dragon god.

Their hope lies within the mad writings of a chained god. A book of forbidden magic with the power to raise the wolf god Ulfrir from the dead . . . and bring about a battle that will shake the foundations of the earth.

4) The Resistance Girl gy Mandy Robotham to be published on the 13th of April 2022. Norway.

The next gripping and emotional historical fiction read from international bestseller, Mandy Robotham.

Norway, 1942. War rages, and operation Shetland bus is in full swing. Under cover of darkness, Rumi Orlstad and other locals smuggle British agents, fugitives and supplies across the North Sea to the relative safety of Scotland.

But when one mission goes awry, and Rumi’s husband is lost to the dangerous waters, she retreats from the clandestine group, vowing never to take to the seas again.

Meanwhile, her childhood friend Anya has been placed in Lebensborn, one of Himmler’s secret Aryan maternity camps. And when Rumi learns the fate of Anya’s child, she knows she has no choice but to face her fears and help Anya flee from Nazi grip…

5) Clean House by Ty Hutchinson to be published on the 16th of April 2022. Iceland.

If Plan A is your best shot at staying alive, Plan B is winging it.

With a $50 million bounty still flashing over Sei’s head and money-hungry assassins chasing her, the goal remains the same: Hunt down Carmotte, the man responsible for the contract and kill him: That’s Plan A.

Determined to gain the upper hand, Sei manages to throw the assassins off her trail through a series of false leads and misdirects. Off the grid and relatively safe in Iceland, Sei turns her attention to finding and enlisting the help of a rogue hacker named Kratica to help locate Carmotte. But someone is intent on derailing Sei's plan.

An assassin named Kazmer is now managing the contract, and he doesn’t plan on chasing Sei around like his predecessor. Instead, Kazmer intends to draw Sei out of hiding by squeezing the people close to her. If he’s successful, Sei will have no choice but to face him head-on. Ignore him, and she risks seeing the people she cares about die. Say hello to Plan B.

Can Sei keep it together while making decisions on the fly? Find out in Clean House.

6) Death in Dalvik Michael Ridpath to be published on the 20th of April 2022. Iceland.

When sixteen-year-old Dísa is given five bitcoin by her divorced father she is unimpressed: she hasn’t heard of the cryptocurrency, and five of anything can’t be worth very much. But a year later, when her grandparents are about to lose the farm near the Icelandic village of Dalvik where their family has lived for centuries, quiet, unassuming Dísa is able to rescue it with the profits from her astute trading of her father's gift.

Unknown to Dísa, her mother Helga catches the cryptocurrency bug. Not only does Helga invest in Thomocoin, a new cryptocurrency sweeping Iceland, but she persuades many of her neighbours in Dalvík to invest too, taking a cut for herself.

Helga is found murdered on the hillside above the farm and Inspector Magnus Jonson investigates. Magnus realizes that Dísa, now a nineteen-year-old student, can help him unveil the shadowy forces behind Thomocoin. But torn between loyalty to her family and fear for her life, Dísa has other ideas.

7) The Body by the Shore by Tabish Khair to be published on the 22nd of April 2022. Denmark.

A novel of suspense and intrigue set in the post-pandemic world

Harris Maloub, a killer with an erased official past, now in his fifties, is visited by someone who could not be alive and given an assignment. In Aarhus, Denmark, Jens Erik, police officer on pre-retirement leave, somehow cannot forget the body of a Black man recovered from the sea some years ago. On an abandoned oil rig in the North Sea, turned into a resort for the very rich, Michelle, a young Caribbean woman, realizes that the man she has followed to this job is not what he claims to be. And neither is the rig, where a secret laboratory bares to her a face that is neither human nor animal. Behind all this, there lurks the ghost of a seminar in 2007: most of the participants of that seminar are dead or untraceable. Why was their obscure research on plants and fungi and microbes so important? What is the secret that killed them? What is the weapon that powerful syndicates are trying to obtain – or develop?

Narrated from the perspective of the post-pandemic world around 2030, but moving back in time to cover all of the 21st century, and even bits and pieces from the 20th and the 19th, The Body by the Shore is a novel of suspense and speculation about the complexity of life and intricacy of the earth. It is also a novel about reason and emotion, love and despair, greed and hope, human beings and microbes. When the narrative strands come together, a world of great terror and beauty is revealed to the reader.

8) Kalmann by Joachim B. Schmidt to be published on the 22 of April 2022. Iceland.

This atmospheric crime thriller laced with humor—described by some as an Icelandic Fargo—is set in the village of Raufarhöfn in the far north of the country.

Kalmann Odinsson is the self-appointed Sheriff of his town. Day by day, he treks the wide plains which surround the almost deserted village, hunts Arctic foxes and lays bait in the sea — to catch the gigantic Greenland sharks he turns into the Icelandic fermented delicacy, hákarl. There is nothing anyone needs to worry about. Kalmann has everything under control.

Inside his head, however, the wheels sometimes spin backwards. One winter, after he discovers a pool of blood in the snow, the swiftly unfolding events threaten to overwhelm him. But he knows that his native wisdom and pure-hearted courage will see him through. There really is no need to worry. How can anything go wrong with Kalmann in charge? He knows everything a man needs to know about life – well, almost.

9) Munch in Dialogue by Klaus Albrecht Schroder to be published on the 26th of April 2022. Norway.

In dialogue with Edward Munch—discover the many ways the expressionist painter’s work has influenced modern and contemporary artists.


While Munch’s pessimistic, melancholy world view crucially defines our understanding of his work, many important postwar and contemporary artists have drawn inspiration from several aspects of his oeuvre. This richly illustrated book explores how nine such artists —Francis Bacon, Georg Baselitz, Louise Bourgeois, Miriam Cahn, Peter Doig, Marlene Dumas, Tracey Emin, Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol—engaged with Munch’s work at different points in, or throughout, their careers. It features elaborate reproductions of sixty works by Munch juxtaposed with those inspired by him. Readers discover how Baselitz cunningly pays tribute to his artistic hero; how Tracey Emin’s practice, like Munch’s, is autobiographical, both drawing from their personal torment to create their unnerving works; how Marlene Dumas was drawn to the expressiveness of Munch’s portraits; how Louise Bourgeois’ works are illustrative of Munch’s fixation on fear and isolation; how Francis Bacon modeled “Screaming Pope” after Munch’s most renowned painting; and how Peter Doig draws on Munch’s radical treatment of pigments and materiality. Essays by leading scholars detail each artist’s unique preoccupation with Munch and offer a focused exploration of the ways women artists in particular were inspired by his examinations of loneliness, fear, and trauma.

10) Outside by Ragnar Jónasson tp be published on the 28th of April 2022. Iceland.

With three million copies of his books sold worldwide, "world-class crime writer"(The Sunday Times, UK) Ragnar Jónasson brings us a chilling new standalone thriller with Outside.

Four friends. One night. Not everyone will come out alive . . .

When a deadly snowstorm strikes the Icelandic highlands, four friends seek shelter in a small, abandoned hunting lodge.

It is in the middle of nowhere and there's no way of communicating with the outside world.

They are isolated, but they are not alone . . .

As the night darkens, and fears intensify, an old tragedy gradually surfaces - one that forever changed the course of their friendship.

Those dark memories could hold the key to the mystery the friends now find themselves in.

And whether they will survive until morning . . .

11. The Keynote: Finland by Audrey Galen Nestor to be published on the 18th of April 2022. Finland.

The Keynote: Finland
By: Audrey Galen Nestor

When Ryan Murphy, world-renowned financial consultant, is invited to be the keynote speaker at the G20 Winter Summit, it's business as usual. That is, until the event is moved for "security reasons" to a remote location...in Finland.

Finland. Really? Talk about remote...and very, very cold.

But given time, he just might fall in love with the idea; and his intriguing personal assistant, Allison Quinn.

The Keynote: Finland is an expedited thriller that will make you laugh as well as need a cold shower.

About the Author

Audrey Galen Nestor is a writer who writes herself into characters that celebrate all her strengths. She is a mother and a survivor of domestic violence who began using writing as a method of healing in 2019. Though it began as an outlet for sadness, fear, and anger, writing has become an integral part of her life, and along her journey, she plans to keep writing, healing, and learning. By sharing her story, she hopes to inspire other survivors to let their voices be heard by more than therapists and law enforcement.

Nestor enjoys traveling and has been especially grateful for the power of the internet, which affords her the ability to travel virtually all over the world, fly first class, and enjoy all the natural beauty and culture she can get her eyes on, even during times of travel restrictions. She has been blessed with a tribe of beautiful souls who have shepherded her through the darkest days of her life, casting out all darkness, fear, and anxiety and reminding her she is not alone, and never has been.

We have a book that was published on the 31st of March which I had on the 18th of October 2022. It is Lina Bengtsdotter's book For the Lost . Sweden.

A MISSING CHILD
In Karlstad, nine-month-old Beatrice is missing from her pram. Her parents are in shock and the media is in a frenzy.

A PERSONAL STRUGGLE
DI Charlie Lager is struggling with her own demons when she's called to investigate, forced to push them aside as the case intensifies.

A CLOCK RUNNING DOWN
As lead after lead goes nowhere, Charlie starts to feel like nobody actually wants the truth to come out about Beatrice as reluctant locals shut down in the face of her questions. And with each passing hour, the chance of finding Beatrice alive becomes less and less likely...