English Translations of Scandinavian/Nordic Mysteries & Thrillers discussion

September 2024 we have 14 new books to choose from during the month. As always we will add books as they become known to us. Good reading.

1) The Last Whaler by Cynthia Reeves to be published on the 3rd of September 2024. Norway. 334 pages.

THE LAST WHALER is an elegiac meditation on the will to survive under extreme conditions. Tor, a beluga whaler, and his wife, Astrid, a botanist specializing in Arctic flora, are stranded during the dark season of 1937-38 at his remote whaling station when they misjudge ice conditions and fail to rendezvous with the ship meant to carry them back to their home in southern Norway. Beyond enduring the Arctic winter' s twenty-four-hour night, the couple must cope with the dangers of polar bears, violent storms, and bitter cold as well as Astrid' s unexpected pregnancy. THE LAST WHALER concerns the impact of humans on pristine environments, the isolation of mental illness, the sustenance of religious faith, and the solace of storytelling.

2) If Only by Vigdis Hjorth to be published on the 3rd of September 2024. Norway. 352 pages.

A groundbreaking but timeless early work from one of the world's most heralded novelists

A relatively young woman, aged thirty. She married in her early twenties, had two children. It is winter. January and minus 14°C, white, frosty mist around the parked car, around the spruces, the mailbox on its post, but higher up the sky is blue, clear, the sun has come back. She has written in her diary that she is waiting for the heartbreak that will turn her into her true self. She has an impending sense of doom or possibly her own death.

So opens Vigids Hjorth’s ground-breaking novel from 2001, which melds the yearning, doomed potency of Annie Ernaux’s A Simple Passion with the scale and force of Anna Karenina. It asks, can passion be mistaken for love? And proceeds to document the destruction a decade defined by such a misconstruction can yield on a life.

3) Countdown by Johan Ottosen to be published on the 3rd of September 2024. Denmark. 428 pages.

Danish intelligence races to stop a dirty bomb in Copenhagen before heads of state gather for the Queen's jubilee. Meanwhile, a 5,000-year-old calendar is unearthed. It's counting down. To Ragnarok.

Countdown is a must-read for fans of Dan Brown, Brad Thor, and Stieg Larsson, a gripping tale of international intrigue, ancient mysteries, and unbreakable bonds.

When journalist Kurt Østergaard's stepfather dies, he leaves behind clues to a devastating secret that could shake Denmark to its core. As Kurt investigates, he uncovers a chilling conspiracy reaching the highest levels of power.

Søren Storm, a former UN weapons inspector, haunted by his past, gets caught up in the mystery when stolen radioactive material and a planned attack are uncovered, With his near term pregnant girlfriend Birgitte, Storm must navigate a treacherous web of deceit to stop the unthinkable.
As the conspiracy deepens and time runs out, Kurt and Storm must risk everything to unravel the plot. An act of terror in Copenhagen forces them to trust Birgitte's mother Bodil, the CEO of Mirrin Bank with secrets of her own. They race to uncover the truth, confronting ancient prophecies and forbidden knowledge that could change history. Kurt, Storm, Birgitte and Bodil realize the attack is just the beginning, and the mastermind may be closer than they imagined. They must confront the past to uncover a truth powerful men will kill to keep hidden.

From the hidden bunkers under Copenhagen to the icy wilderness of Greenland, Countdown takes readers on a pulse-pounding ride through Danish history and culture. With razor-sharp prose Ottosen weaves together Norse mythology, Mayan doomsday prophecies, and the real-life history of Denmark's Stay Behind groups into a thriller that is both grounded in reality and wildly entertaining.

4) The Night Guest by Hildur Knútsdóttir to be published on the 3rd of September 2024. Iceland. 208 pages.

Hildur Knutsdottir's The Night Guest is an eerie and ensnaring story set in contemporary Reykjavík that’s sure to keep you awake at night.

Iðunn is in yet another doctor's office. She knows her constant fatigue is a sign that something's not right, but practitioners dismiss her symptoms and blood tests haven't revealed any cause.

When she talks to friends and family about it, the refrain is the same ― have you tried eating better? exercising more? establishing a nighttime routine? She tries to follow their advice, buying everything from vitamins to sleeping pills to a step-counting watch. Nothing helps.

Until one night Iðunn falls asleep with the watch on, and wakes up to find she’s walked over 40,000 steps in the night . . .

What is happening when she’s asleep? Why is she waking up with increasingly disturbing injuries? And why won’t anyone believe her?

5) The Man with the Fishhook Smile: A Constable Petra Jensen Novella by Christoffer Petersen to be published on the 6th of September 2024. Greenland. Greenland. Short Story.

When reports of a scarred stranger are connected to disappearances of women across the country, it’s up to Constable Petra ‘Piitalaat’ Jensen to discover the connection.

The Man with the Fishhook Smile is the twenty-ninth in the Greenland Missing Persons series of novellas and novels set in the harsh, unpredictable Arctic, rich in tradition, myth and culture.

The Man with the Fishhook Smile 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.

6) Fatal Gambit: A Novel by David Lagercrantz to be published on the 10th of September 2024. Sweden. 352 pages.

When a dead woman appears—very much alive—in a recent photograph, mismatched crime-solving duo Rekke and Vargas are drawn into a dangerous mystery, from the bestselling author of The Girl in the Spider's Web.When Samuel Lidman spots his wife—who was confirmed dead fourteen years ago—in the background of a friend's holiday photo, he brings it to disgraced former professor and government consultant Hans Rekke and his unofficial partner—and temporary roommate—Detective Micaela Vargas. Their initial skepticism gives way to cautious belief—but where will this case lead them?Meanwhile, Rekke's daughter, Julia, has a new boyfriend she's determined to keep secret. When word gets out, Micaela's world collapses around her, and Rekke is forced to confront a powerful nemesis from his youth.Plunging us back into the political upheaval and financial crisis of the 1990s, as the iron curtain is finally lifted, the second Rekke and Vargas Investigation sees our heroes grapple with a fiendish case that affects them both in profoundly personal ways.

7) Mary and the Rabbit Dream by Noémi Kiss-Deáki to be published on the 10th of September 2024. England. 232 pages. Author is Scandinavian.

A sardonic, feminist reimagining of the story of Mary Toft, infamous rabbit-birthing hoaxer.

Mary Toft was just another eighteenth-century woman living in poverty, misery, and frequent pain. The kind of person overlooked by those with power, forgotten by historians.

Mary Toft was nothing. Until, that is, Mary Toft started giving birth to rabbits…

In Mary and the Rabbit Dream, the sensational debut novelist Noémi Kiss-Deáki reimagines Mary’s strange and fascinating story – and how she found fame when a large swathe of England became convinced that she was the mother of rabbits.

Mary and the Rabbit Dream is a story of bodily autonomy, of absurdity, of the horrors inflicted on women, of the cruel realities of poverty, and the grotesque divides between rich and poor. It’s a book that matters deeply – and it’s also a compelling page-turner. A story told with exquisite wit, skill, and a beautiful streak of subversive mischief.

8) Death at the Sanatorium by Ragnar Jónasson to be published on the 10th of September 2024. Iceland. 320 pages.

Fresh off his career-changing standalone co-written with Icelandic PM, Reykjavík, #1 Icelandic bestseller Jonasson presents a riveting new thriller spinoff from The Darkness, soon to be a TV series. 1983 At a former sanatorium in the north of Iceland, now a hospital ward, an old nurse, Yrsa, is found murdered. Detective Hulda Hermannsdottir and her boss, Sverrir, are sent to investigate her death. There, they discover five the chief physician, two junior nurses, a young doctor, and the caretaker, who is arrested following false testimony from one of the nurses, but subsequently released. Less than a week after the murder, the chief physician, is also found dead, having apparently fallen from a balcony. Sverrir, rules his death as suicide and assumes that he was guilty of the murder as well. The case is closed. 2012 Almost thirty years later, Helgi Reykdal, a young police officer, has been studying criminology in the UK, but decides to return to Iceland when he is offered a job at the Reykjavik police department—the job which detective Hulda Hermannsdottir is about to retire from. He is also a collector of golden age detective stories, and is writing his thesis on the 1983 murders in the north. As Helgi delves deeper into the past, and starts his new job, he decides to try to meet with the original suspects. But soon he finds silence and suspicion at every turn, as he tries to finally solve the mystery from years before.

9) Forget Me Not by Gry Kappel Jensen to be published on the 17th of September 2024. Denmark. 430 pages.

A fantastical romance with Norse roots that's a thriller murder mystery!

Chamomile, Kirstine, Victoria and Malou are back at Rosenholm Academy to start a new school year. But in addition to the lessons in runic magic, clairvoyance and Norse mythology, the girls also have something completely different to worry about. A crime from the past draws threads to the present, and the girls have committed themselves to solving the murder mystery that casts a shadow over Rosenholm.

An ominous prediction causes the seriousness to dawn on them, while the questions loom large. And each of them harbors deep secrets that threaten to tear them apart before they can fulfill the promise they made. Time is running out and it could end up being fatal...

Forget me not is the exciting sequel to the fantasy novel Roses and Violets and volume 2 in the Rosenholm trilogy.

10) Time to Rise by Helene Holmström to be published on the 17th of September 2024. Sweden. 320 pages.

It’s her struggling bakery. But it’s his reality show. More than tempers will flare in a warmhearted and positively delicious opposites-attract romantic comedy.

Nora Jansson will do anything to save her parents’ beloved bakery from bankruptcy, even if it means allowing a TV reality crew into her kitchen and her life. Not to mention celebrity pastry chef Henrik Eklund, its impossibly rude host who’s happy to point out Nora’s baking missteps—on cue. It’s bringing out her feisty side.

Nora’s sourdough starter isn’t exactly Henrik’s biggest worry. His popularity is slipping, and his production team has an idea for making this a blockbuster fake flirt. A spicy enemies-to-friends romance will be good for the show and a boon to Nora’s business. So, for the cameras, let the sparks fly.

Somewhere between saffron buns and after-hours mulled wine socials, Nora’s seeing a gentler side to the charismatic star. And Henrik is getting closer to Nora—not just on-screen. What’s pretend and what’s getting real? Soon there will be more on the line than high ratings and the bakery’s survival.

11) The Saint by Carin Gerhardsen.to be published on the 24th of September 2024. Sweden. 336 pages.

In this internationally bestselling Nordic noir, the investigation into the murder of a beloved soccer coach in a quiet Stockholm neighborhood reveals a dark truth.

Local girls’ soccer coach Sven-Gunnar Erlandsson is practically a saint in the community, known for his good works and volunteering. So when his body is found in Stockholm’s beautiful Herräng forest, shot at close range in the back of the neck while walking home from a late-night poker game, the police struggle to find a motive. Nothing has been taken from his pockets except his cell phone, and the only other clues left behind are a cryptic handwritten note and a handful of playing cards.The Hammarby murder squad takes the case, splitting up the leads between their eclectic mix of officers. Led by Detective Chief Inspector Conny Sjöberb, the team also includes a veteran inspector who balances his career with caring for his disabled daughter, a widow who has returned to police work after several decades spent as a homemaker and pursuing a law degree, a new transplant who recently achieved minor celebrity status as an Idol contestant, and a young police assistant struggling with trauma she can’t share with her colleagues.Each member of the team pursues a different lead and, as they interview Erlandsson’s friends and family, they discover a disturbing web of secrets, including a possible link to the cases of two missing girls. Could Erlandsson have been less of a saint than everyone thinks?A dark and layered story told through multiple perspectives, The Saint is the fourth in the highly acclaimed Hammarby police series from Swedish author Carin Gerhardsen.

12) A Tide of Black Steel by Anthony Ryan to be published on the 24th of September 2024. Fantasy, Norse Mythology. 528 pages.

From the international bestselling author Anthony Ryan comes the spectacular first novel in a new epic new fantasy trilogy inspired by Norse mythology. A new age has dawned. An age of blood and steel. An age of wrath.

The land of Ascarlia, a fabled realm of bloodied steel and epic sagas, has been ruled by the Sister Queens for centuries. No one has dared question their rule.

Until now.

Whispers speak of longships of mysterious tattooed warriors, sailing under the banners of a murderous cult of oath-breakers long thought extinct. A tide of black steel that threatens to vanquish all in its path.

Thera of the Blackspear, favoured servant of the Sister Queens, is ordered to uncover the truth. As Thera sails north, her reviled brother, Felnir, sets out on his own adventure. He hopes to find the Vault of the Altvar – the treasure room of the gods – and win the Sister Queens’ favour at his sister’s expense.

Both siblings – along with a brilliant young scribe and a prisoner with a terrifying, primal power – will play a part in the coming storm.

The Age of Wrath has begun.

13) The Idle Wild: Book 1 in the adrenaline-fueled Canadian Quartet by Christoffer Petersen to be published on the 24th of September 2024. Greenland. Short Story.

Trapped in political purgatory, she is the weapon everybody wants, but no one is willing to use.

Bounced from one nameless intelligence agency to the next, Konstabel Fenna Brongaard's skills are not in doubt, but her psychological profile reveals an idle ruthlessness no one is willing to unlock. Until, during a period of global unrest, Fenna’s skills are deemed necessary, and she is released once more into the wild.

‘Petersen writes chilling thrillers in harsh, isolated environments. Too dark for some. Too cold for everyone.’ – Óskar Guðmundsson

Following the events of The Shaman’s House, Konstabel Fenna Brongaard returns in this action-packed, gritty thriller from Christoffer Petersen.

14) Blood Ties by Jo Nesbø to be published on the 26th of September 2024. Norway.

In many ways, the brothers Carl and Roy Opgard have succeeded in life. Or at least they’ve had as much success as is possible in a small town like Os where they've had to kill their way to the top. Carl manages the area’s swanky spa hotel, while Roy has made ambitious plans for an amusement park complete with a roller coaster. The only way is up for the two brothers. Unless the local sheriff can bring them down. The sheriff believes he has new evidence that will prove the brothers involvement in several past murders, but Carl and Roy Opgard are used to covering their tracks, and they're not afraid to get their hands dirty. The high body count of Os is about to get higher. Blood Ties is a grandiose and explosive suspense novel about loyalty, family ties, consuming love, and the fight against powerful forces. It will transport you to a community in crisis and tell the story of two brothers on the verge of losing all that they’ve fought for.

15) Dark as Night by Lilja Sigurðardóttir to be published on the 26th of September 2024. Iceland. 299 pages.

‘ A terrific tale with twist after twist ... Lilja Sigurdardottir is fast becoming my favourite Icelandic crime writer' The Times Book of the Month

When Arora receives a call telling her that a child she' s never met is claiming to be her missing sister reincarnated, she is devastated ... as ridiculous as the allegations might seem. For three years she has been searching for her sister without finding a single clue, and now this strange child seems to have new information.

On the same day, Icelandic Detective Daniel returns home to find a note from his tenant, drag queen Lady Gugulu, giving notice on her flat and explaining that she has to leave the country. Daniel is immediately suspicious, and when three threatening men appear, looking for the Lady, it' s clear to him that something is very wrong...

Twisty, intricately plotted and atmospheric, Dark as Night is the highly anticipated fourth book in the addictive An Arora Investigation series, as Arora and her team face unimaginable danger and extraordinary experiences that may change everything, forever...