English Translations of Scandinavian/Nordic Mysteries & Thrillers discussion

For the month of December 2025 we have five books to choose from. We will add books as they become available to us. Good reading.

1) The Living and the Dead by Christoffer Carlsson to be published on the 2nd of December 2025. Sweden. 432 pages.

WINNER OF THE BEST NORDIC CRIME NOVEL (THE GLASS KEY AWARD) • WINNER OF THE BEST SWEDISH CRIME NOVEL AWARD • WINNER OF DENMARK’S PALLE ROSENKRANTZ PRIZE FOR BEST TRANSLATED CRIME NOVEL

Small towns sometimes have a voice of their own.

On a snowy winter night in 1999, Sander and Killian leave a house party together outside a small town in rural Sweden. The very best of friends, the two seventeen-year-olds imagine they will remain so forever. But by the next morning, a corpse is found in the trunk of a car, and each boy is a suspect in the murder. Each has something they want to conceal from the police. And from the other.

The hunt for the killer will take more than twenty years. It will see the lead detective leave the force forever. And it won’t end until a second body turns up in similar circumstances, and the tight-knit community’s secrets are finally brought to light.

In The Living and the Dead, renowned criminologist Christoffer Carlsson masterfully transports us to the fields and forests of western Sweden, a region of farmers and truck drivers torn apart by economic injustice and self-deceit—a world where the portal between the living and the dead is flung wide open and where no one is entirely innocent.

2) Winter Stories by Ingvild H. Rishøi to be published on the 2nd of December 2025. Sweden. 132 pages.

The internationally acclaimed and nationally bestselling author of Brightly Shining returns with a trio of tender, powerful stories of courage and overcoming adversity

Ingvild Rishøi is one of Scandinavia’s most revered literary voices, winner of the Dobloug Prize from the Swedish Academy, and her American debut Brightly Shining made her into a national bestseller and earned her a wide English-language readership. Now, in the highly acclaimed and award-winning Winter Stories, Rishøi paints three vivid and evocative portraits of the lives of those existing on the fringes of society.

A young mother in financial trouble tries to steal a pair of underwear in front of the watchful eyes of her young daughter. A man fresh out of prison struggles to reintegrate into a daunting society and become a better father to his son. Three siblings run away and seek refuge in a remote cabin untouched by time in a desperate bid to keep their family from being torn apart. In these powerful and emotionally charged tales, Rishøi delves into the complexities of family, poverty, and forgiveness, exploring the human desire for a better life, the longing for change, and the difficult choices we must sometimes make to protect those we love.

Winter Stories is a masterful triptych from a major international writer renowned for her ability to say a great deal in few words. It is a poignant reminder of the power of hope, loyalty, and unexpected kindness during dark times.

3) The Quiet Mother by Arnaldur Indriðason to be published on the 9th of December 2025. Iceland. 352 pages.

A woman is found murdered in her home. On her desk is a note with a phone number and a Detective Konrad.

Called in to investigate, Konrad realises he met the woman shortly before her death when she asked him for help locating the child she'd given up for adoption fifty years earlier. Distressed at having declined her request, Konrad vows to make up for it. Could her murder and the search for her missing child be linked?

4) Sunset at Zero Point by Simon Stålenhag to be published on the 9th of December 2025. Sweden. 192 pages.

From the renowned creator of The Electric State—soon to be a major movie from Netflix on March 14th, 2025!—Simon Stålenhag returns with his long-awaited new work of retro-futuristic dystopia within the mysterious zone of an abandoned Swedish military facility.

Beginning in 2024, yet set largely during the early 2000s, Sunset at Zero Point unfolds on a secluded Swedish island, home to a secret weapon lab that has been off-limits for years, evoking the bestselling works of Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation and Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven.

Stålenhag’s masterful storytelling and hyper-realistic art transports you to an alternate history revealing his most intimate work to date, delving into themes of masculinity, friendship, and sexuality through the lens of a queer science fiction tale. The story spans decades following two young men, stuck in the past and each other’s orbit, as fleeting moments become defining memories as they set out to explore the forbidden zone together.

Set against the backdrop of Stålenhag’s native Sweden and based on the alternate version of Mälaröarna outside of Stockholm, Sunset at Zero Point juxtaposes giant futuristic machines with the inner turmoil of its characters facing a social dystopia, crafting a narrative that is both visually stunning and emotionally resonant.

5) Reclaiming His Viking Queen by Lucy Morris to be published on the 30th of December 2025. Viking. 272 pages.

A royal, enemies to lovers, spicy Viking romance.

He will have his queen…

For better or worse!

Viking Agnar has had many Usurper. Warlord. Wolf Slayer. Still, there’s one role he’s hell-bent on claiming—Skadi Friggsdottir’s husband! Rejected by Skadi years ago, he’ll be denied no longer. Storming her hall is easy. Taming his warrior queen will be much harder…

Young Skadi chose survival by marrying another over honoring her promise to Agnar. Now, believing Agnar has killed her husband, she’ll surrender her hand but never submit! Yet behind Agnar’s fury lies a man deeply wronged…one she can’t help but want. Is her enemy husband her doom, or her greatest desire?

6) Fatal Flames: A Deadly Obsession Unveiled, a Short Story byVM Larsson to be published on the 25th of December 2025. Sweden. 23 Pages.

When flirting turns deadly.Two men exploring a familiar nature reserve came across a snow-covered car with a trailer deep in the forest. Initially, they suspected it was a hiding place for stolen goods — but as they got closer, they made a shocking the vehicle was burned out, and a skeleton sat in the passenger seat.

When John agrees to a date with Camilla, he has no idea it will cost him everything — his home, his savings, even his children. Manipulative and ruthless, Camilla quickly takes control, leaving John powerless. But when John is reported missing, the police uncover a horrifying secret in the basement. Meanwhile, Camilla wastes no time setting her sights on her next victim. As forensic teams piece together the gruesome truth, a chilling pattern of deception and death emerges. When love turns lethal, who can you trust behind closed doors?

This is a short story - a quick read.
True Crime Scandinavia have been researched using declassified Swedish police investigation files and court records. To protect the individuals involved, all names have been changed.

7) The Triumvirate Murders: Death As a Business Expense by Janus Lucky to be published on the 6th of December 2025. Finland. 338 pages.

A sunlit forest. A dragonfly’s flicker. A yellow sports car that doesn’t stop. The hit-and-run death of a little girl on an August road will stain Helsinki’s winter long before the first snow falls.

When celebrated editor Pekka Wall and his much-younger partner, rising sci-fi star Tuomas Ylivire, step into the President’s Independence Day gala, they’re Finland’s most-watched queer couple—glamour, gossip, and a kiss seen round the nation—until a drunken whisper on live TV hints at bodies buried beneath the city’s polished veneer.

What follows is pure Scandi-noir: a humid, overpacked castle reception turning sour, a city of neoclassical facades and frozen harbours, and a trail that leads from luxury boardrooms to back-street bedsits.

As Pekka and Tuomas are pulled into a lethal game, a power “triumvirate” of media darlings and tech money finds murder, sex, and blackmail just another line item—evidence laundered, reputations traded, and desire weaponised, with whispers that reach the Kremlin’s door.

Love makes them brave. Fame makes them targets.

Darkly witty and unabashedly queer, The Triumvirate Murders is a taut, addictive slice of Finnish noir where intimacy and power collide—and where death, for some, is simply a business expense. With laugh and tears – sometimes at the same time.

8) Quentin Bates short story called "Historical Value" published on the 20th of December 2025. Iceland. 29 pages.

Old bones comes to light on a remote farm in the north of Iceland. Detective Helgi Svavarsson is reluctant to get involved with what looks like something he feels calls for an archaeologist rather than a policeman.

In any case, he's off duty and has family business to attend to. But he can't help but be intrigued as suspicion falls on the now elderly woman who farmed at Fagrabrekka for so many years – and what became of the man who caught the bus south one winter afternoon, forty-two years ago?
This short story is a standalone continuation of the Gunnhildur books. It was initially intended as the outline of a full-length novel that never came together... But it could yet, one day...

9) A Deadly Night: The Dark Secrets Behind Sweden’s Infamous Oktoberfest, a Short Story by VM Larsson to be published on the 23 of December 2025. Sweden. 26 pages.

A night of laughter. A deadly secret.In this quick read, Josefine, Mary, and Tina head to the Swedish Oktoberfest for a night of beer, music, and fun — but by morning, one of them is dead. Back at Josefine’s flat, panic takes hold. A body in the hallway. A desperate plan. A lie that grows darker with each hour. From hiding the corpse in the forest to the failed attempt to set it alight, the truth becomes harder to escape. How far would you go to keep your secret buried?

This is a short story - a quick read.
True Crime Scandinavia has been researched using declassified Swedish police investigation files and court records. To protect the individuals involved, all names have been changed.

10) The wolf of Sweden in the village Gysinge. by Lars-Åke Persson to be published on the 20th of December 2025. Sweden. 381 pages.

The Wolf of Sweden in the Village Gysinge

In the heart of 18th-century Sweden lies the ironworks village of Gysinge — a place ruled by the Patron’s iron will, where the blacksmiths’ hammers never fall silent and the maids bear the weight of their masters’ whims.

Among them lives Elin, a young maid dreaming of freedom, and Anders, the manor’s gardener, a man of the earth whose hands shape beauty amid hardship.

Then, across three provinces, the terror began. A real wolf descended upon the villages and forests of Sweden — and before the smoke cleared, it had killed eleven and injured twenty. Fear turned neighbor against neighbor, and every howl in the night carried both horror and truth.

The Wolf of Sweden in the Village Gysinge is a haunting tale of love and survival — inspired by true events — where nature, power, and passion collide in the frozen silence of a Swedish winter.

11) Greenland Target: The Atlantic Protocol by John Eriksen to new published on the 3rd of December 2025. Greenland. 534 pages.

Steel is corroding across the North Atlantic. And no one knows how to stop it.

Vessels vanish without a trace. Ships corrode overnight. Trade routes collapse. Marine biologist Amelia Wiedner is called from Canada to Brussels to brief European leaders on a crisis gripping governments and industry worldwide—a biological organism that dissolves metal on contact.

While scientists search for answers, journalist Erik Wiedner follows the money. His investigation leads to a charismatic UN strategist selling a new vision for Europe: forget the Atlantic, follow the Arctic instead. Reroute global shipping through melting polar waters and rebuild the economy on new alliances.

But when an American pilot who shouldn't be in the cockpit and a journalist fleeing her past arrive in Amsterdam with forged credentials and borrowed expertise, everything changes. Real qualifications clash with unlikely discoveries. What looks like geopolitical strategy might be something far more personal—and the question isn't just who's qualified to solve the crisis. It's who's honest enough to admit what they don't know.

And whether anyone is willing to follow the evidence where it leads.

To Greenland.

Eiríkur Magnússon, an Icelandic shipowner with one last asset—a lithium mine carved into the ice of Greenland. When protests erupt in the frozen north and water samples turn toxic, Amelia recognizes patterns she hoped never to see again. The organism isn't just in the Atlantic. It's in Greenland. And someone is trying to kill it. The crisis isn't over. It's just beginning.

Greenland Target – The Atlantic Protocol is a geopolitical thriller with a human heart and a sharp edge. A story about nations fighting for relevance, corporations fighting for survival, and people learning that cooperation may be the last form of resistance left. Some tides can't be turned. But they can be shared.

Greenland Target can be read as a standalone thriller. Readers who enjoyed Scandinavian Target will find familiar faces—but new readers can dive straight in.

12) Frostlines: A Journey Through Entangled Lives and Landscapes in a Warming Arctic by Neil Shea to be published on the 2nd of December 2025. Various. 240 pages.

A groundbreaking and sweeping exploration of the Arctic—and how it’s being transformed by climate change—that blends natural history, anthropology, and travel writing, from National Geographic writer Neil Shea

As warming reshapes our planet, the Arctic—a region that once seemed unchangeable and immutable, beyond the reach of modern problems—is quickly coming undone. While the old cold world can still be glimpsed in the movements of caribou, the hidden lives of wolves, or the hunting skill of an Inupiat elder, look closer and you’ll find a new Arctic emerging in its place.

In Frostlines, Neil Shea reveals how the beauty, chaos, and power of change in the far north are reflected in the individual lives of people and animals. Structured as a revolution around the pole from east to west, Shea sojourns with a wolf pack on Canada’s Ellesmere Island and travels among the Indigenous Netsilingmiut and Tlicho peoples of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. He tracks dwindling caribou herds across Alaska and measures the potential of oil and gas developments along North America’s wildest edge. And in the European Arctic, he explores the new Cold War rising between Russia, China, Europe, and the United States over who controls the pole and will reap its riches as the ice melts. What Shea finds is not one Arctic but many—all still linked by shattering cold, seasons of darkness, and a pure, inimitable light.

Written with masterful prose and a spark of adventure, Frostlines is an expansive yet intimate revelation of the Arctic during a time of transformation, and a journey along the threshold of this stunning and sometimes frightening world that’s emerging right before our eyes.