The Devil's Star, by Jo Nesbo

(Original title Marekors.) Jo Nesbo (Norwegian name Nesbø), musician, economist and author of the best-selling series featuring Detective Harry Hole, has won many prizes for his novels, including the Glass Key, the Riverton Prize and the Norwegian Bookclub prize for best ever Norwegian crime novel. His first novel published in English was The Devil's Star, which has sold more than 100,000 copies in Norway alone.

The key character in Nesbo's books is detective Harry Hole: an angry and off-the-rails detective who wants to play the game by his own rules.

It's a sweltering summer in Oslo when a young woman is found murdered in her flat. One finger has been cut off, and beneath her eyelid is a tiny red diamond in the shape of a five pointed star.

Detective Harry Hole is assigned to the case with Tom Waaler - a colleague Harry suspects of running an arms smuggling gang and of having murdered his partner - and initially he refuses to become involved. But he is already on notice to quit the force and is left with no choice but to drag himself out of his alcoholic stupor and go to work.

Five days later, a man reports his wife missing. When her severed finger is found wearing a ring mounted with the same star-shaped red diamond, it seems Oslo has a serial killer on its hands. The case revolves around a riddle of fives: five points to the star, five fingers on the hand, and every fifth day a new victim to be counted. In his pursuit of the truth behind both mysteries, Harry unwittingly finds himself on the run from the police and forced to make difficult decisions about his future as a detective.

The Devil's Star is an exciting and entertaining book, well worth reading!

See also the follow up by Nesbo, The Redbreast.

Coq Rouge, by Jan Guillou

Jan (Oscar Sverre Lucien Henri) Guillou is one of Sweden's most famous authors. His Coq Rouge-novels, a series of books about the Swedish spy Carl Gustaf Gilbert Hamilton, the Scaninavian James Bond, have been translated into some 15 languages. Carl Hamilton has special training in FBI and US Navy. He comes from the Swedish aristocracy, but he is also a former leftist, opposed the Vietnam war in the 1960s and was a member of the Maoist Clarté group.

A high ranking officer in the Swedish Secret police is shot in Stockhol. The authorities are confused. Who is behind the execution?

Carl Hamilton who has officially studied political science in California, but has in reality been trained as a Navy Seal, and a spy, is assigned the case. His is assigned the code name Coq Rouge. This is his first big case, with a trail that goes to Oslo, Beirut, Lillehammer, Israel, and Iran. This is the first book in the series about Hamilton.

A great read, with an interesting plot, and a wonderful start on the fabulous series of books about Count Hamilton. One of the best international spy series in modern time, in the same class as LeCarrè. All of the books, and this one as well, are extremely exciting, with lots of action and rapidly unfolding plots. Coq Rogue is a wonderful read.

For some or other reason, the books in this series are hard to find in English, and a number of them are currently selling for USD 100 or more from private sellers on various internet sites.

Also by Jan Guillou: The Knight Templar (Crusades Trilogy), (historical novels) another great series!

When the Devil Holds the Candle, by Karin Fossum.

(When the Devil Holds the Candle, originally published in Norwegian in 1998, won the Gumshoe award for best European crime novel published in the US in 2007.) When the theft of a purse from a stroller results in an infant's death, two teenagers are in trouble. Unaware of the enormity of their crime, Zipp and Andreas are intent on committing still another. They follow an elderly woman, Irma Funder, home, and Andreas enters her house with his ever-reliable switchblade. Motionless in the dark, Zipp waits for his friend to come out. However, he will never see him alive again.

Inspector Konrad Sejer and his colleague Jacob Skarre see no connection between the infant's death and the reported disappearance of a local delinquent. And so, while the confusion in the world outside mounts, the chilling truth unfolds inside the old woman's home.

Unflappable as ever, Sejer digs below the surface of small-town tranquility in an effort to understand how and why violence destroys everyday lives. When the Devil Holds the Candle is another brilliantly observed, precisely rendered psychological mystery from the highly acclaimed Karin Fossum, where she creates intensity by problematizing the roles of murderer and victim.

Bibliography with reviews of all of Fossum's books.

Other great books by Karin Fossum include Calling Out For You, and Black Seconds.

The Redbreast, by Jo Nesbo

The Redbreast won the Glass Key prize for the best Nordic crime novel when it was first published, and was subsequently voted Norway's best crime novel. This book was actually published prior to The Devil's Star in Norwegian, and we recommended you read this one first.

The Redbreast has two parallel story lines, one starting during World War II, with Norwegians fighting for the Germans in Russia.The other story line is present, and takes place among neo-Nazis in Oslo. One of them is on trial for a vicious, unprovoked attack with a baseball bat on a Vietnamese restaurant owner, but is freed on a technicality. Harry Hole, alone again after having caused an embarrassment in the line of duty, has been promoted to inspector and is lumbered with surveillance duties. He is assigned the task of monitoring neo-Nazi activities; fairly mundane until a report of a rare and unusual gun being fired sparks his interest. A rare, high-caliber rifle, favored by assassins, has been smuggled into the country. Then a former soldier is found with his throat cut. Harry suspects a connection. In an investigation that takes him to South Africa and Vienna, Harry finds himself perpetually one step behind the killer. And more and more the two story lines are drawn together - what is happening today has roots in the old, almost forgotten history of World War II in Norway.

The Redbreast in some way resembles Henning Mankell's early Wallander novel, The White Lioness. Both feature leading men who are cops, both have a South African connection, and both involve racism, assassination, and weapons that are the tools of professional assassins.

The Redbreast is well written, very exciting, and has humor as well. Nesbo is able to make us understand some of the troubling aspects of Nazism in Norway, and does a great job of weaving together past and present. His hero, Harry Hole, is very real and an interesting character. An entertaining but also illuminating crime book from a very talented author.

You may also want to have a look at Henning Mankell's The White Lioness.

Unseen, by Mari Jungstedt

The tiny island of Gotland, Sweden, is gearing up for their Midsummer celebrations and an influx of tourists. When Helena Hillerstrom’s body, and that of her loyal dog, is found covered in ax wounds on the beach, it looks like her jealous boyfriend, who caught an old friend dancing with Helena before her death, is to blame. Then a second victim is found in a local cemetery after a night out with girlfriends.

Unseen is Mari Jungstedt's first novel. She has worked as a radio and television journalist for fourteen years. This novel is the first in a series set on the island of Gotland off the coast of Sweden. She lives in Stockholm with her husband and two children. The translation of Unseen is by Tiina Nunnally, who - as usual - has done an excellent job.

Inspector Knutas must face up to the horrifying prospect that there is a serial killer loose on the island. Aided by investigative journalist Johan Berg, he pieces together the tragic history that unites the two victims, and alarmingly points to more murders to come. The killer remains unknown, moving freely, unseen, on the island. All that is clear is that the two victims are just the beginning, unless Knutas and Berg find the killer before he strikes again.

Unseen is a good, well crafted crime book. It has a strong combination of pacing, suspense, and character study. As a debut book it shows a lot of promise. The book is good, not excellent. But still well worth reading.

Praise for Unseen:
Unseen is the Swede Mari Jungstedt’s first novel, but it doesn’t feel like it. She is in total control of plot and pace, conveys chilling atmosphere and her characters are well above average for believability.
               -- Marcel Berlins The Times

See also Unspoken, Jungstedt's second book!