The Streets of Babylon, by Carina Burman The Streets of Babylon is a historical crime novel. The setting is London in 1851, the year of the Great Exhibition. Euthanasia Bondeson makes her debut on the crime novel scene. She is self-centred, tactless, provocative and irresistible woman, who smokes cigars. Together with a Welsh police inspector, the successful Swedish authoress and amateur sleuth goes in search of her beautiful companion, who has disappeared in the narrow streets and alleyways of London. It is a world of high society and artists as well as beggars and whores. With skirts flapping Euthanasia forges her way through this romp of a crime novel, surveying the streets which Sherlock Holmes himself will not tread until a whole generation later. "I have seen a good many cities. Berlin is a charming conglomeration of small villages, while Paris is truly urbane. But London surpasses them both. One can never quite make out London and the Londoners. Everything is here" Swedish writer Carina Burman is a Ph.D and Assistant Professor at Uppsala University. She has written extensively on 18th and 19th century literature and has made a name for herself as a skilful writer of pastiche reflecting the language and atmosphere of days gone by. She is the author of five fiction novels. This is her second crime book. It is a good, exciting book. It didn't really get to me, though. Maybe it's because I am male. But Euthanasia was a little too remote for for me, a little too elevated in her comments about the world. However, while I didn't like the characters all that much, I did enjoy the plot. Recommended with some reservations, is my conclusion. Order The Streets of Babylon by Carine Burman from amazon UK.

Borkmann's Point, by Hakan Nesser International bestseller Hakan Nesser made his U.S. debut with this excellent whodunit. Borkman's Point won the Swedish Crime Writers' Academy Prize for Best Novel in 1994. Nesser's protagonist, in Borkman's Point as in other books, is Inspector Van Veeteren. He is a crusty, world weary, police officer. The horrors of twenty-first-century crime weighs heavily on his shoulders, and he is at times quite grumpy, but with a great sense of humor and even, sometimes, a little charm. Like Mankell's inspector Wallander, Van Veeteren listens to classical music and works methodically to solve crimes. He also plays chess, has been recently divorced, has the vice of smoking and loves fine wines. but there is also more than a little Maigret in the Stockholm sleuth. In Borkmann's Point, Chief Inspector Van Veeteren is vacationing when his superior calls to ask him if he could assist the Kaalbringen police department in solving the murders of an ex-con and a wealthy real-estate mogul, both of whom have been murdered with an ax. The victims appear to have no connection to each other. Bored and restless, Van Veeteren agrees, happy to be able to apply his knowledge and experience to tracking the killer down. To Van Veeteren, like always, it is only a matter of time before the killer is caught. He believes deep down that he will recognize the murderer once he encounters him. His confidence is misplaced, however, as the investigation drags on for several weeks without uncovering a single promising lead. When the killer claims a third victim and the town's best police investigator disappears without a trace, Van Veeteren, who has left only one case unsolved in his long career, intensifies his hunt. The inspector believes that in every case a point is reached where enough information has been gathered to solve the crime with "nothing more than some decent thinking." Borkmann's Point is a well-written, thoughtful novel. Borkmann's Point is on the process of police work, the art and arduousness of investigation and detection. The book has been well received. It's a great read, and provedes a good introduction to Hakan Nesser and Inspector Van Veeteren. Recommended! Order Borkmann's Point or The Mind's Eye, both by Hakan Nesser, from amazon UK!

Echoes From the Dead, by Johan Theorin

(Review based on Swedish edition of the book. Will be published August 2008 in English.)

In the beginning were Sjöwall & Wahlöö. Then there was Henning Mankell. Recently came Stieg Larsson. Now there is Johan Theorin. He is viewed by many in Sweden as the next in the line of the greatest crime authtors.

Johan Theorin was born in 1963 in Gothenburg. Like Stieg Larsson, he is a journalist and author.

His debut book is Echoes From the Dead (Skumtimmen). This book has already been sold to 13 countries. In Sweden, Theorin is already being viewed as a new Stieg Larsson.

Echoes of the Dead is the first of a series of four books by Johan Theorin.

In Echoes From the Dead, A six year old boy, Jens, disappears on Öland. His family, the police and volunteers look for him for weeks. But he is gone, without a trace, and never found.

More than 20 years later, now living on the Swedish mainland, his mother Julia recieves an unexpected phone call from her father, Gerlof Davidsson, a retired sea captain who still lives on the island. He has received a package with a child's shoe in the mail. He thinks it belongs to Jens.

Reluctantly Julia returns to Öland. She tries to find out more. And now she is told the story about Nils Kant, a man who once scared people on the island. His great joy was the pain of others. Even though he has been dead since WWII, some still claim to have seen him recently.

The story of Nils Kant starts during the summer of 1936, when Nils is ten years old. Nils is the oldest of two brothers, and he has an inflated self-image which makes him unpredictable and dangerous.

Echoes From the Dead is a chilling psychological thriller, and tells a story where the past extends its shadows into the present. The action in the books moves from the current back into the past, to the Second World War and beyond, and from the barren city of Öland to the ports of the Caribbean.

The book is inspired by a real story which took place in Bohuslän in Sweden in the mid 1980s.

Echoes From the Dead is a tale of love, loss and sorrow. Most of all, it is a gripping, engaging and terrifying study of true evil.

Echoes From the Dead is an impressive, fast paced and exciting debut book. It is definitely one of the best crime books I have read after reading Stieg Larsson's first book. I do not understand how the Swedes are able to produce crime writers like this, but I am deeply impressed.

It is a masterpiece of a crime novel. The characterizations are strong, and Johan Theorin makes the characters come alive. And the book masterfully expresses strong emotions. It is also very well written, at times almost lyrical. Echoes From the Dead is a new bestseller from Sweden!

Order Echoes from the Dead from amazon UK!

The Inner Circle (A Lonely Place), by Mari Jungstedt

In The inner Circle, the starting point is with an archeological dig site, uncovering a Viking fortification dating back over a millennium (which gives Jungstedt an opportunity to educate readers on Viking history and legends). On this site, there is an international group of some twenty young archeology students. They are a happy and fun-loving crowd, partying together every night. Then one of them, the twenty-one-year-old Martina Flochten, disappears. When her naked body is found hanging from a tree, there is every indication that she has been the victim of a ritual killing.

Inspector Anders Knutas, heading the investigator into this crime, is posed with difficult questions: What do the marks on Martina's body signify? Is there possibly a connection between Martina's death and the recent and unsolved brutal beheading of a Gotland pony? Detective Superintendent Knutas is in for some serious frustration while trying to make sense of these seemingly senseless acts!

The police, and Inspector Anders Knutas, suspect the head of the dig site, Steffan Mellgren. He is married, has a wife and four children, but even so has a reputation as a Casanova. They think it possible that he is the mysterious lover she was supposed to have been meeting in secret, and whom none of her fellow archaeologists have actually seen. However, this theory turns out to be slightly flawed, as Mellgren himself is later found killed in exactly the same manner as Martina. Now Inspector Knutas is back to square one.

Inspector Knutas and his team work intensely to catch the killer. Even so, more bodies turn up, all of whom have been killed and mutilated the same way.

The Inner Circle is a very good book. Mari Jungstedt integrates a dose of Scandinavian mythology and addresses current issues on Gotland as well, while still mostly keeping up a fast-paced and intricate plot as Knutas and his colleagues close in on the killer, and gradually uncover the secret that connects the victims. My only complaint is that I think there is a little too much idle talk at times. However, even so, The Inner Circle is a very enjoyable, exciting Swedish crime fiction book: dark, atmospheric, and character-driven, and with an intelligent plot at the center.

You can also order Mari Jungstedt's A Lonely Place (paperback) or The Inner Circle: A Mystery (Inspector Anders Knutas Mysteries) (Hardcover) from Amazon UK.