Swedish Crime Writers

The Bomber, by Liza Marklund

The Bomber gives a terrific behind-the-scenes view of the Swedish tabloid business as told by author-journalist Liza Marklund. It tells the tale of Annika Bengtzon and her courageous attempt to catch a killer while struggling with the stress and demands of a deteriorating family life.

Journalist Annika Bengtzon is asleep next to her husband when the call comes in at 3:22 A.M. It is the weekend. Within minutes she is standing in a frozen December night looking at a nightmare scene of police tape and rubble, and trying to get the best possible picture of it for tomorrow's edition of her newspaper.

A bomb has destroyed Stockholm's new Olympic arena just months before the Summer Games and blown someone to pieces. Putting a city on edge with fears of a terrorist on the loose, the Bomber will become Annika Bengtzon's biggest story — or the final nail in her coffin.

As the only female editor at a Swedish tabloid, Annika is gutsy, she gets stories that others don't, and she takes risks. Fighting for the respect of her colleagues, she finds herself increasingly consumed by her job, and maybe losing her family in the process. Now, she has a hunch — and a secret source inside the police department — telling her that the Olympic stadium blast isn't terrorism. It's much more personal than that. And Annika knows that the odds are, if she closes in on the truth, she will end up on the Bomber's list of victims.

Other great books by Liza Marklund include Paradise and Studio Sex (Annika Bengtzon Thriller) (from amazon US).

Order instead from amazon UK: The Bomber, Paradise, and Studio Sex: An Annika Bengtzon Thriller.

The Return: An Inspector Van Veeteren Mystery, by Hakan Nesser

Hakan (Håkan) Nesser is another of the brilliant Swede crime writers who have been translated into English recently. He is a skilled writer, with well developed plots in his books, and has written a series of books about Inspector Van Veeteren. As you will see when you read The Return, Van Veeteren is a likable, smart, passionate and fully drawn character. Furthermore, all of Nesser’s books have the feel of authentic police investigations throughout. His books are generally police procedurals.

The storyline in The Return revolves around an inquest conducted by Chief Inspector Van Veeteren and his squad of detectives in the Maardam police department. A decapitated corpse also missing hands and feet was discovered wrapped in a carpet by a pre-school child in a wooded area during a class outing. Immediately the investigation was two pronged. Exactly who was the victim and who was his murderer?

The detectives soon discover that the victim was one Leopold Verhaven. The notorious Verhaven, once a world class middle distance runner, had served two separate 12 year prison terms for the murders of two young women he was romantically involved with. As Van Veeteren looks back at the evidence from the previous killings he gets the feeling that Verhaven might have been innocent.

The reader is taken through many routine interrogations in a murder investigation which only very gradually add up to a solution to the case. The case itself is bizarre and convoluted, involving the murders of three people, including a convicted murderer recently paroled from prison. While the central figure in The Return is Chief Inspector Van Veeteren, his junior colleagues get most of the story space and their characters are well developed and credible. Still, Van Veeteren really shines through, after his serious surgical procedure he’s in a lighter, more philosophical mood with more humor and irony surfacing.

The Return is a great crime novel, and very psychological. The action is intriguing and interesting, the plot good, and the characters rich and attractive. You will enjoy! Highly recommended.

Other great books by Hakan Nesser include Borkmann's Point: An Inspector Van Veeteren Mystery and Münsters Fall.

Detective Inspector Huss, by Helene Tursten

Inspector Irene Huss, stationed in Goteborg, is called through the rain-drenched wintry streets to the scene of an apparent suicide. The dead man landed on the sidewalk in front of his luxurious duplex apartment. He was a wealthy financier connected, through an old-boys' network, with the first families of Sweden. Suicide seems obvious, but some counter evidence quickly surfaces that indicates that it may have been a murder. Irene Huss of the Violent Crimes Unit investigates the von Knecht death with a word of caution that the victim is connected to the Swedish elite.

So begins this exciting crime novel, Detective Inspector Huss, written by yet another talented Swedish crime writer, Helene Tursten. Helene Tursten has been compared to PD James in her native Sweden. Her two subsequent Irene Huss mysteries have been highly praised. She was born in Goteborg, where she now lives, in 1954. So far three of her books have been translated into English.

Detective Inspector Huss is an intriguing police procedural from Swedish author Tursten, the first in a new series. Its heroine, Huss, is a sympathetic 40-something detective attempting to juggle a demanding job and her family life.

Rather quickly Huss and her competent team trace von Knecht's life into the criminal underground of drug dealing and motorcycle gangs. Then the case turns deadly again when a bomb blows up Von Knecht's business office, killing two people. Huss and her squad struggle with finding the motive. Fuss, however, has a feeling that von Knecht's underworld and business connections have crossed at a fatal junction. This makes her worry that more killings will follow if she is unable to stop the unknown perpetrator.

Remarkably, there's little about the mystery, the characters' personalities and motivations or the police approach to solving the crimes that couldn't easily be transposed to a contemporary American setting. Huss herself is an entirely plausible creation - smart, competent, but fallible - and the exchanges between the various police officers with whom she works help define them as three-dimensional as well. Through solid, patient police work, the good guys catch the murderer, whose identity, while not a total surprise, provides a nice narrative twist.

The characters, from the police to suspects and witnesses, all are exceedingly well-drawn and believable. Detective Inspector Huss is especially likable, as a 40-ish woman in a male dominated profession filled with casual sexism. Her coworkers are all intriguing, from enigmatic Hannu, to wheezing supervisor Andersson, bright young Brigitta, arrogant Medical Examiner Stridner, and the many technicians who assist the investigation. Huss's personal life adds great depth and sympathy to her character, especially the subplot involving one of her daughter's flirtation with neo-Nazism. Ethnicity comes into play as well, with several characters having Finnish backgrounds that render them quite alien to the Swedes.

The pacing of Detective Inspector Huss is quite good considering the book's length and complexity. Also, the translation is exceedingly smooth and readable.We strongly recommend this book!

Other very good books by Helene Tursten include The Torso and The Glass Devil.