Nordic Noir

I've always been a mystery and crime buff. There was even a time when I was a little girl that I thought I would be a detective when I grew up. Of course, once I did grow up and learned I'd have be a police officer first and wear that uniform for quite some time before that could happen, I changed my mind. My love of my of the mystery, however, has never waned. 

Several years ago when Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (and subsequent two "girl" books in his Millennium Trilogy) was published to rave reviews I somehow remained out of the loop and never got around to reading it until a couple of years ago. It was also around this time that I discovered the The Killing on AMC, a crime series based on a Danish series of the same name.

Between the two I found myself literally seduced into the genre of Nordic Noir which takes full advantage of the often stark settings and cold climates of Scandinavia to add to the drama and suspense of twisting plot lines. The U.S. version of The Killing was set in Seattle, where the near-constant grey skies and rain made for a perfect backdrop for the tension that pervades the script.

Since my first exposures to Nordic Noir I have sought out more of the genre and found some wonderful new authors and television programming which have introduced me to detectives I'd like to meet in real life. Here are some of my favorites:

Lars Kepler: The Hypnotist is the first book to feature Stockholm's Detective Inspector Joona Linna. In this novel Linna brings a renowned hypnotist out of retirement to help solve the brutal murder by helping him communicate with a traumatized young boy who may be the only one with the answers to solve the crime.

Jussi Adler-Olsen: First in Adler-Olsen's "Department Q" novels, The Keeper of Lost Causes is once-brilliant Copenhagen homicide detective Carl Mørck. After an incident which ruined the lives of two fellow cops, and for which Mørck blames himself, the politics of a changing police department relegate him to Department Q to solve the coldest cases--or not--on his own.

Jo Nesbø: Oslo's Inspector Harry Hole is brilliant, but not the easiest detective to work with. He follows a good deal of his own rules and often interprets the actual rules to suit the needs of his investigations. In The Bat, Hole travels to Sydney, Australia, to look into the death of a Norwegian woman with some minor celebrity status back home. Working with a local detective the case turns into a dangerous search for serial killer.

Henning Mankell: Kurt Wallander is a police Inspector in the town of Ystad, Sweden, so dedicated to his work that he can think of little else when he's on a case. I've never read the Menkell's novels, but I was easily drawn in to the BBC TV series (available on Netflix) starring Kenneth Brannagh. Each episode is a full-length tv movie based on a single novel in which Wallander investigates and solves a single case. Often, elements of the investigation will force Wallander to addresses his own personal issues involving family, health, or friendships.

There are so many more contributions to this genre to discover and I've really just skimmed the surface with this brief introduction. So, should you find yourself looking for more, a Google search for "Nordic Noir" will bring up more than enough to satisfy.