Scandinavian Noir – nigeladamsbookworm

Death in Summer. Lina Areklew

I like Scandinavian Noir, in fact I’ve started to hunt down new authors, that is how I found this book, and it was worth hunting for.

Fredrik lost his family on the MV Estonia sinking. Him and his brother made it on to a life boat but his parents perished on board.

His brother went missing off the lifeboat and was never seen again. Except Fredrik is convinced he’s alive. He’s seen him several times.

This time he sees him he’s more than convinced it’s him.

Tracking him to a hotel, but losing him again. Fredrik follows a man he saw his brother meet to a remote island. The next day the man is dead.

Sofia Hortencia is a Police Detective who works on the mainland but lives on that remote island. She’s part of the investigation. She also knows one of the main witnesses, suspects, Fredrik. They were in Criminology classes together, and had developed a relationship.

All of that in the first fifty or so pages.

From there the story unfolds. An unthinkable series of murders. An unlikely connection. What is happening and just how long has it been happening for. How many victims have there been, and who is likely to be next.

This is a cracking story with a strangely plausible plot. The twists and turns flow throughout and surprises are always just around the corner, right up till the last page.

Pages: 375. Publisher: Canelo Crime. Publishing Date: 5th May 2022

The Corpse Flower. Anne Mette Hancock

2016, a man is butchered in his home. A woman walks out of the house and stands, covered in his blood, looking into a CCTV camera. Her name is Anna, she walks away and is never found.

2019, Anna starts to send letters to journalist Heloise Kaldan. Cryptic notes that have the journalist confused, a claim of a link between her and Anna.

At the same time a woman walks into a police station in Copenhagen and claims she has seen Anna in France. Detective Sergeant Eric Schafer, the Chief Investigator for the murder, doesn’t really believe her until, she shows him the picture she took of the woman

Anna contacts Eric and the two start separate investigations.

What they uncover is chilling, a history of abuse of the worst kind. An apparently untouchable criminal hiding in the mist of being a respectful and powerful business man.

But what is the connection to Anna.

Who is pulling the strings. Both Anna and Eric work separately but remain in touch. One of them is being played.

This is a belter of a story. Like most scandi- noir it has a bit of over description, but like most of scandi-noir it seems more in tune with the story than it does in any other form of crime fiction.

The pace of the story occasionally wallows but it gives the reader a chance to take stock.

I believe this is the first book by Anne Mette Hancock, and that a second featuring Eric and Heloise is due to be published in November 2022. If this is right I will be looking for it on the bloggers review sites in the hope of getting an early copy. If I can’t get it there I will be preordering and waiting anxiously for it to land in my Kindle in November.

Print Length: 331. Publisher: Swift Press. Available now

The Girl Without Skin Mads Peder Nordbo

I have found myself getting more and more into Scandinavian Noir, both in books and in TV Series.

I have to say this is one of the best I’ve read so far, and hopefully will make it to the screen because the plot is fantastic.

Matthew Cave is a Danish journalist living in Nuuk, Greenland.

Sent to cover the discovery of a mummified body in the wilds outside the city he finds a body that may be of historical significance. So why, when it is left in-situ, does it disappear overnight; and why is the Police Officer that is left to guard it killed in a grizzly manner that reflects four murders which occurred 4 decades earlier.

Matthew and his photographer, Greenland Native Malik, begin to look into both sets of murders and it soon become obvious to Matthew that there is some connection.

Nuuk may be the capital of Greenland but it’s like a small town, everybody seems to know everybody, there are no roads in or out of the city. Secrets and alliances abound, as do illicit relationships which encourage abuse.

Then there’s Matthews own past, his American Father that disappeared when he was young, and whose presence always seems to be a shadow in the background.

When Matthew forms a partnership with a young woman, who has just been released from prison for Killing her family, when she was only 11, his life comes under more scrutiny from the Police and Politicians.

Is somebody trying to stop him from getting to the bottom of the murders? Or is it just that they don’t like outsiders.

This book has everything I like about Scandinavian Noir; crimes in close communities, introvert characters, fantastic settings, and hideous crimes.

The book had me reaching for the internet on more than one occasion. The City of Nuuk was an unknown to me, the use of a special tool for skinning whales and seals was new to me, the Greenland folk law was new to me.

So as well as being very entertaining this book educated me. What more can you ask from a good read.

Pages: 352

Publisher: Text Publishing

Available now.