Have Yourself a Noir Little Christmas

[eve_n_furter]

Over at scandafandom, oneiriad just posted a list of all Scandinavian fandoms nominated for this year's big yuletide (the obscure fandom fiction exchange project) event. I have gotten permission to share the Nordic Noir ones with you here:

Books and Literature:
Harry Hole Series - Jo Nesbø
Inspector Sejer Mysteries - Karin Fossum
Lig og laurbær - Kim Marthedal
Millennium Trilogy - Stieg Larsson
Wallander Series - Henning Mankell

TV-series:
Anno 1790
Bron | Broen | The Bridge (1)
Forbrydelsen | The Killing

Are there more? Tell it in the comment section. And please also tell us if you are participating! You could find fellow Yuletide and Nordic Noir friends and most certainly readers too! I'm sure many of us are looking forward to see fills for these. :)

Comments

[eve_n_furter]

None of the ones I know are bad, but they're pretty different. I'll try to sum them up for you. :)

Harry Hole Series - Jo Nesbø
- This should be a pretty safe bet for you, as they're definitely hard boiled. One thing to watch out for though is that the first ~3 are a little bit different from the more recent ones; the author is experimenting and trying to find his own take on the hard boiled, pretty bloody detective thriller genre. So if you want to read the more commercially successful ones, you should start at about book four in the series. You can always read the early ones later if you find you love them. Also, a specialty for this author is that he twists and turns his endings around several times, sometimes crossing the line for what's strictly and realistically believable, but it's so much fun that most people gladly forgive him.

Inspector Sejer Mysteries - Karin Fossum
- Fossum is striving to get into the realistic and often accidental murderer's mind. Quiet, convoluted and heartbreaking stories, far from hard boiled. Critics hold her in high regard, but she's writing for different audience than Nesbø.

Lig og laurbær - Kim Marthedal
- I haven't read this, but I know that it's a gay themed crime story, and it seems the readers have enjoyed it.

Millennium Trilogy - Stieg Larsson
- Another safe bet. True page-turners, be sure to have all three books at hand before you start reading, you'll want to continue until the end. There's good reasons why it's an international best seller and that the readers mourn the author's early death. And they have hard-boiled elements, for sure, just not in the conventional way.

Wallander Series - Henning Mankell
- Gritty, poetic, bloody murder mysteries. I love the main detective (and his neighbor), and a couple of the books in the series are of my all time favorite murder mysteries (Sidetracked, The Fifth Woman). Others are a bit bland (Firewall), but the author is among the most productive Scandinavian crime writers ever, so I guess that's just how it goes.

Hope you enjoy your read!