A handy checklist of Nordic mysteries
I've just found this list of Nordic mysteries, published last year by the Marin County Free Library. It's almost a year old so not quite up to date, but it makes a nice shopping and reading list for crime fiction from Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Iceland.
It states that no Finnish mysteries are available in English translation, which is not quite the case. Some of Matti Joensuu's work is available, at least in used copies, and there is always my man Pentti Kirstila, whose deadpan short story "Brown Eyes and Green Hair" is available in The Oxford Book of Detective Stories (An International Selection).
© Peter Rozovsky 2007
It states that no Finnish mysteries are available in English translation, which is not quite the case. Some of Matti Joensuu's work is available, at least in used copies, and there is always my man Pentti Kirstila, whose deadpan short story "Brown Eyes and Green Hair" is available in The Oxford Book of Detective Stories (An International Selection).
© Peter Rozovsky 2007
Labels: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Nordic crime, Norway, Pentti Kirstila, reference, Sweden, Web sites
posted by Peter Rozovsky at 3:23 AM
9 Comments:
Matti Joensuu's The Priest of Evil came out last year in the UK and should be readily available but unfortunately I don't recommend it. (I've reviewed it on Euro Crime - http://www.eurocrime.co.uk/reviews/The%20Priest%20of%20Evil.html)
A much better bet is Ice Moon by Jan Costin Wagner which is set in Finland. The author is German but spends half the year living in Finland. Reviewed at http://www.eurocrime.co.uk/reviews/Ice%20Moon.html
Thanks for the note. I wonder if that library plans to update its Nordic fiction list. I also have a certain respect for your ability to finish a book you did not enjoy. I lack similar patience. And thanks for the Wagner recommendation. I're read good things about it.
In the late seventies, two crime novels by Mauri Sariola were translated in the UK. Tapani Bagge will have his hardboiled novel PUHALTAJA published by Point Blank Press, under the tentative title THE JACK - once I get to do the rough translation on which the guys at Point Blank will be able to continue. There's still a crime novel by Heimo Lampi (IIRC) in English, but I think it's a vanity translation.
Thanks. I know Point Blank has done a number of good things, including the Frank McAuliffe reissues. This will be one more. Good luck with the project!
They left Jo Nesbo off the Norwegian list - Heresy!
Another book in the same series as Priest of Evil" called IIRC Harjunpaa and the Stone Circle has been translated into English, doesn't seem to be readily available. I found Priest of Evil hard to warm to, would like to get hold of a copy of the other book to give the series another chance.
Hi, Laura. It's an odd coincidence you should happen to mention Jo Nesbo. The Devil's Star has been keeping me up nights -- reading, not tossing with nightmares -- and I should finish it tonight or tomorrow.
I also noticed Nesbo's omission from the list. The list is about a year old, which might have been before the publication of The Devil's Star in English (I don't know when Redbreast was published). Also, Nesbo might not yet be widely available in the U.S., and a public library might be constrained from ordering books from overseas.
I could not find The Devil's Star in the one U.S. chain bookstore where I looked. I bought my copy in Canada, and it was obviously a British rather than an American translation.
Harjunpaa and the Stone Murders is one book of Matti Joensuu's that I had heard of. I have a copy under its American title, The Stone Murders, though I haven't read it yet.
We who've braved Priest of Evil want to know your opinion of Stone Murders, so don't delay :-)!!! Redbreast came out after TDS in 9/2006 (TDS - 10/2005).
I've added the authors Juri mentioned to the Euro Crime database.
I'll have to read The Stone Murders first. And I have sent the Marin Country Free Library a link to this post and its comments. Perhaps that will spur them to update their list. I've published links to a number of such library lists. They make good resources.
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