6 Nordic Noir Series to Read This Fall
Under-Discussed Scandinavian Crime Series That Belong on Your TBR
Chilling atmospheres, intricate plots, and engaging protagonists—Scandinavian crime novels are the perfect books to reach for when you’re looking for an atmospheric fall or winter mystery. If you’ve been around CBTB for a little while, you’ve probably already heard me discuss a number of the genre’s heavy-hitters (and some of my personal favorite authors!) including Jo Nesbo, Camilla Lackberg, and Lars Kepler, to name just a few. But there are so very many fantastic authors writing truly stellar crime novels that fall under this category, and, for one reason or another, far too many of them don’t get the attention they deserve here in the U.S., despite being massive bestsellers all around the world. To hopefully do my part and remedy that, today I want to highlight for you a few under-discussed Nordic Noir series that will make for perfect chilly-weather reading material—the kinds of books you may not have heard about elsewhere, but that you’ll want to tell everyone about once you give them a try.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Scandinavian crime fiction, so be sure to check out my blog’s Expert Witness: Nordic Noir section to learn even more about this superb sub-genre, view my personal favorite Nordic crime authors, explore book recommendations organized by Scandinavian country, and more!
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6 Scandinavian Crime Series To Read This Fall
1. Yrsa Sigurdardottir’s Children House Series
Iceland’s Queen of Crime brings to her excellent procedural series a twisted imagination and a knack for intricate plotting. The Children’s House Series is set in the author’s native Iceland, and follows an unlikely duo of protagonists: Huldar, a police officer, and Freyja, a child psychologist. Huldar and Freyja are brought together in the first series installment, The Legacy, to interview the sole witness to a brutal crime: a young child who was in the house when their mother was horrifically murdered. Freyja’s expertise in working with young children and Huldar’s training as a police officer make them the ideal team to solve some truly chilling crimes over the course of this series. Combining gritty, visceral crime writing with a twisted imagination and masterful plotting, Yrsa Sigurdardottir’s Children’s House series is one of my personal favorite series launched over the past few years.
Children House Series Details
Read This Series if You Love:
Intricate, Complex Plots | Twisted Crimes | Police Procedurals
Setting: Iceland
Number of Books Currently Available: 2
Books in Order:
Book 1 - The Legacy
Book 2 - The Reckoning
Book 3 - The Absolution (anticipated in February 2020 and now available for pre-order)
2. Asa Larsson’s Rebecka Martinsson Series
I discovered Asa Larsson’s Rebecka Martinsson Series by accident, on a routine visit to a local bookstore years ago. I bought the first series installment on a bit of a whim, and was instantly hooked on Larsson’s binge-worthy plots and compelling female lead. Since then, I’ve devoured almost all of her books (though I still have one in the series on my TBR!) and gotten my dad hooked on these books, too. This series follows a Stockholm-based attorney named Rebecka Martinsson, a character who is deeply engaging and endearing -- a perfect fit for fans of Sara Blaedel’s Louise Rick or Camilla Lackberg’s Erica Falck. These books aren’t quite as dark as the aforementioned Children’s House series by Yrsa Sigurdardottir, and they’re not quite as dense as the series I’ll discuss next on this list (Jorn Lier Horst’s William Wisting series); instead, they’re the perfect choice for the reader looking for a mystery that’s approachable and accessible without being overly heavy. You’ll want to binge-read these books as the snow falls this winter.
Rebecka Martinsson Series Details
Read This Series if You Love:
Chilling Winter Atmosphere | Binge-Worthy Pacing | Compelling Female Lead
Setting: Sweden
Number of Books Currently Available: 5
Books in Order:
Book 1 - Sun Storm
Book 2 - The Blood Spilt
Book 3 - The Black Path
Book 4 - Until Thy Wrath Be Past
Book 5 - The Second Deadly Sin
3. Jorn Lier Horst’s William Wisting Series
If realistic, down-to-earth police procedurals are your thing, you will love Jorn Lier Horst’s William Wisting series. Jorn Lier Horst is a former Senior Investigating Officer in the Norwegian police force, and he brings to his crime fiction series a knack for writing investigations as they would have really happened. His books are slow-burning, traditional procedurals through and through, and they will captivate readers who love crime novels that feel grounded in reality. His protagonist, William Wisting, is a delightful counterpoint to some of the genre’s more harried detectives (you know I love those troubled detectives too - here’s looking at you, Harry Hole! - but sometimes a change of pace can be genuinely refreshing). I read in an old interview years ago that Jorn’s goal with the character of William Wisting was to portray the hard-working and dedicated police officers he knew during his time on the police force, and this intention shines through in his writing. Of any of the books discussed in this list, Jorn Lier Horst’s are the books that stick most closely to the legacy of the traditional police procedural.
William Wisting Series Details
Read This Series if You Love:
Realistic Crime Fiction | Slow-Burn Stories | Meticulous Plotting
Setting: Norway
Number of Books Currently Available: 5
Books in Order:
Book 1 - Dregs
Book 2 - Closed for Winter
Book 3 - The Caveman
Book 4 - Ordeal
Book 5 - When It Grows Dark
4. Ragnar Jonasson’s Hidden Iceland Series
Icelandic atmosphere meets Agatha Christie influences in Ragnar Jonasson’s superb Hidden Iceland series. Jonasson burst onto the scene with his Dark Iceland books (featuring police officer Ari Thor), but his Hidden Iceland books - an entirely distinct series - are the work of an author at the top of his game. This series was originally structured as a trilogy, but I’ve heard through the grapevine that there may be more books in the series coming - great news for those of us who have fallen for this series’ compelling female lead and subtle yet relentlessly entertaining plots. The main hook here: this trilogy is told backwards chronologically, with the first book in the series (The Darkness) introducing readers to protagonist Hulda Hermansdottir at the end of her tenure working for the local police force. The second series installment (The Island) finds Hulda in the middle of her career. These books are elegant, stylish crime fiction, and their central mysteries are as chilling and addictive as one could wish for.
Hidden Iceland Series Details
Read This Series If You Love:
Icelandic Backdrop | Fresh & Inventive Structure | Subtle Yet Creepy Storytelling
Setting: Iceland
Number of Books Currently Available: 2
Books in Order:
Book 1 - The Darkness
Book 2 - The Island
Book 3 - The Mist (anticipated in 2020)
5. Thomas Enger’s Henning Juul Series
Thomas Enger’s heartfelt and heartrending Henning Juul series blends the pacing of a classic detective story with a fresh storytelling angle: our protagonist isn’t a police officer, but a journalist on the hunt for the truth about a tragic accident. Of any of the series discussed in this blog post, the Henning Juul series is the one that’s most imperative to read in series order; over the course of this book, protagonist Henning Juul gets ever closer to learning the truth about the house fire that tragically killed his young son years prior. This series is as much about solving crimes as it is about a father’s undying love for his child, and I found its emotional heft to be its most compelling angle. I became deeply invested in the characters Enger crafts over the course of these books, and I’m pretty sure I cried at least once during each of these reads. I would highly recommend this series for readers looking for slow-burn mysteries that pack huge emotional heft.
Henning Juul Series Details
Read This Series If You Love:
Endearing Characters | Emotionally-Impactful Crime Writing | Slow-Burn Stories
Setting: Norway
Number of Books Currently Available: 5
Books in Order:
Book 1 - Burned
Book 2 - Pierced
Book 3 - Scarred
Book 4 - Cursed
Book 5 - Killed
5. Helene Tursten’s Embla Nystrom Series
The Embla Nystrom Series is a relatively new venture for a prolific Swedish crime writer. Best known for her Irene Huss series, author Helene Tursten launched her new series featuring detective Embla Nystrom in the US in February of this year (2019). The first book in the series, Hunting Game, is classic crime (think Agatha Christie!) meets Nordic Noir meets modern protagonist, and I absolutely loved it. This series will follow a 28-year-old woman who has risen through the ranks to become a Detective Inspector in Gothenburg, Sweden. Our protagonist, Embla, is a fantastic character to follow; she leaps off the page, reading like a real, complex human being. In tone and content, Hunting Game reads very much like a classic mystery transported to the freezing cold woods of Sweden. Hunting Game is structured like a “locked room mystery,” and my hope is that subsequent series installments will also have this classic-crime feel! Hunting Game is undoubtedly a very slow-burning story, but if you’re in the mood for that (as I was when I read it!) it’s excellent.
Embla Nystrom Series Details
Read This Series If You Love:
Classic Crime Fiction | Slow-Burn Stories | Compelling Female Lead
Setting: Sweden
Number of Books Currently Available: 1
Books in Order:
Book 1 - Hunting Game
Book 2 - Winter Grave (anticipated February 2020 and now available for pre-order)
6. Sara Blaedel’s Louise Rick Series
Rounding out this list is Danish crime fiction queen Sara Blaedel’s procedural series featuring Louise Rick, a detective in Denmark. Blaedel’s US publisher has smartly divvied this series into three trilogies: “The Homicide Trilogy” (Books 1 - 3), “The Camilla Trilogy” (Books 4 - 6), and “The Missing Persons Trilogy” (Books 7 - 9). Thematically, these groupings make perfect sense; each “trilogy” finds Louise Rick at a distinct stage in her personal and professional life, and the later “trilogies” can easily be read on their own. My personal favorite “trilogy” is The Missing Persons Trilogy, which finds Louise working in an elite unit within the police force dedicated to searching for people who have gone missing. No matter which “trilogy” within this series most catches your eye, readers who love well-researched, realistic procedurals will love following Louise and her colleagues as they track down criminals in beautiful Denmark. The emotional depth found in the friendship between Louise and her close friend Camilla add a layer of human interest to these police procedurals.
Louise Rick Series Details
Read This Series If You Love:
Police Procedurals | Slow-Burn Stories | Compelling Female Lead
Setting: Denmark
Number of Books Currently Available: 9
Books in Order:
Book 1 - The Midnight Witness
Book 2 - The Silent Women
Book 3 - The Drowned Girl
Book 4 - The Night Women
Book 5 - The Running Girl
Book 6 - The Stolen Angel
Book 7 - The Forgotten Girls
Book 8 - The Killing Forest
Book 9 - The Lost Woman
Have you read any of these Scandinavian crime novels? Are any of them on your fall TBR? I’d love to hear from you! xx A
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