Nordic Noir

Nordic Noir is a catchy name for mysteries from Nordic authors. The whole craze was started by the great popularity of Steig Larsson's Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, although author Henning Mankell writing about detective Kurt Wallander, in books and on a television series, was popular before Dragon. Jo Nesbo is a fine example of Nordic Noir, with his series of  crime fiction books, including The Snowman and The Leopard. Quentin Bates writes about Officer Gunnhilder, who is trying to balance work and family in his books Frozen Assets and ColdComfort. Goteborg, Sweden, is the setting for a promising series starring Irene Huss, detective inspector in a police force not yet comfortable with women officers. The overview of Swedish society, its liberal foundation cracked by racism, drugs, and a new wave of vicious crime, forms a compelling backdrop for the series by author Helene Tursten. ML