The next meeting of the JCPLA Reader’s Advisory Roundtable
will be on Wednesday, April 4, 2018 at 9am at the Emmet O’Neal Library. The topics up for discussion are clean
romance and erotica. Bonus points for
reading/sharing one of each!
Today, we met to talk about Scandinavian
mysteries/thrillers. What a Valentine’s
Day celebration it was!
Need help pronouncing that author, title, or town? Try this!
“Best Scandinavian Crime Fictions in 2017 Petrona Award
Shortlist” published by Mystery Tribune
She thinks more highly of snow and ice than she does of
love. She lives in a world of numbers, science and memories--a dark,
exotic stranger in a strange land. And now Smilla Jaspersen is
convinced she has uncovered a shattering crime... It happened in the Copenhagen snow. A six-year-old boy, a
Greenlander like Smilla, fell to his death from the top of his apartment
building. While the boy's body is still warm, the police pronounce
his death an accident. But Smilla knows her young neighbor didn't
fall from the roof on his own. Soon she is following a path of clues
as clear to her as footsteps in the snow. For her dead neighbor, and
for herself, she must embark on a harrowing journey of lies, revelation and
violence that will take her back to the world of ice and snow from which she
comes, where an explosive secret waits beneath the ice....
Mary Anne, BPL Southern History
The entire Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbo
Before becoming a crime writer, Nesbo played football for
Norway’s premier league team Molde, but his dream of playing professionally for
Spurs was dashed when he tore ligaments in his knee at the age of eighteen.
After three years military service he attended business school and formed the
band Di derre ('Them There'). They topped the charts in Norway, but Nesbo
continued working as a financial analyst, crunching numbers during the day and
gigging at night. When commissioned by a publisher to write a memoir about life
on the road with his band, he instead came up with the plot for his first Harry
Hole crime novel, The Bat.
Inspector Harry Hole of the Oslo Crime Squad is dispatched
to Sydney to observe a murder case. Harry is free to offer assistance, but he
has firm instructions to stay out of trouble. The victim is a twenty-three year
old Norwegian woman who is a minor celebrity back home. Never one to sit on the
sidelines, Harry befriends one of the lead detectives, and one of the
witnesses, as he is drawn deeper into the case. Together, they discover that
this is only the latest in a string of unsolved murders, and the pattern points
toward a psychopath working his way across the country. As they circle closer
and closer to the killer, Harry begins to fear that no one is safe, least of
all those investigating the case.
The Bat was awarded with the most prestigious crime writing award in Norway, The Riverton Prize (Rivertonprisen) 1997 for Best Norwegian Crime Novel of the Year, as well as the premier crime writing award in Scandinavia, The Glass Key (Glasnyckeln) 1998 for Best Nordic Crime Novel of the Year.
The Bat was awarded with the most prestigious crime writing award in Norway, The Riverton Prize (Rivertonprisen) 1997 for Best Norwegian Crime Novel of the Year, as well as the premier crime writing award in Scandinavia, The Glass Key (Glasnyckeln) 1998 for Best Nordic Crime Novel of the Year.
When the Norwegian ambassador to Thailand is found dead in a
Bangkok brothel, Inspector Harry Hole is dispatched from Oslo to help hush up
the case. But once he arrives Harry discovers that this case is about much more
than one random murder. There is something else, something more pervasive,
scrabbling around behind the scenes. Or, put another way, for every cockroach
you see in your hotel room, there are hundreds behind the walls. Surrounded by
round-the-clock traffic noise. Harry wanders the streets of Bangkok lined with
go-go bars, temples, opium dens, and tourist traps, trying to piece together
the story of the ambassador’s death even though no one asked him to, and no one
wants him to, not even Harry himself.
The Redbreast is a fabulous introduction to Nesbø’s
tough-as-nails series protagonist, Oslo police detective Harry Hole. A
brilliant and epic novel, breathtaking in its scope and design—winner of The
Glass Key for best Nordic crime novel and selected as the best Norwegian crime
novel ever written by members of Norway’s book clubs—The Redbreast is a
chilling tale of murder and betrayal that ranges from the battlefields of World
War Two to the streets of modern-day Oslo. Follow Hole as he races to stop a
killer and disarm a ticking time-bomb from his nation’s shadowy past. Vogue
magazine says that “nobody can delve into the dark, twisted mind of a murderer
better than a Scandinavian thriller writer”…and nobody does it better than Jo
Nesbø! James Patterson fans should also take note.
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. When a bank teller is shot during a holdup
at the start of Norwegian bestseller Nesbø's beautifully executed heist drama,
Oslo Insp. Harry Hole investigates, along with Beate Lønn, a young detective
with the ability to remember every face she's ever seen. Meanwhile, Harry
receives a call from Anna Bethsen, a woman he hasn't seen in years. After he
meets Anna, recovering alcoholic Harry awakens the next morning with a hangover
and the news that Anna is dead, apparently by her own hand. While Harry quietly
looks into Anna's death, he and Beate uncover ties in their bank robbery case
to one of Norway's most notorious bank robbers, who's currently in prison. The
deeper Harry digs, the clearer it becomes that Anna's death is linked to the
robbery. Expertly weaving plot lines from Hole's last outing to feature the
inspector, The Redbreast (2007), Nesbø delivers a lush crime saga
that will leave U.S. readers clamoring for the next installment. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
In the heat of a sweltering Oslo summer, a young woman is
found murdered in her flat—with one of her fingers cut off and a tiny red
star-shaped diamond placed under her eyelid. An off-the-rails alcoholic barely
holding on to his job, Detective Harry Hole is assigned to the case with Tom
Waaler, a hated colleague whom Harry believes is responsible for the murder of
his partner. When another woman is reported missing five days later, and her
severed finger turns up adorned with a red star-shaped diamond ring, Harry
fears a serial killer is at work. But Hole's determination to capture a fiend and to expose
Waaler's crimes is leading him into shadowy places where both investigations
merge in unexpected ways, forcing him to make difficult decisions about a
future he may not live to see.
Shots ring out at a Salvation Army Christmas concert in Oslo,
leaving one of the singers dead in the street. The trail will lead Harry Hole,
Oslo’s best investigator and worst civil servant, deep into the darkest corners
of the city and, eventually, to Croatia. An assassin forged in the war-torn region has been brought to Oslo to settle an
old debt. As the police circle in, the killer becomes increasingly desperate
and the danger mounts for Harry and his colleagues.
One night, after the first snowfall of the year, a boy named
Jonas wakes up and discovers that his mother has disappeared. Only one trace of
her remains: a pink scarf, his Christmas gift to her, now worn by the snowman
that inexplicably appeared in their yard earlier that day. Inspector
Harry Hole suspects a link between the missing woman and a suspicious letter
he’s received. The case deepens when a pattern emerges: over the past decade,
eleven women have vanished—all on the day of the first snow. But this is a
killer who makes his own rules . . . and he’ll break his pattern just to keep
the game interesting, as he draws Harry ever closer into his twisted web. With
brilliantly realized characters and hair-raising suspense, international
bestselling author Jo Nesbø presents his most chilling case yet—one that will
test Harry Hole to the very limits of his sanity.
Samuel, Springville Road
Holley, Emmet O’Neal
Inspector Harry Hole has retreated to Hong Kong, escaping
the trauma of his last case in squalid opium dens, when two young women are
found dead in Oslo, both drowned in their own blood. Media coverage quickly
reaches a fever pitch. There are no clues, the police investigation is stalled,
and Harry—the one man who might be able to help—can’t be found. After he
returns to Oslo, the killer strikes again, Harry’s instincts take over, and
nothing can keep him from the investigation, though there is little to go on.
Worse, he will soon come to understand that he is dealing with a psychopath who
will put him to the test, both professionally and personally, as never before.
When Harry Hole moved to Hong Kong, he thought he was
escaping the traumas of his life in Oslo and his career as a detective for
good. But now, the unthinkable has happened—Oleg, the boy he helped raise, has
been arrested for killing a man. Harry can't believe that Oleg is a murderer,
so he returns to hunt down the real killer.
Although he's off the police force, he still has a case to
solve that will send him into the depths of the city’s drug culture, where a
shockingly deadly new street drug is gaining popularity. This most personal of
investigations will force Harry to confront his past and the wrenching truth
about Oleg and himself.
For years, detective Harry Hole has been at the center of
every major criminal investigation in Oslo. His brilliant insights and
dedication to his job have saved countless lives over the years. But as the
killer grows increasingly bold and the media reaction increasingly hysterical,
the detective is nowhere to be found. This time, when those he loves and values
most are facing terrible danger, Harry is in no position to protect
anyone—least of all himself.
Ramona, Leeds
The murder victim, a self-declared Tinder addict. The one
solid clue—fragments of rust and paint in her wounds—leaves the investigating
team baffled. Two days later, there’s a second murder: a woman of the same age,
a Tinder user, an eerily similar scene. The chief of police knows there’s
only one man for this case. But Harry Hole is no longer with the force. He
promised the woman he loves, and he promised himself, that he’d never go back:
not after his last case, which put the people closest to him in grave danger. But
there’s something about these murders that catches his attention, something in
the details that the investigators have missed. For Harry, it’s like hearing
“the voice of a man he was trying not to remember.” Now, despite his promises,
despite everything he risks, Harry throws himself back into the hunt for a
figure who haunts him, the monster who got away.
Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell
From the dean of Scandinavian noir, the first riveting
installment in the internationally bestselling and universally acclaimed
Kurt Wallander series, the basis for the PBS series staring Kenneth Branagh.
It was a senselessly violent crime: on a cold night in a remote Swedish farmhouse an elderly farmer is bludgeoned to death, and his wife is left to die with a noose around her neck. And as if this didn’t present enough problems for the Ystad police Inspector Kurt Wallander, the dying woman’s last word is foreign, leaving the police the one tangible clue they have–and in the process, the match that could inflame Sweden’s already smoldering anti-immigrant sentiments.
Unlike the situation with his ex-wife, his estranged daughter, or the beautiful but married young prosecuter who has peaked his interest, in this case, Wallander finds a problem he can handle. He quickly becomes obsessed with solving the crime before the already tense situation explodes, but soon comes to realize that it will require all his reserves of energy and dedication to solve.
It was a senselessly violent crime: on a cold night in a remote Swedish farmhouse an elderly farmer is bludgeoned to death, and his wife is left to die with a noose around her neck. And as if this didn’t present enough problems for the Ystad police Inspector Kurt Wallander, the dying woman’s last word is foreign, leaving the police the one tangible clue they have–and in the process, the match that could inflame Sweden’s already smoldering anti-immigrant sentiments.
Unlike the situation with his ex-wife, his estranged daughter, or the beautiful but married young prosecuter who has peaked his interest, in this case, Wallander finds a problem he can handle. He quickly becomes obsessed with solving the crime before the already tense situation explodes, but soon comes to realize that it will require all his reserves of energy and dedication to solve.
Liz, Pinson
The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg
In this electrifying tale of suspense from an international
crime-writing sensation, a grisly death exposes the dark heart of a
Scandinavian seaside village. Erica Falck returns to her tiny, remote hometown
of Fjällbacka, Sweden, after her parents’ deaths only to encounter another
tragedy: the suicide of her childhood best friend, Alex. It’s Erica herself who
finds Alex’s body—suspended in a bathtub of frozen water, her wrists slashed.
Erica is bewildered: Why would a beautiful woman who had it all take her own
life? Teaming up with police detective Patrik Hedström, Erica begins to uncover
shocking events from Alex’s childhood. As one horrifying fact after another
comes to light, Erica and Patrik’s curiosity gives way to obsession—and their
flirtation grows into uncontrollable attraction. But it’s not long before one
thing becomes very clear: a deadly secret is at stake, and there’s someone out
there who will do anything—even commit murder—to protect it. Fans of Scandinavian greats Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell will devour
Camilla Läckberg’s penetrating portrait of human nature at its darkest.
Liz, Pinson
Blood on the Snow by Jo Nesbo
From the internationally acclaimed author of the Harry Hole
novels—a fast, tight, darkly lyrical stand-alone novel that has at its center
the perfectly sympathetic antihero: an Oslo contract killer who draws us into
an unexpected meditation on death and love.
This is the story of Olav: an extremely talented “fixer” for one of Oslo’s most powerful crime bosses. But Olav is also an unusually complicated fixer. He has a capacity for love that is as far-reaching as is his gift for murder. He is our straightforward, calm-in-the-face-of-crisis narrator with a storyteller’s hypnotic knack for fantasy. He has an “innate talent for subordination” but running through his veins is a “virus” born of the power over life and death. And while his latest job puts him at the pinnacle of his trade, it may be mutating into his greatest mistake. . . .
This is the story of Olav: an extremely talented “fixer” for one of Oslo’s most powerful crime bosses. But Olav is also an unusually complicated fixer. He has a capacity for love that is as far-reaching as is his gift for murder. He is our straightforward, calm-in-the-face-of-crisis narrator with a storyteller’s hypnotic knack for fantasy. He has an “innate talent for subordination” but running through his veins is a “virus” born of the power over life and death. And while his latest job puts him at the pinnacle of his trade, it may be mutating into his greatest mistake. . . .
Liz, Pinson
Burial Rights by Hannah Kent
Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to
vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her
former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution.
Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her. But as Agnes's death looms, the farmer's wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they've heard.
Riveting and rich with lyricism, Burial Rites evokes a dramatic existence in a distant time and place, and asks the question, how can one woman hope to endure when her life depends upon the stories told by others?
Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her. But as Agnes's death looms, the farmer's wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they've heard.
Riveting and rich with lyricism, Burial Rites evokes a dramatic existence in a distant time and place, and asks the question, how can one woman hope to endure when her life depends upon the stories told by others?
Maura, Trussville
Snowblind by Ragnar Jonasson
Where: A quiet fishing village in northern Iceland, where no
one locks their doors. It is accessible only via a small mountain tunnel.
Who: Ari Thor is a rookie policeman on his first posting,
far from his girlfriend in Reykjavik. He has a past that he's unable to leave
behind.
What: A young woman is found lying half-naked in the snow,
bleeding and unconscious, and a highly esteemed elderly writer falls to his
death. Ari is dragged straight into the heart of a community where he can trust
no one, and secrets and lies are a way of life.
Past plays tag with the present and the claustrophobic
tension mounts, while Ari is thrust ever deeper into his own darkness―blinded
by snow and with a killer on the loose.
Taut and terrifying, Snowblind is a startling
debut from Ragnar Jonasson, an extraordinary new talent.
Maura, Trussville
The Nina Borg series by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis
Danish Red Cross nurse Nina Borg has dedicated her life to
helping those underserved by society—but her do-gooder tendencies often lead
her into situations beyond the law’s protection.
Nina Borg, a Red Cross nurse, wife, and mother of two, is a
compulsive do-gooder who can’t say no when someone asks for help—even when she
knows better. When her estranged friend Karin leaves her a key to a public
locker in the Copenhagen train station, Nina gets suckered into her most
dangerous project yet. Inside the locker is a suitcase, and inside the suitcase
is a three-year-old boy: naked and drugged, but alive.
Is the boy a victim of child trafficking? Can he be turned over to authorities, or will they only return him to whoever sold him? When Karin is discovered brutally murdered, Nina realizes that her life and the boy’s are in jeopardy, too. In an increasingly desperate trek across Denmark, Nina tries to figure out who the boy is, where he belongs, and who exactly is trying to hunt him down.
In the ruins of an abandoned Soviet military hospital in
northern Hungary, two impoverished Roma boys are scavenging for old supplies or
weapons to sell on the black market when they stumble upon something more
valuable than they ever could have anticipated. The resulting chain of events
threatens to blow the lives of a frightening number of people.
Meanwhile, in Denmark, Red Cross nurse Nina Borg puts her life and family on the line when she tries to treat a group of Hungarian Gypsies who are living illegally in a Copenhagen garage. What are they hiding, and what is making them so sick? Nina is about to learn how high the stakes are among the desperate and the deadly.
Meanwhile, in Denmark, Red Cross nurse Nina Borg puts her life and family on the line when she tries to treat a group of Hungarian Gypsies who are living illegally in a Copenhagen garage. What are they hiding, and what is making them so sick? Nina is about to learn how high the stakes are among the desperate and the deadly.
Nina. Natasha. Olga. Three women united by one terrifying
secret. But only one of them has killed to keep it. Natasha Doroshenko, a
Ukrainian woman who has been convicted for the attempted murder of her Danish
ex-fiancé, escapes police custody on her way to an interrogation in
Copenhagen's police headquarters. That same night, the ex-fiancé's frozen,
tortured body is found in a car. It isn't the first time the young Ukrainian
woman has lost a partner to violent ends: her first husband was murdered three
years earlier in Kiev in the same manner.
In an attempt to save their marriage, Nina Borg and her
husband traveled to a beach resort in the Philippines for a dream vacation.
Only now, six months later, does Nina begin to understand the devastating
repercussions of that trip—repercussions that have followed her home across the
globe to Denmark. On an icy winter day, she is attacked outside the grocery
store. The last thing she hears before losing consciousness is her assailant
asking her forgiveness. Only later does she understand that this isn’t for what
he’s just done, but for what he plans to do to.
As Nina tries to trace the origin of sinister messages she’s received, she realizes the attempt on her life must be linked to events in Manila, and to three young men whose dangerous friendship started in medical school. Time and circumstance have forced them to make impossible choices that have cost human lives. It’s a long way from Viborg to Manila, and yet Nina and her pursuer face the same dilemma: How far will they go to save themselves?
As Nina tries to trace the origin of sinister messages she’s received, she realizes the attempt on her life must be linked to events in Manila, and to three young men whose dangerous friendship started in medical school. Time and circumstance have forced them to make impossible choices that have cost human lives. It’s a long way from Viborg to Manila, and yet Nina and her pursuer face the same dilemma: How far will they go to save themselves?
Kelly, Springville Road
Doctor Death by Lene Kaaberbol
Strong-minded and ambitious, Madeleine Karno is eager to
shatter the constraints of her provincial French upbringing. She longs to
become a pathologist like her father, whom she assists, but this is 1894.
Autopsies are considered unseemly and ungodly, even when performed by a man. So it’s no surprise that when seventeen-year-old Cecile Montaine is found dead
in the snowy streets of Varbourg, her family will not permit a full postmortem
autopsy, and Madeleine and her father are left with a single mysterious clue.
Soon after, the priest who held vigil by the dead girl’s corpse is brutally
murdered. The thread that connects these two events is a tangled one, and as
the death toll mounts, Madeleine must seek knowledge in odd places: behind
convent walls, in secret diaries, and in the yellow stare of an aging wolf. Eloquently written and with powerful insight into human and animal
nature, Doctor Death is at once a captivating mystery and a poignant
coming-of-age story.
Kelly, Springville Road
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
It is autumn 1981 when the inconceivable comes to
Blackeberg, a suburb in Sweden. The body of a teenage boy is found, emptied of
blood, the murder rumored to be part of a ritual killing. Twelve-year-old Oskar
is personally hoping that revenge has come at long last—revenge for the
bullying he endures at school, day after day. But the murder is not the most important thing on his mind.
A new girl has moved in next door—a girl who has never seen a Rubik’s Cube
before, but who can solve it at once. There is something wrong with her,
though, something odd. And she only comes out at night....
Holley, Emmet O'Neal
MOVIES/TV SHOWS
The Killing is a
Danish police procedural drama television series created
by Søren Sveistrup. It was first broadcast on Danish national
television channel in January 2007, and has since been
transmitted in many other countries worldwide. The series is set in Copenhagen and revolves
around Detective Inspector Sarah Lund (Sofie Gråbøl). Each series follows a
murder case day-by-day. Each fifty-minute episode covers twenty-four hours of
the investigation. The series is noted for its plot twists, season-long
storylines, dark tone and for giving equal emphasis to the stories of the
murdered victim's family and the effect in political circles alongside the
police investigation. It has also been singled out for the photography of its
Danish setting, and for the acting ability of its cast.
The Killing is an American crime drama television series that premiered in April 2011, on AMC, based on the Danish television series. The American version was developed by Veena Sud and produced by Fox Television Studios and Fuse Entertainment. Set in Seattle, Washington, the series follows the various murder investigations by homicide detectives Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos) and Stephen Holder (Joel Kinnaman).
When an elite crime squad's lead detective (Michael
Fassbender) investigates the disappearance of a victim on the first snow of
winter, he fears an elusive serial killer may be active again. With the help of
a brilliant recruit (Rebecca Ferguson), the cop must connect decades-old cold
cases to the brutal new one if he hopes to outwit this unthinkable evil before
the next snowfall. Critics Consensus: A mystery that feels as mashed
together and perishable as its title, The Snowman squanders its
bestselling source material as well as a top-notch ensemble cast.
A discredited journalist and a mysterious computer hacker
discover that even the wealthiest families have skeletons in their closets
while working to solve the mystery of a 40-year-old murder. Inspired by late
author Stieg Larsson's successful trilogy of books, The Girl with the Dragon
Tattoo gets under way as Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander are briefed in
the disappearance of Harriet Vanger, whose uncle suspects she may have been
killed by a member of their own family. The deeper Mikael and Lisbeth dig for
the truth, however, the greater the risk of being buried alive by members of
the family who will go to great lengths to keep their secrets tightly sealed.
Critics Consensus: Brutal yet captivating, The
Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is the result of David Fincher working at his
lurid best with total role commitment from star Rooney Mara.
A 12-year-old boy befriends a mysterious young girl whose
appearance in town suspiciously coincides with a horrifying series of murders
in director Tomas Alfredson's adaptation of the book by author John Ajvide
Lindqvist, who also wrote the screenplay. Oskar is a young boy who can't seem
to shake off the local bullies, but all of that begins to change when a new
neighbor moves in next door. After striking up an innocent friendship with his
eccentric next-door neighbor, Oskar realizes that she is the vampire
responsible for the recent rash of deaths around town. Despite the danger,
however, Oskar's friendship with the girl ultimately takes precedence over his
fear of her.
Twelve-year old Owen is viciously bullied by his classmates
and neglected by his divorcing parents. Achingly lonely, Owen spends his days
plotting revenge on his middle school tormentors and his evenings spying on the
other inhabitants of his apartment complex. His only friend is his new neighbor
Abby, an eerily self-possessed young girl who lives next door with her silent
father. A frail, troubled child about Owens's age, Recognizing a fellow
outcast, Owen opens up to her and before long, the two form a unique bond. When
Abby's father disappears, the terrified girl is left to fend for herself.
Still, she rebuffs Owen's efforts to help her, leading the imaginative Owen to
suspect she's hiding an unthinkable secret.
