I just got into Henning Mankell's crime novels featuring Kurt Wallander. Not SF or fantasy, but terrific nonetheless. I picked up "Faceless Killers" and "The Dogs of Riga". Anyone else read any Henning Mankell?
Yes... I read those and perhaps one or two others, but found that a couple or so that I tried didn't seem worth finishing. However, I'm normally not a reader of mysteries, so don't take my comments too seriously!
I know someone who is working on a two-volume study of the current Scandinavian police procedurals, mysteries, etc. She recommends:
From Sweden:
the Sjowall-Wahloo series about Martin Beck
Liza Markland's The Red Wolf
Camilla Lackberg's The Gallows Bird
Leif Persson's Between Summer's Longing and Winter's End
Hakon Nesser's Borkmann's Point
Form Norway:
Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series including The Redbreast and The Snowman
Anne Holt's Hanne Wilhelmsen series, including 1222 and Blind Goddess
Thomas Enger's Burned
Karin Fossum's Don't Look Back
From Iceland:
Arnaldur Indridason's Silence of the Grace and Jar City
Yrsa Sigurdadattir's Last Rituals and Ashes to Ashes
From Denmark:
Jussi Adler-Olsen's Department Q series, beginning with Mercy
The Kaaberbol-Friss Nina Borg series, beginning with The Boy in the Suitcase
From Finland:
Matti Joensuu's The Priest of Evil
Kjell Westo's Lang
I am writing in a hurry -- someone else wants the computer -- so please pardon the lack of diacritical marks. I know they do matter. However, they don't matter if you are an English-speaking person looking for books on Amazon.
I have read none of these, so I'm just passing on some information that might interest someone. My source has read over a hundred of these recent books and does have reading knowledge of at least one or two of the original languages; but she is referring to English translations.