fictionfromafar

[fictionfromafar]

Broken

By Jón Atli Jónasson

Translated by Quentin Bates

Corylus Books

Publication Date: 12 June 2025

Perhaps it’s the country’s vast remoteness that makes Iceland a nation of storytelling. Maybe also the contrasting darkness and light provides inspiration for stories of bad and good. Jón Atli Jónasson was a new name to me but in his home country he’s known as a playwright, screenwriter and author.

Broken is his first English language translation and it serves as a welcome introduction to his work. While some of his compatriots are keen to focus on the often foreboding climate and secluded settings, Jónasson’s approach seems more to focus on strong characters and a modern setting for a novel which just happens to be set in Iceland.

His principal characters are certainly memorable and not without their own issues. After suffering a serious injury which is revealed early in the novel, Dora has been confined to desk duties since her return to work after a long absence. When a teenager goes missing she is paired with another detective who’s presence on the force, at at times the country is not often welcomed. Rado is the son of refugees from the conflicts in the Balkans with members of his extended family of more interest to his colleagues than he is. Neither truly wants the talk of looking for the missing teen but both of them need it, if not for their redemption but at least for their own sanity. As you might expect it takes some time for them to form a solid partnership, particularly when not everyone is willing them to succeed.

Broken is a novel which reveals characters on the edge, damaged and conflicted. The theme of desperation runs deep. The missing teen has been long troubled with a barely functioning father. While disappearing in a potential suicide spot, there are indications that seedy parts of the city might have been a possible location. Reykjavik is far from the destination that tourists see. Equally gritty are some of those people that Dora and Rada encounter. Perseverance for both means far more than simply solving the case.

This is a highly promising debut by an author with a fresh perspective on Icelandic noir. Hopefully it’s the first of several by one of Iceland’s most successful writers.

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The Darkest Winter by Carlo Lucarelli

The Darkest Winter

By Carlo Lucarelli

Translated by Joseph Farrell

Open Borders Press

An imprint of Orenda Books

Publication date. 1 June 2025

There were few places like Bologna in 1944, part of the Italian Social Republic effectively a German puppet state in northern and central Italy, headed by Mussolini and established after the fall of the Italian Kingdom and its armistice with the Allies. The city had a unique setting as there was agreement that it's historical centre would not be bombed by Allied Forces. Yet it was far from a nice place to live, overcrowded with refugees from other parts of the country, full of their farm animals. Ever present are the all-seeing German occupiers sometimes working as often against as in tandem with the local authorities. Within this environment Comandante De Luca finds himself tasked with investigating three different murders for three different masters. The first of these is a engineer with Luca given the direction by the political police that he was killed by the partisan resistance. The second murder is of key interest to the German occupiers when it's discovered that the strangled naked man was a corporal, while finally there a professor is found dead with a bullet in his eye.

While Luca has to battle these priorities, he also has to battle his conscience at times too. There is much of which he is aware but chooses not to confront, there are things he overhears but doesn't want to see. Yet this doesn't seem like the behaviours of a coward, more likely acts of self preservation. The implications of failure will mean the death of 10 prisoners. While his willpower is also needed to fend off the affections of a junior female colleague which he's been warned likes to torture prisoners. Really there seems nobody he can trust not can he be confident that anyone wants to discover the real perpetrators of the crimes. Everything becomes a risk, not knowing if he's going to be stopped and interrogated by someone acting on behalf of one of his conflicting superiors.

The Darkest Winter is a rich story with a strong sense of setting. Lucarelli has deeply researched this particular time in history. The characters also feel realistic, symptomatic of a desperate time as he crosses a range of different social classes trying to find witnesses, establish motives and avoid falling under suspicion for any of his own activities. It makes for a potent mix which can be read at a decent pace while also being a story to savour. Carlo Lucarelli has penned several post war novels featuring Comandante De Luca, this one was actually the prequel. Hopefully there will more more of his books to come from Open Borders Press, so I would certainly recommend taking this opportunity to start at the beginning.

About the author

Carlo Lucarelli was born in Parma in 1960. While researching for his thesis on the history of Italian law enforcement, he became intrigued by the Italian police force’s role in the political upheavals of the 1940s during and after the Second World War. From this seed sprouted his De Luca trilogy, later to grow into an oeuvre of more than twenty crime novels focusing on various characters. Lucarelli hosted the popular late-night Italian television programme Blu notte misteri d'Italia, on unsolved crimes and mysteries, and he is the founder of the Italian crime-writing collective Gruppo 13. He is also a journalist and has worked for multiple Italian newspapers.

Please check out the other reviews of this book as shown below:

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Lovers Of Franz K

By Burhan Sönmez

Translated by Sami Hezil

Open Borders Press

Publication Date: 10 April 2025

I had high hopes for this novel, first as it was the first translation I was reading from Kurdish and also as it was the first publication from Open Borders Press, an imprint of Orenda Books. I have long admired both Orenda and the publishers that Christopher MacLehose has been instrumental in leading in the past. I am also very aware of the plight of the Kurds, the largest ethnic group in the world without their own state. I wanted to like Lovers Of Franz K for all these reasons but sadly I found myself a little disappointed by this book.

That's not to imply there is anything wrong with it, the translation by Sami Hezil is well written, I felt I understood the nuances of the storyline, sadly I didn't find the story particularly captivated me. A major factor for this is its narrative style. A very high proportion of the story is dialogue between the characters Ferdy Kaplan, who has been arrested and charged with murder and bodily harm of two individuals, and the principal investigator Kommissar Müller. The interplay between them can be clever, and there are contrasts when one or other might feel in the ascendency. Kaplan is clearly keeping a lot to his chest while for Müller, the question of crime is not in doubt, it is the motive and the planning behind it that he wants to learn about. Gradually as the story evolves he's able to devise some theories which surprise Kaplan.

Set in West Berlin in 1968, there is a historical context as this was when many student uprisings took place in Western Europe. However the flavour of the era was lacking for me, simply as the book was more focused on dialogue. While words spoken can tell a story, particularly in a challenging situation but my preference would be to read an interrogation where thoughts, body language and other non verbal reactions are also present. At times the story resembles a play, but with no stage movements. The story does have other sections which feature a conventional narrative style which reflect on Kaplan's experiences as a child in a bombed out Berlin, growing up as a part German part Turk, and the contrasting views of his family before his discovery of his paternal homeland of Turkey and the self discovery this brings.

There is though less detail in the time before Kaplan's arrest and these reflections always feel like temporary periods away from the dialogue of the police station or court room. Perhaps this is a reflection on my own limitation in writing styles as a reader but sadly I didn't feel excitement or tension through this story that I like to sustain my interest. Nor did I feel the strong sense of setting that I really like in most translated fiction. Unfortunately this was just not my type of book. I remain optimistic that Open Borders Press will produce future titles that will be more to my interest, but I do think it was a slightly strange choice as their first publication.

Hopefully there will be far more developed and more positive reviews of Lovers of Franz K on the blog tour details of which are shown below:

“His novels are steeped in imprisonment and memory,with echoes of Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Jorge Luis Borges.” Jason Farago, New York Times

“One of the most exciting, innovative voices in Turkish and Kurdish literature today.” Peter Dziedzic, Harvard Review

“An intense and mysterious crime novel with a dash of Poe … keeping the reader in suspense from beginning to end.” Bawer Rûken, Biane

The blurb

West Berlin, 1968. As a youth uprising sweeps across Europe in the shadow of the Cold War, two men face each other across an interrogation table. One, Ferdy Kaplan, has shot and killed a student. The other, Kommissar Müller, is trying to find out why.

As his interrogation progresses, Kaplan’s background is revealed piece by piece, including the love story between him and his childhood friend Amalya, their shared passion for Kafka, and the radical youth movement they joined together. When it transpires that Kaplan’s true target was Max Brod, Franz Kafka’s close friend and the executor of his literary estate, the interrogation of a murderer slowly transforms into a dialogue between a passionate admirer of Kafka’s work, attempting to protect the author’s final wish to have his manuscripts burned, and a police commissioner who is about to learn more about literature than he ever thought possible from a prisoner in his custody.

In this gripping, thought-provoking tribute to Kafka, Burhan Sönmez vividly recreates a key period of history in the 1960s, when the Berlin Wall divided Europe.

More than a typical mystery, Lovers of Franz K. is a brilliant exploration of the value of books, and the issues of anti-Semitism, immigration, and violence that recur in Kafka’s life and writing.

About the author:

Burhan Sönmez, now President of P.E.N. International, was born in Turkey in 1965. His mother tongue is Kurdish, which has been stigmatised in Turkey for the past century. While practising law and campaigning for human rights, he was seriously injured during a murder attempt by the Turkish police in 1996 and left the country, receiving treatment in Britain and remaining in exile there for several years. Sönmez is a Senior Member of Hughes Hall College and of Trinity College, University of Cambridge. He was awarded the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation “Disturbing the Peace” award in 2017 and won the E.B.R.D. Literature Prize for Istanbul, Istanbul. Lovers of Franz K. is Sönmez’s sixth novel and the first written in his mother tongue.

[fictionfromafar]

Son by Johana Gustawsson & Thomas Enger

Orenda Books

Publication Date: 13 March 2025

Son is the first novel in an exciting collaboration between Swedish based French author Johana Gustawsson & Norwegian crime writer Thomas Enger. Expectations would be high as I’ve read and enjoyed books by both novelists before, including those that Enger wrote with Jørn Lier Horst. Of course, with a combined creation, you can never know who wrote what, but certainly the creation of central character Kari Voss gives the book a distinctive feature. Rather than being a police detective or a private investigator, Voss is a memory and body language specialist. Her skills have been recognised by her local police force in Oslo. She is often brought into interviews; particularly when the officers want to gage if someone is lying. While we see those skills in operation in the police station, we also learn of Voss’ impressions when she encounters people in her everyday life.

Voss, who was widowed when her husband perished in a house fire, is still lamenting the disappearance of her 9-year-old son, 7 years earlier. When she is contacted by her main contact in the force Chief Constable Ramona Norum, she is shocked to find the brutal murder of two teenagers - these victims were once classmates, indeed friends of her missing son. There is a lot pressing on the result of the investigation, as the victims were the daughters of famous people while their beautiful faces appear on the cover of very newspaper.

Enough about the case not only ensures that Kari Voss assists the police in her usual way, but also having knowledge of the families, she is also determined to carry out some investigations of her own. Yet that lying radar she has appears to suggest that nobody is telling the truth. You would never know that this book has been written by two different authors, in two different languages (sadly the translators are not credited on my promo copy) Gustawsson & Enger weave a tight narrative which leaves plenty of surprises for both the reader and our principal narrator.

Son is a very promising start to a new series and certainly offers plenty of potential for sequels or indeed prequels. It will be fascinating to see where Kari Voss will take them!

The blurb:

Expert on body language and memory, and consultant to the Oslo Police, psychologist Kari Voss sleepwalks through her days, and, by night, continues the devastating search for her young son, who disappeared on his birthday, seven years earlier.

Still grieving for her dead husband and trying to pull together the pieces of her life, she is thrust into a shocking local investigation, when two teenage girls are violently murdered in a family summer home in the nearby village of Son.

When a friend of the victims is charged with the barbaric killings, it seems the case is closed, but Kari is not convinced. Using her skills and working on instinct, she conducts her own enquiries, leading her to multiple suspects, including people who knew the dead girls well…

With the help of Chief Constable Ramona Norum, she discovers that no one – including the victims – are what they seem. And that there is a dark secret at the heart of Son village that could have implications not just for her own son’s disappearance, but Kari's own life, too…

ABOUT JOHANA GUSTAWSSON & THOMAS ENGER

Known as the Queen of French Noir, Johana Gustawsson is one of France's most highly regarded, award-winning crime writers, recipient of the prestigious Cultura Ligue de l`Imaginaire Award for her gothic mystery Yule Island. Number-one bestselling books include Block 46, Keeper, Blood Song and her historical thriller, The Bleeding. Johana lives in Sweden with her family.

A former journalist, Thomas Enger is the number-one bestselling author of the Henning Juul series and, with co-author Jørn Lier Horst, the international bestselling Blix & Ramm series, and one of the biggest proponents of the Nordic Noir genre. He lives in Oslo. Rights to Johana and Thomas’ books have been sold to a combined fifty countries and, for the first time, two crime writers, from two different countries, writing in two different languages, have joined forces to create an original series together.

[fictionfromafar]

The Wild Ones by Antonio Ramos Revillas

The Wild Ones

Antonio Ramos Revillas

Translated by Claire Storey

HopeRoad

Publication date: 24th October 2024

I'm always intrigued by reading fiction from far away places, particularly those I have never been to and would find hard to imagine and The Wild Ones is certainly an appropriate example of that. Set in what could be described as a shanty town on the hillside of Monterrey, a major city in Northern Mexico. The novel tells the story from the perspective of 15 year old Efraín who is the eldest of three brothers and left to care for his family when his . When his "Má" is wrongly arrested. The situation for the boys seems pretty hopeless as not only was she the only wage earner for the family but she also ran the household while her three sons would attend school, yet it is his spirit and determination to keep his siblings' lives as unchanged as possible as well as getting his mother released that drives him on.

The story really illuminates the massive differences between the those coming from the deprived colonias or neighbourhoods, and those who hail from more respectable parts of the city. When Efraín tries to get legal support, he finds that even getting information on his mum will impact him in some way. When he is offered help, it is usually at a cost which may not be directly financial. Despite coming from a very different background, it is very easy to feel empathy for Efraín and his desire to make the right choices. Even when he feels deep injustice, his resilience keeps him going.

Due to the way he dresses, his skin colour and his background, there are many no go areas in the city, others where he is continually watched and places where he would be constantly viewed with suspicion, including many of the places where he would find desirable girls of his own age. Few beacons of hope shine though the story, only one local resident has made the transition out of the colonia, while many young men are driven into crime, particularly the drug gangs. This is illustrated by the thoughts that for many within the gangs, they are considered lucky if when they die, they are found by someone who knows them and given a proper grave, rather than being buried somewhere unmarked on the hillside.

For all Efraín's efforts to bring his family together, might he have to accept some compromise to protect those he loves the most?

While crime is feature of this novel, it would really properly be described as literary fiction while the publishers HopeRoad also describe it as historical teen fiction. Whatever the category it is a very insightful read and one where you hope for the best while fearing the worst. Translated by Claire Storey, I found it an engrossing read which is not too taxing at just over 200 pages long and I would definitely be interested in reading more by Antonio Ramos Revillas in the future.

About the author

Antonio Ramos Revillas is a Mexican author of books for adults and young people. In 2015 he was selected to participate in the Mexico 20 project by the Hay Festival. The project brought together twenty Mexican writers under the age of forty and paired them with British translators, resulting in the Mexico 20 anthology, published by Pushkin Press. Antonio has received numerous regional and national awards for his writing. On an international level his novel La guarida de las lechuzas won the Fundacion Cuatrogatos prize in Miami as well as winning the International Latino Book Award. His YA books have been recommended by IBBY Mexico, Salvajes is his third book to be chosen for the White Ravens.

The blurb

Fifteen-year-old Efraín and his two younger brothers live in a house on the hillside in Monterrey, Northern Mexico. They are left to fend for themselves after their mother is wrongly arrested for theft. Má has raised her boys to keep out of trouble with the local gangs and to study for their future, but they are viewed by society as good-for-nothings or criminals simply because of where they live. The only people offering any kind of support are the local gang members – but everything comes with a price tag.

Many thanks to HopeRoad for an advance copy of The Wild Ones and to Random Things Tours for inclusion on the blog tour. Please look out for other reviews as per the below blog tour.

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Black Storms by Teresa Solana

Black Storms

By Teresa Solana

Translated from Catalan by Peter Bush

Corylus Books

Publication date 25th October 2024

While Teresa Solana has had five novels previously translated into English, her first for Corylus Books is actually the first of her novels that I have read. Focused on Deputy Inspector Norma Forester of the Catalan Police based in Barcelona, we meet her as she is about to begin a new investigation. A senior lecturer at the university has been found dead in his office on a quiet mid week evening. While he had recently been battling cancer, it is evident that the cause of his death is something entirely different, with tell tale marks around his neck. A respected historian, there appears little obvious motive for him to be murdered, particularly when there appears to be nothing taken from his office. Keeping it in the family somewhat, Norma's husband Octavi is a pathologist also working for the police. His birthday is interrupted when both are summoned to the crime scene owing to the prominence of the victim's family. Yet these initial scenes of family help to introduce Norma's family to us, including her apparently wayward daughter.

Yet our introduction to the novel starts is told from the narrative of the perpetrator as we follow his thought processes and his entry to the university building where his hapless victim to be awaits. It makes for a striking and memorable introduction to the novel. As the story progresses, we learn a little more about his current predicament and indeed his future hopes, yet sadly after a while, his narrative disappears as the novel focuses on Norma, Octavi and their colleagues in the Catalan Police. Intriguingly while questioning the victims family, they are reminded that ones of the academic's close and long term friends recently died. Considered a break in gone wrong at the time, it was assumed that his death was the result of interrupting a burglar, however the proximity of the two deaths compels Norma to investigate the links between the two men

Translated by Peter Bush, who is actually Solana's spouse, there is a lot to enjoy about Black Storms. Centred on a Catalan perspective, the novel examines the wounds and indeed the grievances held by many towards the Spanish Civil War, which is particularly significant for those, such as Norma's father, who lost their lives in the conflict. The prose is fairly straightforward and certainly no prior knowledge is required of that period of history. It all makes for an intriguing story and Norma even finds her bending the rules once or twice to get the heart of the issue. While the conclusion to the story is perhaps not as neat as some might like, crime investigations rarely are. Perhaps part of the final denouncement is left to the reader's interpretation in the same way as their perspective on recent historical events. Having enjoyed Black Storms I can happily recommend it Given this is the first translation of several novels featuring Norma Forester, I look forward to reading more stories in the future by the same author.

Many thanks to Ewa Sherman and Corylus Books for inclusion on their blog tour. Look out for other reviews of Black Storms on this tour as shown on the below poster.

A country that doesn't acknowledge its past is destined to repeat its mistakes

Why murder a sick old man nearing retirement? An investigation into the death of a professor at the University of Barcelona seems particularly baffling for Deputy Inspector Norma Forester of the Catalan police, as word from the top confirms she's the one to lead this case.

The granddaughter of an English member of the International Brigades, Norma has a colourful family life, with a forensic doctor husband, a hippy mother, a squatter daughter and an aunt, a nun in an enclosed order, who operates as a hacker from her austere convent cell. This blended family sometimes helps and often hinders Norma's investigations.

It seems the spectres of the past have not yet been laid to rest, and there are people who can neither forgive nor forget the cruelties of the Spanish Civil War and all that followed.

Teresa Solana is a multi-award-winning Catalan crime writer and literary translator, renowned for her funny, distinctive writing. A graduate in philosophy from the University of Barcelona, Teresa Solana is one of Spain’s best-known crime writers. She has a style that blends humour and satire, while addressing though-provoking social issues.

Her first crime series featuring the unidentical Masdéu twins has been translated into several languages (including English, published by Bitter Lemon Press), and her short story collection The First Prehistoric Serial Killer was longlisted for the CWA Short Story Dagger Award in 2019. She has won a number of national and international awards, including the Crims de Tinta for Black Storms.

[fictionfromafar]

The Burning Stones by Antti Tuomainen

The Burning Stones

By Antti Tuomainen

Translated by David Hackston

Orenda Books

Publication Date: 10 October 2024

Although many may have first heard of Antti Tuomainen from his trilogy beginning with The Rabbit Factor trilogy which was focused on the hapless former Insurance mathematician turned adventure park owner, Henri, the author has been long known for his standalone novels. His initial novels features dark subject matters such as a climate catastrophe and dark revenge, he really came into his stride with the The Man Who Died, a story which blended his taste for the dark side of life, with a madcap sense of humour.

From mushroom entrepreneurs to Finnish palm beach resort developers to the aforementioned Henri, his stories have cantered on peculiar businesses often run by even more peculiar people. The Burning Stones shows a slight variation on that theme as sauna-stove manufacturing is actually a viable business proposition in Finland and it's fellow neighbouring Nordic countries due to the low temperatures. Of course for a difference, this novel has to be set in the middle of a scorching summer!

The principal character is a fifty three year old sales lady called Anni. She is a loyal employee of the company, long valued by it's aging chairman, Erkki . Company business has been doing well with a particular market for Steam Devil's hand crafted saunas. Yet with varying opinions in the senior staff, it's clear that the company will have to choose which direction to take with Erkki's impending retirement.

However something sinister threatens to undermine this when the company's CEO is Ilmo Raty is found dead, burned to death in his own personal sauna. When the local police force, comprising of two officers, start their enquiries, they are certain that the cause of Raty's death was murder! It also becomes clear that they see the perpetrator as being another company employee who is keen to replace assume Ray's position.

Anni has her own strong feelings on the future of Steam Devil and concerns about the behaviour of Erkki, while choosing to keep a professional distance from many of her colleagues. Another pressing concern is the future of her marriage and it's clear that life may change in one way or another.

It soon becomes apparent that Anni is the chosen one - not only Arkki's favoured replacement but also the police chief's prime suspect for the murder of Raty - perhaps it's almost understandable that one would follow the other. The one thing that Anni is certain of is that she didn't commit the crime, despite mounting evidence to suggest the contrary. Knowing that to fail to make her own investigations could mean that she faces a lengthy prison sentence, Anni is forced to cast her suspicious around the colourful characters that form the workforce of Steam Devil. The one ally she might hope to call on is local police officer Janne, but their history is also complicated.

Nothing is purposely left ambiguous in the translation by David Hackston who has long worked with Tuomainen in a story which somewhat forms a bridge between his early more serious novels and the craziness of his more recent ones. At the heart of The Burning Stones is a murder mystery which only one person can be expected to solve, yet the interactions, human thought processes and predicaments that Anni and her colleagues find herself in are more often humorous than dangerous. Antti Tuomainen excels at describing how people behave and react in a way that seems so familiar. He also excels at writing standalone novels and I especially enjoyed reading this one.

Many thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things tours for inclusion on the blog tour and to Orenda Books for an advance copy of The Burning Stones. Please look out for the other reviews of this book on the below tour poster.

https://orendabooks.co.uk/product/the-burning-stones

Saunas, love and a ladleful of murder…

A cold-blooded killer strikes at the hottest moment: the new head of a sauna-stove company is murdered … in

the sauna. Who has turned up the temperature and burned him to death?

The evidence points in the direction of Anni Korpinen – top salesperson and the victim’s successor at Steam

Devil. And as if hitting middle-age, being in a marriage that has lost its purpose, and struggling with work weren’t enough,

Anni realizes that she must be quicker than both the police and the murderer to uncover who is behind it all – before it’s too late…

ABOUT ANTTI TUOMAINEN

Finnish Antti Tuomainen was an award-winning copywriter when he made his literary debut in

2007 as a suspense author. In 2011, his third novel, The Healer, was awarded the Clue Award

for Best Finnish Crime Novel and shortlisted for the Glass Key Award. Tuomainen was one of the first to challenge the Scandinavian crime-genre formula, and his poignant, dark and hilarious The Man Who Died became an international bestseller, shortlisting for the Petrona and Last Laugh Awards and now a Finnish TV series. Palm Beach, Finland (2018) and Little Siberia (2019) have both been adapted for the screen, airing shortly, and also shortlisted for the Capital Crime/Amazon Publishing Readers Awards, the Last Laugh Award and the CWA International Dagger, and winning the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel. The international bestselling Rabbit Factor trilogy is filming now for Amazon Studios, starring Steve Carell. Antti lives in Helsinki with his wife.

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Pursued By Death by Gunnar Staalesen

Pursued By Death

By Gunnar Staalesen

Translated by Don Bartlett

Orenda Books

Publication Date: 29 August 2024

One of the most enduring crime fiction series of all time is the Varg Veum series written by Gunnar Staalesen, with his debut novel in the series appearing in his native Norway in 1977.

It is purely chance that places Veum in a remote area away from his home town of Bergen when he happens to witness a meeting between a young man and two young women. When a short time later he reads that the man is missing, and circumstance places him back in the same area, the investigator within him cannot help to attempt to follow his trail. Yet despite his years of experience, he could never predict what he does find.

While unable to involve himself directly in this case isn't long before Veum is working on a possibly related investigation within the small and once booming finishing village of Solvik, lodging with a woman who he is forewarned "eats men for breakfast." Solvik is a location where the locals are at loggerheads. Since a local offshore salmon farm has been opened, the local wild fish stocks have been decimated, largely due to lice from the farm. While the venture remains profitable for those who run it, its presence causes a great deal of resentment for those who valued the natural environment. It's not just locals who have developed an interest in the village, journalists and environmentalists have been compelled to visit the location. Yet could those who have most to lose have really committed murder?

For several reasons, this book reminds me of the first Varg Veum that I ever read, We Shall Inherit the Wind, which I believe was the first ever published by Orenda Books. Like the earlier novel, the story is set in a remote area, it also features an element of modernity that divides the local community (a wind farm as opposed to a fish farm) and features themes of environmental protests and activism. That's not to say that Staalesen is in any way repeating himself but these elements and themes are a reflection of modern life which the author captures very effectively which remain extremely topical. Without casting any specific denouncement his portrayal of greed and also of the negative consequences of certain measures does mean that he treads a line as an observer which would find agreement from many of his readers.

The most agreeable element of the story is of course Veum himself who is our faithful narrator in every scene. Whether dodging the apparent advances of his landlady, chatting to locals in a nearly deserted local café or trying to convince a distant relative in the local police force that he is not trying to interfere in their case, he's a character that you relish spending time with and attempting to work out how the constituent parts of the story will come together seamlessly. The supporting cast also convince and their obstinance is particularly realistic.

Staalesen may well be an old hand but he certainly knows how to weave twists and surprises into his stories. Despite the high level of consistency of all his novels, I would have to say that I found Pursued By Death to be one of the best stories in the series that I've read so far.

Many thanks to Orenda Books for an advance copy of Pursued By Death and to Random Things Tours for inclusion on their blog tour. Please look out for the other reviews of this book as per the below tour poster.

When Varg Veum reads the newspaper headline ’YOUNG MAN MISSING’, he realises he’s seen the youth just a few days earlier – at a crossroads in the countryside, with his two friends. It turns out that the three were on their way to a demonstration against a commercial fish-farming facility in the tiny village of Solvik, north of Bergen.

Varg heads to Solvik, initially out of curiosity, but when he chances upon a dead body in the sea, he’s pulled into a dark and complex web of secrets, feuds and jealousies.

Is the body he’s found connected to the death of a journalist who was digging into the fish farm’s operations two years earlier? And does either incident have something to do with the competition between the two powerful families that dominate Solvik’s salmon-farming industry?

Or are the deaths the actions of the ‘Village Beast’ – the brutal small-town justice meted out by rural communities in this part of the world.

Shocking, timely and full of breathtaking twists and turns, Pursued by Death reaffirms Gunnar Staalesen as one of the world’s greatest crime writers.

One of the fathers of Nordic Noir, Gunnar Staalesen was born in Bergen, Norway, in 1947. He made his debut at the age of twenty-two with Seasons of Innocence and in 1977 he published the first book in the Varg Veum series. He is the author of over twenty titles, which have been published in twenty-four countries and sold over four million copies. Twelve film adaptations of his Varg Veum crime novels have appeared since 2007, starring the popular Norwegian actor Trond Espen Seim. Staalesen has won three Golden Pistols (including the Prize of Honour) and Where Roses Never Die won the 2017 Petrona Award for Nordic Crime Fiction, and Big Sister was shortlisted in 2019. He lives with his wife in Bergen.

[fictionfromafar]

Kalmann And The Sleeping Mountain

By Joachim B Schmidt

Translated by Jamie Lee Searle

Bitter Lemon Press

Publication Date: 18 July 2024

Early summer 2022 saw the publication of the English language debut by Joachim B Schmidt, simply named Kalmann. While crime fiction novels from Iceland are far from rare in recent years, Kalmann was a book that stood alone, very much on it's own merits. Featuring a neuro-diverse lead character, a great deal of humour and a whole lot of heart, the book charmed and warmed just as much as it thrilled it's readers. Have you not yet read it, I would certainly intend you to do so. While the original story had been intended to be standalone novel, such was the attention that the book received, that Schmidt was encouraged to write a follow up. This would be no easy feat given the ending of the above noted story, but two years later Kalmann is back.

Happily the same team is also back with the book being published by Bitter Lemon Press and translated by Jamie Lee Searle and thankfully both the appear and the comic aspects also remain. Yet there is also a fair degree of story that needs to be told through the voice of our protagonist to bring the story up to date. Set in a not to alternative universe, Kalmann gets to experience the Coronavirus pandemic, and while that could hinder many an author, particularly one looking to bring some hilarity to the story, thankfully Schmidt as adept at restraining us from thinking too deeply about those times. What touches us more is the developments in Kalmann's own life as he pays a sad goodbye to one beloved family member and then starts to build bridges with another. Indeed there is a lot of manoeuvring in the first half of this story as Kalmann, for the first time in his life ventures far from his hometown of Raufarhöfn. Trouble is never too far away and despite his infinite wisdom, his inability to read the intentions of others will often place him at jeopardy.

Following some memorable experiences, once our hero returns to the region he knows best, we begin to really explore the mystery set deep within the novel. It's a quest that will lead into Iceland's Cold War past. A history that some are unable to leave behind until all memories are extinguished. Along the way, clues are dotted around which lead towards some of the answers. While it may be rare, not every flaming mountain in Iceland is a volcano.

Kalmann And The Sleeping Mountain is a great success which will certainly satisfy all readers of Joachim B Schmidt's debut. Irrespective of the necessary scene setting in this story, I also feel it would be one that many new readers would enjoy solely upon its own merits. It's a very welcome change of mood and style from many of the other novels that I usually read. Only a fool would bet against Kalmann's future encounters being revealed in the future, until then, you can certainly delight in his present.

https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Kalmann-and-the-Sleeping-Mountain-by-Joachim-B-Schmidt-author-Jamie-Searle-Romanelli-translator/9781916725003

Many thanks to Bitter Lemon Press for an advance copy of this book and to Random Things Tours for inclusion on the blog tour.

A NORDIC CRIME THRILLER WITH A DIFFERENCE.

No gratuitous violence, no revenge porn, but a tightly plotted thriller that is chock full of humour. It is set in Washington DC and northern Iceland, both highly exotic locations. AN ENDEARING PROTAGONIST: Our mentally challenged hero, described with empathy and psychological tact, is faced with two murders and the threat of more to come. A PRIZE-WINNER. Joachim B. Schmidt received the Crime Cologne Award for the first Kalmann and the novel is shortlisted for the 2023 SpecSavers Debut Crime Award. As the jury in Cologne put it: “With Kalmann, the award goes to a classic picaresque novel cloaked in crime with an oddball protagonist at its heart. Schmidt succeeds brilliantly with the childlike, naïve narrative technique of his protagonist. Kalmann is back! But he’s already in trouble; in an interrogation room at the FBI headquarters in Washington, no less. All he wanted to do was visit his American father, but the loveable sheriff of Raufarhöfn got himself mixed up in the January 2021 Capitol riots. Thanks to sympathetic FBI agent Dakota Leen, he’s soon on a plane home. But not before she informs him that his grandfather was on a blacklist, suspected of spying for the Russians during the Cold War. Back in Iceland, there’s a murder and one heck of a mystery to unravel. And what role does a mysterious mountain play in all this? Somehow Kalmann never loses heart. There’s no need to worry; he has everything under control.

THE AUTHOR: Joachim B. Schmidt, born in 1981, emigrated from Switzerland to Iceland in 2007. He is the author of several novels and short stories and a journalist and columnist. Joachim, who is Swiss and Icelandic, lives in Reykjavik with his wife and their two children.

THE TRANSLATOR: Jamie Lee Searle is a well-known translator from German and Portuguese into English. She has translated novels by Urs Faes, Anna Kim, Marc-Uwe Kling, Christoph Ribbat and the first Kalmann of course. She lives in Winchester in the UK.

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Hot Stage by Anita Nair

Hot Stage

By Anita Nair

Bitter Lemon Press

Publication Dates 20 June 24 (UK) | 23 July 24 (USA)

Recent years have seen an increased focus on crime fiction novels set in the Indian subcontinent, whether written by British based authors of Indian or Pakistani descent, or from those writers who reside within those locations. Anita Nair is one of the latter, whose home city is Bangalore while Bitter Lemon Press have been ahead of the curve, first publishing one of her novels in 2014. Indeed fans of her work, would have had a long wait with 2016's Chain Of Custody following her British published debut A Cut Like Wound. 

Like many who will be drawn to Hot Stage, this is my first novel by Anita Nair and I am certainly encouraged to discover her earlier books. Set in 2012, the opening of the novel features a peaceful rendezvous between two fierce and usually hostile rival thugs by a mystery witness which at some future stage the reader should ensure to recall. However it was the chapter that followed that really caught my imagination as it features a cantankerous 83 year old widower who displays resentful thoughts to everyone he thinks about, particularly his recently departed wife. I would happily have read more of his thoughts and encounters yet sadly Professor Mudgood becomes the murder victim and perishes in a memorable way that I've not come across in countless books, films and serials. Although Assistant Commissioner of Police Borei Gowda believes there could be several less sinister causes of Mudgood's death, his persistence and demand for a post mortem does establish that his death was homicide. 

A known critic of right wing Hindi parties, it is perhaps fortunate that he died before Narendra Modi became Prime Minister of India, yet his published articles have made him enemies. Yet being such a difficult man to interact with, it could be possible that someone within close proximity could have also held a motive. Gowda likes to run a tightly knit operation and before long the other members of his team are brought into the storyline and is is often the dynamic between them that generates new leads and possible areas of investigation. Gradually it becomes evident to Gowda that their is much more linked to Mudgood's death than meets the key. 

Gowda's own life has it's own complications, particularly following the arrival of his father, followed by his son. Following an accident by the latter, Gowda's estranged wife returns presenting difficulties to his current flame. Meanwhile the introduction of tenants to the flat about Gowda's own one, also present him with concerns, particularly when they look to get close to his own relatives. 

Anita Nair reveals a series of contrasts in her novel, from the often wealthy exploiters to desperate opportunists, the tensions between modernity and tradition, and between public and private personas. Furthermore the book reveals far more about the city of Bangalore. There is a real richness to her writing and although it takes time for the full story to unravel the journey there and its climax is very much worthwhile. Hot Stage comes highly recommended by me.

https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Hot-Stage-by-Anita-Nair/9781913394967

Many thanks to Bitter Lemon Press for an advance copy of Hot Stage and to Anne Cater at Random Things for inclusion on the blog tour. Please look out for the other reviews of this book as shown on the tour poster below. 

When elderly Professor Mudgood, a well-known rationalist and fervent critic of right-wing forces in India, is found dead in his home in Bangalore by his daughter, Assistant Commissioner of Police Borei Gowda is quite certain that this is a homicide.

Although all evidence points to the murder being politically motivated, the more Gowda delves into the case, the more convinced he is that it isn’t an assassination. As he and his team launch a parallel investigation, they stumble upon a secret and murky world where there are no rules or mercy. When Gowda’s hand is forced, he takes a calculated risk and infiltrates the sinister domain to bring the truth out into the open… Will he succeed? And at what price?

Vivid with detail and taut with suspense, Hot Stage is at once a cracking police procedural and an intense exploration of the squalor and vice that fester in the shadowy lanes of an urban sprawl.

Anita Nair is one of India’s most acclaimed authors whose oeuvre ranges from literary fiction to noir to poetry to children’s literature. Her books have been translated into thirty-two languages around the world and have been adapted for audio, the stage and the screen.

https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Hot-Stage-by-Anita-Nair/9781913394967

[fictionfromafar]

Boys Who Hurt By Eva Björg Ægisdóttir

Boys Who Hurt

By Eva Björg Ægisdóttir

Translated by Victoria Cribb

Orenda Books

Publication Date: 20 June 2024

Five novels into her published writing career, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir is now a firmly established name in crime fiction, one who is hopefully gaining more readers which each subsequent story. While in recent years, there seems to be an increasing number of Icelandic crime novels emerging from a range of authors and time periods, Ægisdóttir is firmly and securely at the peak of her powers. It's largely due to the blend of intrigue, the flow of her storytelling, contrast between different eras, character development as well as having an excellent translator in Victoria Cribb. 

While last year's title 'You Can't See Me' stood in contrast to the earlier novels in the series, being a prequel which did not feature her principal character Elma, 'Boys Who Hurt' picks up from the end of her 2022 novel 'Night Shadows' where Elma had made a life changing discovery. Worry not if you haven't read it yet, 'Boys Who Hurt' can be read without any prior introduction. 

When Elma and her boss Hordor are led to a remote holiday home they are unprepared for the savage nature of the killing that has recently taken place there. A middle aged man has died of multiple stab wounds, yet to add to the shock, a message has been left, leaving no doubt that this was premeditated. But who and why? 

A chance encounter by Elma's partner Saevar perhaps offers a clue but a long path lies before Elma as various possible scenarios emerge before her, some of which go nowhere and some of which lead in unexpected directions.  The hallmark of  Ægisdóttir's work is that everything is about what happened before, but not simply in terms of events but also in terms of behaviours and experiences. endured There is never a born evil character in any of her stories, her approach is far more nuanced and far more realistic  The scars of mistreatment are present in her characters both physically and mentally, tales of broken families and never ending grudges   In essence this is demonstrated by the double meaning behind the title 'Boys Who Hurt'. Much like the book's title, nothing in the story should never simply be taken at face value. A masterful writer does it again, leaving a tantalising story tread to be picked up in a future story.

https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Boys-Who-Hurt-by-Eva-Bjrg-gisdttir-author-Victoria-Cribb-translator/9781916788206

Many thanks to Orenda Books for an advance copy of Boys Who Hurt and to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for inclusion in the blog tour. Please check out the other reviews of this book as shown on the above tour poster.

Dark secrets from the past threaten everything …

Fresh from maternity leave, Detective Elma finds herself confronted with a complex case, when a man is found murdered in a holiday cottage in the depths of the Icelandic countryside – the victim of a frenzied knife attack, with a shocking message scrawled on the wall above him.

At home with their baby daughter, Sævar is finding it hard to let go of work, until a chance discovery in a discarded box provides him with a distraction. Could the diary of a young boy, detailing the events of a long-ago summer have a bearing on Elma’s case?

Once again, the team at West Iceland CID has to contend with local secrets in the small town of Akranes, where someone has a vested interest in preventing the truth from coming to light. 

And Sævar has secrets of his own that threaten to destroy his and Elma’s newfound happiness.

Born in Akranes in 1988, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir studied for an MSc in globalisation in Norway before returning to Iceland to write her first novel. Her debut thriller The Creak on the Stairs, was published in 2018, and won the Blackbird Award in Iceland. Published in English by Orenda Books in 2020, it became a digital number-one bestseller worldwide, was shortlisted for the Capital Crime/Amazon Publishing Awards in two categories and won the CWA John Creasey Dagger in 2021. Girls Who Lie, the second book in the Forbidden Iceland series was shortlisted for the Petrona Award and the CWA Crime in Translation Dagger, and Night Shadows followed suit. In 2024, she won the Blood Drop Award for Crime Book of the Year in Iceland. With over 260,000 copies sold in English alone, Eva has become one of Iceland’s – and crime-fiction’s – most highly  regarded authors. She lives in Reyjavik with her husband and three children.

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Toxic By Helga Flatland

Toxic

By Helga Flatland

Translated by Matt Bagguley

Orenda Books

Publication Date: 23 May 2024

Toxic is the first novel I have read by Helga Flatland but I am certain that it will not be the last. With Toxic, I found that her writing was very captivating centred upon the collision of two contrasting lifestyles. The apparent incompatibility between these suggests that the two cannot coexist in close proximity.

We first encounter Johs who lives in a remote area of southern Norway. Together with his ageing parents and his brother he runs the family's dairy farm on land that has remained in the same line of descent for many generations. Tradition is a strong part of the guiding principles of the family and notwithstanding the relatively recent passing of the maternal grandfather, Johannes, his influence remains impressed upon Johs and his brother Andres. Their grandfather has passed down folk tales that have existed for centuries and the tradition of fiddle playing. 

Meanwhile in Oslo Mathilde is a high school teacher. Her own upbringing has been more fractured and a childhood tragedy has shaped her upbringing.  After several failed relationships, she has finally found a man that she really feels she has a future with, but the problem is that he has barely become a man.  Without warning, her life will suddenly have to change and this drives her into the proximity of Johs' family. 

Mathilde has decided not just to leave her last home behind but also her past life, but perhaps the question is whether you can  forget or replace an obsession? As she attempts to build a new life for herself in the small community she must find ways to occupy her time and her thoughts. 

Translated through Matt Bagguley, Flatland can sometimes be economical with her words, not needing to overtly spell things out to the reader, but before long a new entanglement takes place where attitudes are hardly likely to be more open than the world she left behind. Yet perhaps the conflicts that can occur are as old as time itself.

Helga Flatland is one of Norway’s most awarded and widely read authors. Born in Telemark, Norway, in 1984, she made her literary debut in 2010 with the novel Stay If You Can, Leave If

You Must, for which she was awarded the Tarjei Vesaas’ First Book Prize. She has written six novels and a children’s book and has won several other literary awards. Her fifth novel, A Modern Family (her first English translation), was published to wide acclaim in Norway in August 2017 and was a number-one bestseller. The rights have subsequently been sold across Europe and the novel has sold more than 100,000 copies. One Last Time was published in 2020 and also topped bestseller lists in Norway. Helga lives in Oslo.

Many thanks to Orenda Books for an advance copy of Toxic and to Random Things Tours for inclusion in the blog tour.

When Mathilde is forced to leave her teaching job in Oslo after her relationship with eighteen-year-old Jacob is exposed, she flees to the countryside for a more authentic life.

Her new home is a quiet cottage on the outskirts of a dairy farm run by Andres and Johs, whose hobbies include playing the fiddle and telling folktales – many of them about female rebellion and disobedience, and seeking justice, whatever it takes.

But beneath the surface of the apparently friendly and peaceful life on the farm, something darker and less harmonic starts to vibrate, and with Mathilde’s arrival, cracks start appearing … everywhere

[fictionfromafar]

The Venus of Salò by Ben Pastor

The Venus of Salò

By Ben Pastor

Bitter Lemon Press

Publication Date: 23 May 2024 

The Venus of Salò is the latest and the eighth novel in the Colonel Martin Bora series, the most recent of which was The Night of Shooting Stars in 2020. The Martin Bora series written by Ben Pastor is comprised of a total of 11 books, which were released in Italy between the years 1999 and 2015. Ben Pastor is actually the pen name of a famous Italian author named Maria Volpi Verbena. Born in Rome, she now has dual citizenship and lives and works as a teacher in the United States. 

This was the first novel I had read featuring Martin Bora and while there are references to his previous exploits, particularly on the Russian front, the characters in this story aside from Bora appear specific to the novel. They comprise of a combination of real historical figures and fictional characters. 

The story sees Martin Bora arrive in the fascist Republic of Salò on Lake Garda in October 1944, six months before the end of the war in Europe. This was a very turbulent time in the history of Northern Italy as the once captured Mussolini has been rescued by the Germans from his mountain prison and restored him to power in the north of the country. While the German occupiers ruled through violence and the aid of the local Fascists, official and unofficial armed bands would roam arresting suspected partisans, members of the Resistance and terrorising the local population. During this time, Salo‘s grand villas by Lake Garda are used by Mussolini, the Gestapo and the SS. When a valuable painting, the Venus of Salò goes missing from such a residence, Bora is tasked with the investigation into the theft of the work of art, and it's recovery. A pattern of mystery develops when several attractive women are found dead, apparently but perhaps not by their own hands. 

The investigation sees Bora mingle with a range of Italians whose allegiences can vary quite substantially as well as German occupiers from whom he has his own secrets to preserve.  Along the way finds himself mistrusted by nearlt everyone, yet also falls in love while at risk of capture from Slavic partisans. 

Ben Pastor's astute reading of historical settings emerges strongly through this story providing a multifaceted crime novel which gives the reader a real flavour for the chaos and paranoia of this period while on a human level, they route for Bora to emerge from the situation unscathed. 

The blurb:

October 1944, in the so-called Republic of Salò, the last fascist stronghold in Italy. After months of ferocious fighting on the Gothic Line, Colonel Martin Bora of the Wehrmacht must investigate the theft of a precious painting of Venus by Titian, stolen with uncanny ease from a local residence. While Bora’s inquiry proceeds among many difficulties, the discovery of three dead bodies throws an even more sinister light on the scene. The victims are female, very beautiful, apparently dead by their own hand but in fact elegantly murdered. 

The author

Ben Pastor, born in Italy, worked as a university professor in Vermont before returning to her country.   She is one of the most talented writers in the field of historical fiction. In 2008 she won the prestigious Premio Zaragoza for best historical fiction. She writes in English.

Many thanks to Bitter Lemon Press for an advance copy of this book and to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for inclusion in the blog tour. Please check out the other reviews of this book as shown below.

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Murder Under the Midnight Sun By Stella Blómkvist

Murder Under the Midnight Sun

Stella Blómkvist

Translated by Quentin Bates

Corylus Books

Publication Date: 3 May 2024

Corylus Books have shown their commitment to bringing to an English audience the work of the mysterious author of Icelandic lawyer Stella Blómkvist with the publication last year of Murder At The Residence. Following quickly afterwards Murder Under the Midnight Son offers another compelling and multidimensional story. Whether you have read the earlier novel or not will in no way impact your enjoyment of this story and I must admit I have not investigated if these were originally consecutive stories in their original language.

After an initial meeting, the premise of Blómkvist's most next assignment is to solve the mystery of the fate of a young Scottish woman, who disappeared nearly a decade earlier. In a sparsely populated country like Iceland, the possible locations a body could be left are almost endless, yet the family seek closure.

Meanwhile a journalist friend of her's has excitedly told her about revelations that will not only create huge headlines in his newspaper but will also form the basis of a forthcoming expose book. However when his intent appears to be revealed, his predicament will also take some of Blómkvist's attention.

There are more components to the book. Intriguingly, there is a strong historical context to this story, particularly in respect of Iceland's role in the cold war, but also to the countries involvement following the more recent breakup of Yugoslavia. An additional layer of mystery is added when Blómkvist makes a gruesome discovery within a glacier which later appears to have a very distant origin. Given this book is just over two hundred pages long, a lot is packed into a relatively small number of pages.

There are several surprises ahead which I certainly did not guess. Personally I do feel that some elements of the story are more effective than others. Stella Blómkvist is shown to be self determined and headstrong in all aspects of her life and while this makes her a fascinating lead character for a crime novel, I did find that a particular personal relationship she developed appeared to me a little less plausible, particularly given the ethics the lawyers have to work to. Something supposedly spontaneous could also be viewed as exploitative. It will be interesting to see if this is a theme that endures in more of the author's novels and if our protagonist actually has some characteristics of the anti-hero.

These comments not withstanding, there is much more for the reader to get their teeth into with this book. While originally written 14 years ago, there is a timeliness which keeps the themes within the story very relevant. The distinctive touches featured in the narrative give the book quite a unique outlook which provided a welcome sidestep to some of the more downbeat viewpoints often featured in the Nordic subgenre. The story combines the isolation of the outdoors with the urban environment of Reykjavik, thus offering effective contrasts. The intertwined mysteries gradually unravel in a way which effectively keeps the readers' attention. If you've not yet picked up on Stella Stella Blómkvist, now is certainly the time to do so.

The blurb:

Murder Under the Midnight Sun by Stella Blómkvist What does a woman do when her husband's charged with the frenzied killing of her father and her best friend? She calls in Stella Blómkvist to investigate - however unwelcome the truth could turn out to be. Smart, ruthless and with a flexible moral code all of her own, razor-tongued lawyer Stella Blómkvist is also dealing with a desperate deathbed request to track down a young woman who vanished a decade ago. It looks like a dead end, but she agrees to pick up the stone-cold trail - and she never gives up, even if the police did a long time ago. Then there's the mystery behind the arm that emerges from an ice cap, with a mysterious ruby ring on one frozen finger? How does this connect to another unexplained disappearance, and why were the police at the time so keen to write it off as a tragic accident? Brutal present-day crimes have their roots in the past that some people would prefer to stay forgotten. As Stella pieces together the fragments, is she getting too close to the truth and making herself a target for ruthless men determined to conceal secret sins?

Stella Blómkvist has been a bestselling series in Iceland since the first book appeared in the 1990s and has attracted an international audience since the TV series starring Heiða Reed aired. The books have been published under a pseudonym that still hasn’t been cracked. The question of Stella Blómkvist’s identity is one that crops up regularly, but it looks like it’s going to remain a mystery…

Quentin Bates has personal and professional roots in Iceland that go very deep. He is an author of series of nine crime novels and novellas featuring the Reykjavik detective Gunnhildur (Gunna) Gísladóttir. In addition to his own fiction, he has translated many works of Iceland’s coolest writers into English, including books by Lilja Sigurðardóttir, Guðlaugur Arason, Einar Kárason, Óskar Guðmundsson, Sólveig Pálsdóttir, Jónína Leosdottir and Ragnar Jónasson. Quentin was instrumental in launching Iceland Noir in 2013, the crime fiction festival in Reykjavik.

Paperback and eBook publication date: 3rd May 2024ISBN: 978-1-7392989-4-4 Price 9.99 (3.59 Kindle edition)https://corylusbooks.com/ Twitter: @CorylusB @graskeggur https://www.facebook.com/CorylusBookshttps://www.facebook.com/graskeggur https://www.facebook.com/stella.blomkvist

Many thanks to Corylus Books for an advance copy of this book and to Ewa Sherman for inclusion in the blog tour. Please check out the other reviews of this book as shown on the above tour poster.

[fictionfromafar]

Back From The Dead by Heidi Amsinck

Back From The Dead

Heidi Amsinck

Muswell Press

Publication Date: 18 April 2024

It was shortly after the Covid Lockdown when I first picked up My Name is Jensen, the first of Heidi Amsinck's novels that would become the first in the Jensen Thriller series. While many of the Nordic Noir novels that I read are written by authors living in their respective countries which are then translated into English, this novel stood out as Amsinck is a Dane living in London and writing her novel in English. The story was a standout in other ways too, portraying the difficulties encountered by journalist Jensen (she has forbidden use of her first name) as she investigates the death of several homeless men on the return to her home city of Copenhagen. Creating not simply a complex main protagonist, but also a supporting cast including Jensen's on - off married lover Detective Inspector Henrik Jungersen, the novel was primed to become a series. Pleasingly Heidi Amsinck's debut became a success not just in the UK, but also in Denmark and since in several other European countries.

Somehow I appeared to miss the follow up story, 2022's The Girl in the Photo yet I do feel that this offers me a chance to opine on the strength of Back From The Dead as a standalone novel as well as part of a series. Although the story does recall events and reintroduce characters from the earlier books gradually from outset, I do believe that many readers would soon adapt to Jensen without further background information. As we encounter Jensen in Back From The Dead she appears to be reasonably settled by her own standards, in a new relationship and while there are cost cutting measures occurring at her newspaper, Jensen appears to be in favour. By contrast Jungersen's marriage is on shaky ground and while a planned trip to Italy offers the chance to spend some well earned time with his family, the discovery of a headless corpse in Copenhagen's harbour could potentially put that at risk - but equally might the detective's own reoccurring thoughts of Jensen.

In contrast to the snowy conditions of her debut, Copenhagen is experiencing a June heatwave when Jensen hears some concerning news about a friend of her's who has apparently disappeared. When her initial investigations reach a dead end she reluctantly contacts Henrik Jungersen for help. It soon appears more than likely that his body could well be that of her friend. Yet far more is at play than either of them realise and the repercussions of their involvement will deeply impact each of the main characters' professional and personal lives.

With short chapters often alternating between the two key characters, the book compels you to continue reading and there are some twists along the way, some of which I found more surprising than others. Back From The Dead will certainly find appeal with many crime fiction readers and also features some traits of Scandinavian crime fiction which many will feel comfortable with - successful capitalists are rarely good people, to name a familiar one. I found this a strong addition to the Jensen Thriller series, although the one aspect I might have liked more of would have been a greater flavour of the city of Copenhagen; which I did feel was more strongly felt in the debut. I do have to concede though that this is may well not be so much a factor for other crime readers. The ending leaves little doubt that the series will continue and I look forward to future developments in Jensen's story.

Many thanks to Muswell Press for an advance copy of Back From The Dead and to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inclusion on the blog tour. Look out for other reviews of this novel on the blog tour poster as shown below:

A Missing person … a headless corpse … Jensen is on the case. June, and as Copenhagen swelters under record temperatures, a headless corpse surfaces in the murky harbour, landing a new case on the desk of DI Henrik Jungersen, just as his holiday is about to start. Elsewhere in the city, Syrian refugee Aziz Almasi, driver to Esben Nørregaard MP has vanished. Fearing a link to shady contacts from his past, Nørregaard appeals to crime reporter Jensen to investigate. Could the body in the harbour be Aziz? Jensen turns to former lover Henrik for help. As events spiral dangerously out of control, they are thrown together once more in the pursuit of evil, in a case more twisted and, more dangerous than they could ever have imagined.

Heidi Amsinck won the Danish Criminal Academy's Debut Award for My Name is Jensen (2021), the first book in a new series featuring Copenhagen reporter sleuth Jensen and her motley crew of helpers. She published her second Jensen novel, The Girl in Photo, in July 2022, with the third due out in February 2024. A journalist by background, Heidi spent many years covering Britain for the Danish press, including a spell as London Correspondent for the broadsheet daily Jyllands-Posten. She has written numerous short stories for BBC Radio 4, such as the three-story sets Danish Noir, Copenhagen Confidential and Copenhagen Curios, all produced by Sweet Talk and featuring in her collection Last Train to Helsingør (2018). Heidi's work has been translated from the original English into Danish, German and Czech.

[fictionfromafar]

The Kitchen By Simone Buchholz

The Kitchen

By Simone Buchholz

Translated by Rachel Ward

Orenda Books

Publication Date: 11 April 2024 

Rarely does a series of books capture the setting of a city as strongly as Simone Buchholz does of Hamburg. While it's a city I've not yet been to, I have a strong images in my head as to what the Elbe river looks like, what the protagonist Chastity Riley and her police colleagues look like, and some of the seedier places that they frequent. After last year's back to the beginning with The Acapulco, The Kitchen is the second novel of the "reloaded series" of original stories of the State Prosecutor Riley. 

As is often the case, Riley has to attempt to balance her criminal investigations with whatever turbulence she is facing in her private life.  While often the latter can often be quite self inflicted, in The Kitchen her primary concern is for the welfare of a friend of her's who has faced a horrific ordeal.  By comparison to this, when sets of body parts begin to appear in the river Elbe, this doesn't rate highly in terms of her attention at that particular moment. This is a distinctive change of outlook as normally personal matters come second for Chastity Riley. Missing the presence of veteran police detective Faller, following his recent retirement is also a disorienting experience while Riley is also worried about her attachment to a friendly neighbour. 

In parallel we are being teased by Buchholz with some mystery scenes, or perhaps more specifically thoughts processes and motivations to carry out unsavoury activities. Something is going on that is not visible to Riley but the neatness of the evidence before her, does leave her with a slight suspicion. While her focus may be somewhat clouded, her sense of justice is never in doubt and continuing to witness the distress that her friend has faced does provide eventually provide a driver to her motivations. 

When a witness finally comes forward, the results seem far to vague yet they do form a starting point for the whole case to unravel. Buchholz effectively describes some of the underlying real issues that many face on a day to day basis. These have acted as the spark for the crimes under investigation while also revealing the key moral challenges that Riley has to consider when she realises what is before her.  Sometimes the "why" becomes more important than the "who."

Simone Buchholz has never disappointed me yet and while knowledge of some of Riley's personal connections would be enhanced by reading The Acapulco,  The Kitchen can certainly be appreciated whether you have read any of her previous stories or not.

Many thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for inclusion in the blog tour and to Orenda Books for an advance copy of The Kitchen. Please check out the other reviews of this book on the blog tour as shown below.

When neatly packed male body parts wash up by the River Elbe, Hamburg State Prosecutor Chastity Riley and her colleagues begin a perplexing investigation.

As the murdered men are identified, it becomes clear that they all had a history of abuse towards women, leading Riley to wonder if it would actually be in society’s best interests to catch the killers.

But when her best friend Carla is attacked, and the police show little interest in tracking down the offender, Chastity takes matters into her own hands and as a link between the two cases emerges, horrifying revelations threaten Chastity’s own moral compass … and put everything at risk.

The award-winning, critically acclaimed Chastity Riley series returns with a slick, hard-boiled, darkly funny thriller that tackles issues of violence and the difference between law and justice with devastating insight, and an ending you will never see coming…

About the author

Simone Buchholz was born in Hanau in 1972. At university, she studied Philosophy and Literature, worked as a waitress and a columnist, and trained to be a journalist at the prestigious Henri-Nannen-School in Hamburg. In 2016, Simone Buchholz was awarded the Crime Cologne Award as well as runner-up in the German Crime Fiction Prize for Blue Night, which was number one on the KrimiZEIT Best of Crime List for months. The critically acclaimed Beton Rouge, Mexico Street, Hotel Cartagena and River Clyde all followed in the Chastity Riley series. Hotel Cartagena won the CWA Crime in Translation Dagger in 2022. The Acapulco (2023) marked the beginning of the Chastity Reloaded series, with The Kitchen out in 2024. She lives in Sankt Pauli, in the heart of Hamburg, with her husband and son.

[fictionfromafar]

Rodolfo Walsh’s Last Case by Elsa Drucaroff

Rodolfo Walsh’s Last Case

By Elsa Drucaroff

Translated by Slava Faybysh

Corylus Books

Publication Date: 5 March 2024

Other than through crime fiction novels written by authors in the country, I really know very little about the oppressive Argentinian military dictatorship that ruthlessly suppressed all opposition, or "subversives" as they are referred to in this story. As the book begins two Montoneros, members of the Argentine left-wing Peronist group are on a mission. In perhaps a contrast to expectations their act is theft on behalf of the citizens rather than terrorism, yet it isn't long before more brutal developments are brought to the reader's attention. A shoot out has taken place at a suspected hide out for the Montoneros. Broadcast via Montevideo as the Argentine radio is censored, the news is unclear - either four men and a woman have been killed, or the men are dead and the woman has been captured by the security forces. This is devastating news for Rodolfo Walsh, a journalist and writer who is also head of intelligence for the Montoneros. His 26th year old daughter is the missing woman.

Rodolfo Walsh was a real historical figure and his novel "A Letter to My Friends" was the basis for this novel by Elsa Drucaroff who while researching the history of the time, imagined the circumstances that followed the disappearance of Victoria Walsh. With little reliable information available from his own sources, Walsh has to cross the divide in order to contact Colonel König from the Argentine army in order to attempt to establish the truth.

While conflict is the key theme of this novel, it is far more than simply that between the military junta and the rebels. Walsh has to inform his daughter's mother that Victoria is missing and this brings ahead the reasons for their separation. While a good deal of Argentines may feel sympathetic to the aims of the Montoneros, this does not mean that they personally feel the need to be personally involved as Walsh and his daughter have been. Ideal life or ideology? Elsewhere, another agent has previously had to choose between the cause and love and only when it is nearly too late does he realise what he has missed out on.

The dividing lines are never simplistic. Within the Montoneros there is great debate as to whether they should continue their militant actions, try to negotiate a political settlement or a combination of both, while Colonel König is far less extreme than his leader General Oddone. Yet just sometimes within each human, there is something that polar opposites can recognise within the other. Perhap something recognisable in us all...

Naturally the story does have a predetermined outcome based within history while also giving further lasting legacy to Rodolfo and Victoria Welsh. Perhaps it's importantly it's also a very thought-provoking story which has an enduring relevance and resonance.

Many thanks to Corylus Books for an advance copy of this book and to Ewa Sherman for inclusion on the blog tour. Please check out the other reviews as shown below.

About the author

Elsa Drucaroff was born and raised in Buenos Aires. She is the author of four novels and two short story collections, in addition to being a prolific essayist. She has published numerous articles on Argentine literature, literary criticism and feminism. Her work has been widely translated, but Rodolfo Walsh’s Last Case is Elsa Drucaroff’s first novel to be translated into English.

About the translator

Slava Faybysh lives in Chicago and is an up-and-coming translator from two languages: Spanish and Russian into English. His translations have been published in the New England Review, History Magazine, Asymptote Journal, Latin American Literature Today, and Another Chicago Magazine, among others. His translation of Leopoldo Bonafulla’s anarchist memoir The July Revolution: Barcelona 1909 was published by AK Press in 2021.