Happy Sunday, readers, and welcome back to our weekly spotlight on Scandinavian crime fiction! If you’re new to CBTB, every Sunday this November, I’ll be spotlighting crime fiction from a particular Nordic country. We’ve already explored Norwegian crime fiction and Swedish crime fiction, and this weekend, it’s Denmark’s turn! Denmark is home to two bestselling crime writers whose work helped introduce me to the Scandinavian crime fiction genre, writers who remain some of my favorites to this day,, and it’s also home to a number of up-and-coming crime writers whose novels are shaking up the genre, and delivering truly gripping and inventive stories. Today I’ll be walking you through my personal favorite Danish crime writers, and giving you tips for where to start with their work! I’ll add the same disclaimer here that I’ve had on my last couple Nordic Noir blog posts: this list is by no means an exhaustive rundown of all the Danish crime writers out there, simply a guide to my personal favorites, which I hope will help you embark on your own journey discovering their work!
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CBTB’s Guide to Early-2020 Nordic Noir
Scandinavian crime fiction is my personal favorite crime fiction subgenre, and a staple of Crime by the Book—and luckily for all of us who adore it, 2020 is going to be a fantastic year for new releases in this category! Today I’m rounding up the Scandinavian crime fiction that belongs on your to-read list early this year, including both books I’ve already read and covered here on CBTB, and titles that I haven’t yet dug into, but which are on my personal TBR list. The books included in this post have US publication dates that fall between January and April 2020—which means that some of them are already on sale, and some are releasing very soon! From new installments in beloved series to exciting debuts, there’s a little something for every Scandinavian crime fiction fan releasing early this year. Dive into this list and fill your TBR with all the gritty, gripping storytelling that Scandinavian crime fiction has to offer.
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Crime Books to Get You Hooked on Nordic Noir
If there’s one request I’ve been getting most frequently on Crime by the Book lately, it’s for Nordic Noir books for newcomers to the genre - and you can imagine how happy that makes me! Nordic Noir (aka Scandinavian crime fiction) is my all-time favorite crime fiction subgenre, and it’s a subgenre overflowing with talented writers for you to discover. But, like with anything, figuring out where to start can be tricky. To help solve that dilemma, I’ve put together a blog post designed to be your launching point into the world of Nordic Noir. Here you’ll find recommendations suitable for readers who are totally new to the Scandinavian crime fiction subgenre: this list includes books by many of the biggest names in Scandinavian crime writing, books that will give you the perfect introduction to the genre and its most prominent characteristics. If you’ve been hoping to dig into Scandinavian crime fiction but weren’t quite sure where to start, let this list be your guide!
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CBTB's Beginner's Guide to Jo Nesbo
CBTB's "Beginner's Guide" to my all-time favorite author, Jo Nesbo. This post contains a whole bunch of resources to help you get started with Nesbo's works, including a recommendation of where to start with the Harry Hole series, an overview of Nesbo's standalone crime books, and a preview of what's to come from Nesbo in 2017.
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Lunch with Erik Axl Sund, authors of THE CROW GIRL
On May 18th, I had the once-in-a-lifetime chance to sit down with Erik Axl Sund, the brilliant authors of THE CROW GIRL, the forthcoming Scandinavian crime tome from Knopf (on-sale June 14). This was a dream come true for me, and I'm so honored to be able to share a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the creation of THE CROW GIRL.
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