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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Nordic Noir November: Spotlight on Swedish Crime Fiction
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. Last Sunday, I shared a rundown of my personal favorite Norwegian crime writers, and this week, it’s Sweden’s turn! From iconic bestselling series to under-the-radar books, from serial killer thrillers to psychological thrillers and a whole lot more, there is so much fantastic crime fiction coming out of Sweden. Today I’ll be walking you through a rundown of my personal favorite Swedish crime writers, and giving you tips on where to start with their work. I’ll add the same disclaimer here that I did on last week’s blog post: this is by no means an exhaustive list of all the incredible Swedish crime writers out there (this list could go on and on if I didn’t cut it off somewhere!). Instead, this list is intended to give you a guide to my personal favorite (and most-recommended) Swedish crime writers!
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Excerpt: THE CHESTNUT MAN by Søren Sveistrup
There’s nothing I love more as a reader than discovering a great new Nordic crime novel, and that’s exactly what I found last year with Søren Sveistrup’s excellent debut thriller THE CHESTNUT MAN. If you haven’t yet explored Sveistrup’s debut, you’re in luck: this outstanding Nordic serial killer thriller is available now in paperback! In THE CHESTNUT MAN, an unlikely investigative duo is on the trial of a brutal serial killer in Denmark, and this villain has a very creepy calling card: a chestnut doll (a traditional children’s craft in Denmark), which he leaves behind at each crime scene. Author Søren Sveistrup is the creator of the TV show The Killing, and his background shines through in his debut crime novel’s engaging pacing and larger-than-life protagonists and villains. Blending the immersive atmosphere of Denmark with a pacey, page-turning plot you won’t be able to put down, THE CHESTNUT MAN is an excellent Nordic thriller perfect for fans of Lars Kepler—and perfect for any reader looking for an atmospheric, chilling thriller to dig into this fall. Thanks to the publisher, I’m thrilled to be able to give CBTB readers a glimpse into THE CHESTNUT MAN today. In today’s blog post, you can revisit my full review of the book, read a Q&A with the author, and read the book’s first chapter! Read on and enter the world of THE CHESTNUT MAN.
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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 Guide to Ruth Ware Thrillers
There are so many talented crime writers at work today, but there’s no one quite like Ruth Ware. Ruth Ware has been a staple of Crime by the Book since I first began my Instagram and blog—her debut novel was published just a few weeks after I launched my Instagram account, and it was one of the first I photographed for my Instagram, too! (Spot the very early CBTB-Instagram photo above!) Her books will always hold a special place in my heart, but nostalgia isn’t the only reason I’m such a die-hard Ruth Ware fan. Ruth Ware is one of those authors whose writing just consistently works for me. Picking up a new Ruth Ware book is, for me, the ultimate pleasure: it’s an instant-escape, and a return to a writing style that never fails to captivate me and sweep me up in a thrilling, page-turning mystery. Ware has been called “the Agatha Christie of our generation” (by David Baldacci, no less!), and that very high praise is so well-deserved. Ware’s books feature an irresistible blend of the old and the new, crafting clever crime stories that would make the Queen of Crime proud. In today’s blog post, I’ll be walking you through Ruth Ware’s books—including a general overview of why I love her crime stories, what kind of reader I think will best appreciate each of her books, and a little glimpse into her 2020 release, too! Ruth Ware is one of my absolute favorite authors, and I hope this blog post will encourage you to give her work a try. Read on for my guide to Ruth Ware’s thrillers!
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