Danish crime writer Katrine Engberg broke onto the scene in the US in 2020 with her debut crime novel THE TENANT, the first in a new series about two Copenhagen-based police officers, Jeppe Kørner and Anette Werner. This week, Kørner and Werner are back in THE BUTTERFLY HOUSE, the second installment in Engberg’s crime fiction series—and what a fantastic installment it is. There’s something particularly exciting as a reader about following an up-and-coming author’s career and seeing their growth and development, and THE BUTTERFLY HOUSE is proof positive that Katrine Engberg is on an upward trajectory. While I enjoyed her debut novel THE TENANT, I loved THE BUTTERFLY HOUSE, and would highly recommend this engaging, inventive Danish crime novel for fans of Nordic Noir and police procedurals. In THE BUTTERFLY HOUSE, the quirky personalities of Engberg’s protagonists are once again front and center, and this time, the pair find themselves operating independently of one another. With Anette Werner on maternity leave, Jeppe Kørner finds himself assigned a new partner with whom he must tackle a series of disturbing crimes that seem tied to a local Copenhagen hospital. But Anette isn’t one to be left behind, and she sets out to conduct her own off-the-record investigation into these very same murders. As she and Jeppe close in on the truth at the heart of a complex web of intrigue, they discover shocking abuse of power at an institution that is meant to help, not harm. THE BUTTERFLY HOUSE is an engaging, fresh take on Nordic Noir, a procedural brimming with personality, eccentric characters, and plenty of mystery and intrigue.
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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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Book Review: THE TENANT by Katrine Engberg
Katrine Engberg’s star is on the rise. The author of the critically-acclaimed Korner & Werner series, Engberg has amassed dedicated readers in her native Denmark and around Europe—and this week, Engberg’s debut novel hit American bookstores. THE TENANT effectively blends elements of bookish suspense, human drama, and police procedure to deliver a story that, despite is Nordic setting, refuses to be confined to the “Nordic Noir” category—or to any single crime fiction category at all, for that matter. Engaging, offbeat characters and an intricate mystery drive THE TENANT: readers follow two Copenhagen police officers who are tasked with solving a bizarre murder, one which appears to be heavily inspired by the unpublished manuscript of the victim’s landlady. What secrets do the landlady and her manuscript hold? What motivation could she possibly have had for murdering her tenant? And if she didn’t do it, who did? In her debut crime novel, Engberg takes readers down a twisty path filled with plenty of red herrings, a moody Danish atmosphere, and a dash of humor, too. THE TENANT is a strong debut, a slow-burning story that will surely earn Engberg a loyal American fan-base.
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