The crime novel “Bergenstoget looted last night!” was launched on Palm Sunday 1923. After that, Norwegians have frolicked in blood-curdling excitement in books, on TV and radio during the Easter holidays for a hundred years. To celebrate this anniversary, some of the literary critics at news have brought out their absolute crime favourites. Maybe some of them will end up on your reading list for Easter? The master detective’s first mission CLASSIC: This edition of the classic, which came out in 2015, is only 120 pages. Photo: Bokvennen Book: “A study in red” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Translated by: Nils Nordberg Year of publication: 1887/1986 – An Afghanistan veteran and an eccentric chemistry student move into 221 Baker Street in London. Pretty soon they work together to solve a macabre murder in an abandoned house. This is the first novel about the most famous detective in world history, Sherlock Holmes. The book is half crime mystery, half robber story and very charming. This one you never forget HAVE SEEN TRACE: The Riverton club, which is behind the “Riverton prize – the golden revolver” for the year’s best Norwegian crime novel, is named after the author. Photo: Vigmostad&Bjørke/NTB/Scanpix Book: “Jernvognen” by Stein Riverton (pseudonym for Sven Elvestad) Year of publication: 1909 – The journalist Sven Elvestad was extremely productive and wrote close to 100 novels. A handful of them have really high quality. Of them, “Jernvognen” is probably the best. The novel tells of a murder at a seaside resort in Norway in the early 20th century. Much crime literature is quickly forgotten, and after two or three years you can therefore read the books again. The “iron wagon”, on the other hand – you never forget. Despite that, you will probably want to read it again. Wild twists TV CURRENT: Several of Harlan Coben’s books have become TV series. Photo: Claudio Marinesco / Cappelen Damm Book: “Ikke et ord” by Harlan Coben Translated by: Sissel Herborg Busk Year of publication: 2003 – One day David Beck receives an e-mail from what appears to be his wife. But she was killed eight years ago. It doesn’t really matter which book by Coben you read, they are all exciting. In the seemingly idyllic suburban life that Coben depicts, the people you trust the most can be the ones who let you down. The endings in the books are usually not of the same high standard, but I forgive Coben! The wild twists and turns in the plot are so fun to be a part of, that it’s still worth it. Funny about criminal matters NOKO ANNA: Give this one a chance if you’re tired of police novels and whodunnits. Photo: Torunn Nilsen / Cappelen Damm Book: “Cain” by José Saramago Translated by: Kjell Risvik Year of publication: 2011 – Cain is the son of Adam and Eve and the fratricide in the Old Testament. After the murder of his brother Abel, he must wander restlessly. At the same time that he can easily move between different notes. In this way he witnesses a number of the many terrible and macabre events in the Old Testament. The destruction of Sodom is one example, Abraham’s near-murder of his son Isaac is another. (Had it not been for Cain, Isaac would have died that day on the mountain). “Cain” is thus not a crime novel in the usual sense. On the other hand, a burlesque, often downright funny novel about highly criminal relationships and incidents. A noir homage VERY GOOD: This is the first of 12 books in the series. Photo: Peder Bundgaard / Dan Turèll Collection/Borgen Book: “Murder in the Dark” by Dan Turèll Translated by: Aase F. Jensen Year of publication: 1981 – Dan Turèll’s Murder series is about an unnamed freelance journalist in the newspaper Bladet and inspector Ehlers, friend and uven, at the Halmtorvet police station. The series opens with “Murder in the dark”. In one of the so-called slums on Vesterbro in Copenhagen, an elderly man, a pensioner, is found murdered. The next day it happens again – in the same house. The unnamed must go out and walk (he walks a lot). The book is a long tribute to everything noir. As the publisher wrote on my paperback edition: “Midnight, murder and morphine – a genuine Turèll thriller”. Charming manipulator MELLOM PERMAR: The book has also been made into a film with Matt Damon in the lead role. Photo: Mirage Enterprises/Miramax/Paramount/Timnick Films / news Book: “The Talented Mr. Ripley” by Patricia Highsmith Translated by: Colbjørn Helander Year of publication: 1955 – “The Talented Mr. Ripley” came out in Norwegian in 1960. I read the edition in The black series in the late 60s. I was a teenager, but I have never forgotten the unbridled fascination for this charming manipulator, coolly psychopathic, indisputably dangerous. At the beginning of the story, Ripley is approached by a wealthy Herbert Greenleaf. He asks Ripley to go to Italy and get his son to come home to the United States. Innocent enough, perhaps, but the drama in the triangle that follows becomes demanding for more than Tom Ripley. The book is the first in a series of five, and don’t let the film adaptation keep you away from Highsmith’s original. New angle on the Tudor era NO SUPERHERO: He is often scared, even if in a couple of very acute situations he shows himself to be quick-witted on a level that touches on James Bond. Photo: Forlaget Press Book: “Dissolution” by CJ Sansom Translated by: Knut Johansen Year of publication: 2008 – The year is 1537, and Henry VIII wants to dissolve the monastic system in England. In the monastery at Scarnsea, one of the king’s men is found with “a gap between his head and shoulders”. Shardlake is seen on the case, which is quite complicated: all the monks hate being thrown out of life as they know it, and the number of potential murderers is correspondingly high. Shardlake solves the case and manages the fires in this and six more books, despite his fear, hunchback and aversion to blood. The anti-hero shows us the past from a new angle. Amazingly enough. Read the review of the book here. Super smart police AMBITIOUS AND INTELLIGENT: Fantorien gets his big chance to show what he’s capable of when the young nobleman Kokorin kills himself. Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko / Aschehoug/AP/NTB Book: “The Winter Queen. Fandorin’s first case” by Boris Akunin Translated by: Isak Rogde Year of publication: 2002 – Erast Fandorin is a phenomenon: Super smart criminal police who manage to maneuver their way out of the most improbable life-threatening situations. Cultivated, learned, and of course elegant. “The Winter Queen” is the first book in the Fandorin series, written by B. Akunin alias Grigori Chalcovitch Tchkhartichvili, Japanese-speaking Russian author with roots in Georgia. In this first novel, B. Akunin takes us to Moscow 1876. The story includes orphaned children, noble ladies and money. Big money. Later in the series, he gets a genuine Japanese ninja as a companion, something that makes the adventure even more wonderful. Read the review of the book here. Historical crime novel DANISH-NORSE: Kurt Aust was born and raised in Denmark, but has lived in Norway since 1982. Photo: Helle K. Hagen AS / Aschehoug Book: “Vredens dag” by Kurt Aust Publication year: 1999 – The first of eight novels about Petter Hortten, a quick-witted Norwegian farm worker, and Thomas av Bouberge, a Danish professor. No sooner have they stumbled into a country inn than a murder takes place there. The murderer must be at the inn. It is approaching New Year’s Eve 1699. Doomsday prophets think it will be, yes, doomsday. Bouberge goes into clarification mode, Petter follows along, and Kurt Aust draws a rich and fascinating backdrop of custom and custom, belief and superstition. There is a good division of labor. This is how a historical crime novel should be. South African shadow pages PRODUCTIVE: Deon Meyer has written many books from South Africa. Photo: Philippe Matsas/OPALE / Tiden forlag Book: “White shadow” by Deon Meyer Translated by: Eve-Marie Lund Year of publication: 2010 – One of Deon Meyer’s best books is “White shadow”, about the professional bodyguard Lemmer. He is given an assignment that will put his cool professionalism in jeopardy, when the woman he is supposed to protect is nevertheless injured. Nevertheless, there is something about what she tells him that Lemmer cannot agree to. Lemmer embarks on a hunt for those responsible, which he must admit has become very personal. The hunt will bring him into close contact with corruption, eco-terrorism and other dark sides of the South African post-apartheid society. “White shadow” is a pure demonstration of power in effective writing. The good psychopath SOLID PILE: 26 books have been published about Jack Reacher. Photo: Sigrid Estrada / Cappelen Damm Book: “Scapegoat” by Lee Child Translated by: Truls Danielsen Year of publication: 2013 – Jack Reacher is an ex-soldier who wanders the United States, a modern mix of cowboy and Shaolin monk. He comes to town, gets into trouble, beats up bad guys and travels on. Reacher is an iconic modern hero figure, a kind of male fantasy about the good psychopath who can sort out all the wrongs in the world, without scruples and PTSD. Yes, there are both films and TV series about the man. But I still think there is something special about the experience you get from reading the cool and eerily effective prose of Lee Child. Certain types of ultra violence are best on paper. Infernal and handy BEST AS A BOOK: Bosch is also honored with a TV series, which is not bad at all. But the books are much better, Ola Hegdal believes. Photo: Gyldendal Book: “Knokkelbyen” by Michael Connelly Translated by: Peter Lorentzen Year of publication: 2003 – Harry Bosch. Taste the name. Like a hybrid between a German power tool and a Dutch hell painter. Michael Connelly has drawn up the chronicle about Harry Bosch. The man who has taken on the job of getting things straight in Los Angeles. The first two in the series about Bosch have, for one reason or another, not been published in Norwegian, and many of the others are currently sold out by the publisher. Here, antique shops and car libraries are the solution. And of course they are available in English and as audiobooks. “Knokkelbyen” is one of the many reasons why Connelly has been named the world’s best crime writer. news has made a right play of the first story about Sherlock Holmes: RIGHT: Radioteatret has made a right play of “A study in red” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – Sherlock Holmes’ first mission. The military doctor Dr. Watson comes home wounded and sick from the war, and looks around for a place to live. A chance meeting has greater consequences than Watson could dream of.
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100 years of Easter crime – the best book tips – news Culture and entertainment
