Being a great fan of Swedish crime fiction, and Scandinavian mysteries in general, I was interested to see which books from that subgenre novelist Camilla Läckberg (The Preacher) would name when The Guardian asked her to list her 10 favorites. Läckberg’s selections of Swedish must-reads:
1. The Mind’s Eye, by Håkan Nesser
2. Blackwater, by Kerstin Ekman
3. Missing, by Karin Alvtegen
4. Sun Storm, by Åsa Larsson
5. The Fifth Woman, by Henning Mankell
6. Unseen, by Mari Jungstedt
7. Shame, by Karin Alvtegen
8. Echoes from the Dead, by Johan Theorin
9. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson
10. Midvinterblod, by Mons Kallentoft (not yet translated)
You will find Läckberg’s comments on each of these titles here.
As much as I agree with most of her picks, I’m surprised and perturbed that Läckberg failed to include two married giants of Swedish crime fiction.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
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2 comments:
Ali,
Läckberg mentions Sjöwall & Wahlöö before the actual list, saying they ushered in a whole generation of Swedish crime writers, but does not place them on the actual list of her favorites, as you note.
I would guess that Camilla views them as belonging to the deathless classics already, as self-evident to Swedes as the "Founding Fathers" are to us Americans.
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