mandag den 2. november 2009

E for Egholm and Edwards

For this week´s alphabet meme I should like to draw attention to a Danish crime writer, Elsebeth Egholm.

Unfortunately, her very fine series about the journalist Dicte Svendsen has not been translated into English yet. They are published in Germany, Holland, Norway and Sweden, and I know that she has ´sold the rights´ to an English publisher so hopefully …

Egholm´s debut was a portrait of the 1980s, and she did not consider it a crime novel herself. Many reviewers did, however, and her second book, “Hidden Errors” (called Skjulte fejl og mangler in Danish) is certainly a crime story, and a very fine one indeed. It features the body of a baby, but it is not very graphic.

Since then she has written six novels about Dicte, generally solid books with convincing plots, but lately they have struck me as less convincing as Dicte is always personally involved in the very serious crimes. (Not to the extent of Patricia Cornwell´s Kay Scarpetta, but still).

Elisabeth Egholm´s home page in English.

My second choice is Martin Edwards, the author of the great “Lake District series” with protagonists Hannah Scarlet and Daniel Kind, but also an older series about the Liverpool Lawyer Harry Devlin.

I have read and reviewed “The Coffin Trail”, “The Cipher Garden” and “The Arcenic Labyrinth” earlier this year.

Last night I began reading “Waterloo Sunset”, my first Harry Devlin story (the eighth and latest in the series).

A teaser from the first page:

“Harry Devlin stared at the announcement of his death.”

Of course you will get a review later, and you can visit Martin´s interesting blog here.

10 kommentarer:

Elizabeth Spann Craig sagde ...

I'd *usually* avoid a dead baby story (since I'm the easily-shaken type), but if it's not graphic, I can handle it. Sounds interesting.

And I love Martin Edwards' books. Haven't read "Waterloo Sunset," so I'll go pick up a copy. Thanks!

Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder

Dorte H sagde ...

Elizabeth: Egholm´s story is so much more than a dead baby (otherwise I wouldn´t have read it at all). I hope her books will be translated (if and when, I am going to rant about them, don´t you worry).

I also love Martin´s Lake District series so I am very curious to read this one. Usually I would try to begin with the first in the series, but a good friend gave me this one and I won´t let it collect dust on the shelf forever.

Anonym sagde ...

Dorte - Thanks for highlighting Martin - isn't his work terrific! I'm a fan of the Lake District series, too : ), and I'm glad you mentioned it. I think The Cipher Garden is my favorite, but it's hard to choose; they're all good.

I hope that Eghold's work gets translated into English soon - I always like discovering new (or new to me, anyway) authors : ).

Dorte H sagde ...

Margot: yes, Martin is definitely on the top-ten of authors I have discovered since I began blogging.

I´ll try to keep an eye on Egholm; I would love to reread her books in order to review them in English.

Beth F sagde ...

I hope the series comes out in English!

Dorte H sagde ...

Beth: so do I! We cannot quite compete with Sweden and Norway, but we have a few good ones who deserve some attention.

gautami tripathy sagde ...

Wish to read it. But of course in English!

Here is my Crime Fiction Alphabet: E post!

Dorte H sagde ...

Gautami: yes, I know what you mean :D

Louise sagde ...

I agree with you re. your comments about Egholm's later books about journalist Dicte Svendsen. I have read the all of them, except the new one just out, and while I think they are very solid as you write, I do feel that the stories tend to become more and more depressing, and I am forever debating with myself whether I find Dicte a sympathetic character or if I wish to shout at her: SNAP OUT OF IT!!!

My father, who grew up in Aarhus (to English readers: Aarhus is the city where those books take place) secretly enjoy the Dicte Svendsen books, although he will not quite admit it, whereas my mother, who is born and bred Copenhagener (although living in the country side now) doesn't like them. It has become sort of an Xmas tradition between my father and I that one of us go out and splurge on the new Dicte Svendsen (new books are costly in Denmark) and then we take turns reading it over the Holidays.

:-D

Dorte H sagde ...

Louise: thank you for this insight in your family´s reading habits :D

And I can see we feel more or less the same about Dicte: she was really likeable and quite tough through the first handful, but she reminds me more and more about my own main character (the manuscript I could not sell): unable to take a decision and DO something about her life.