Håkan Nesser, En fortælling om hr Roos (2009)

Denne biblioteksbog er den tredje i den svenske serie om vicekriminalkommissær Gunnar Barbarotti. Se min anmeldelse af bind to.

Hovedpersonen, den usigeligt almindelige Valdemar Roos, sidder fast i sit dødsens kedsommelige liv med arbejdet på termokandefabrikken og det ikke-eksisterende samliv med Alice og steddøtrene.

Men en dag sker miraklet; den tipsrække, Roos pligtskyldigt har udfyldt i halvtreds år, fordi han arvede den efter sin far, kommer ud med den store gevinst: to millioner svenske kroner. Han siger sit job op og køber et gammelt hus langt inde i den øde skov, men uden at fortælle det til sin kone. For Valdemar Roos er luksus lig med at kunne trække sig tilbage fra alle de mennesker, han ikke længere bryder sig om.

Samtidig er unge Anna Gambowska frivilligt anbragt på en institution for at komme ud af sit narkomisbrug, men efter en måned føler hun sig endnu en gang misforstået og udenfor fællesskabet, og beslutter sig for at flygte.

Naturligvis krydses Valdemar og Annas veje langt inde i skoven, men første halvdel af bogen handler i det væsentlige om Valdemar, som nu har så mange muligheder og derfor føler sig tvunget til at overveje, hvad han vil bruge resten af sit liv på.

I anden halvdel forsvinder Valdemar Roos, og vicekriminalkommissær Gunnar Barbarotti bliver omsider indblandet. Han er netop udskrevet fra hospitalet med et brækket ben og kan ikke klare mere en enkelt dag hjemme i selskab med sin arbejdsløse, klæbende svoger, og kaster sig derfor ud i mysteriet Valdemar Roos, og hvad i alverden han foretager sig sammen med en purung narkoman på flugt.

Denne vidunderlige bog er ikke nogen traditional krimi, den handler mere om menneskeskæbnerne bag en forbrydelse – lidt i stil med Karin Fossums psykologiske spændingsromaner, men med mere humor og kærlighed til personerne.

Håkan Nesser, A Story about Mr Roos.
This library book is the third in the Swedish series about Inspector Gunnar Barbarotti. The series has not been translated into English yet. See my review of the second volume.

The main character, the incredibly ordinary Valdemar Roos, is stuck in his deadly dull factory job and the non-existent relationship with Alice and the stepdaughters.

Then the miracle happens: Roos wins two million Swedish kroner. He quits his job and buys an isolated house in the woods, but without telling anyone. To Valdemar Roos luxury is being able to withdraw from all the people he doesn´t care about any more.

Young Anna Gambowska is staying at a nearby institution to conquer her drug abuse, but after the first month she feels lonely and misunderstood so she makes up her mind to run away. Of course Valdemar and Anna´s paths cross in the woods, but the first half is mainly about Valdemar who has so many opportunities that he is forced to think about how he wants to spend the rest of his life.

In the second half Valdemar Roos disappears, and DI Barbarotti is finally involved. He has just been discharged from hospital with a broken leg, and as he cannot cope with more than one day in the company of his unemployed, clingy brother-in-law, he sets out to get to the bottom of what Valdemar Roos is doing together with a young drug addict on the run.

This wonderful book is not a traditional crime story; it focuses on the fates of the people behind an act of violence – somewhat similar to Karin Fossum´s psychological thrillers, but with more humour and love of the characters.
.

Daim Stories

If you wonder where I am... Oh, you don´t? (Don´t think you can shut me up so easily).

I should be adding page after page to my novel, and I have made some progress, but I can´t help my imagination coming up with new ideas, can I?

One or two of you have suggested that I made a collection of Knavesborough stories, and my rambling imagination has come up with the idea of DJ´s Daim Stories - half Knavesborough stories, half other cosy stories, including a few that haven´t been published on my blog. It seems as if it won´t be too complicated to publish an e-book via Smashwords.

Do you think there are people out there who are crazy enough to pay one dime pr story - 99 cent - plus three free stories?

(If I can sell more than fifteen, it will be one of my best business ventures so far)

And if this is a huge, commercial success (i.e. more than fifty sold), I may collect some of my stronger stuff later.

Ann Rosman, Fyrmesterens datter (2010)

Denne svenske krimi er forfatterens debut.

Nogle polske håndværkere finder et lig i murværket mens de er i færd med at restaurere fyrtårnet Pater Noster. Men bygmesteren har en stram deadline og kan ikke tillade sig forsinkelse, så i første omgang forsøger han at løse problemet ved at betale dem for at holde mund. Som gode katolikker ringer de alligevel til politiet bag hans ryg, så staklen kan få en kristelig begravelse.

Da sagen om det gamle lig mildest talt ikke er højprofileret, må kriminalassistent Karin Adler sno sig for overhovedet at få tid til at kigge på den. Hendes privatliv halter imidlertid, så hun har ikke så meget imod at tære på sin fritid; hun er træt af sin charmerende skibskaptajn Göran, som er væk i seks uger og derefter forventer at blive vartet op i seks uger.

Bogen byder på romantik, skattejagt, nazister, jøder og skærgårdsøer. En typisk skandinavisk femikrimi tilsat ekstra romantik, også et let sødladent sprog:

“Det føltes, som om smerten skulle sønderrive hende. Hun trak tæppet op over ham, så han ikke skulle fryse.”

Desuden klinger det noget hult, at den gamle indmuringshistorie skulle foregå i Sverige i 1963. 1863 ville have virket mere sandsynligt. Der er gode takter i romanen, men også en del ting Rosman mangler at lære, før hun er i liga med Läckberg og Jungstedt, hvis stil kommer bogen nærmest, bl.a. at rydde op i det meget store antal personer og de springende synsvinkler.

Denne ´Läckberg light´ er lånt på biblioteket.

Ann Rosman, The Lighthouse Keeper´s Daughter.

This Swedish debut has not been translated into English yet. It is available in Spanish, however, titled La Mujer del Faro.

Some Polish workmen find a body in the thick walls while they are restoring the lighthouse Pater Noster. But the builder is on a tight deadline so in the first place he tries to solve the problem by paying them to shut up. Money or not, they call the police, so the poor man can have a Christian funeral.

As the old body is not exactly a high profile case, Detective Inspector Karin Adler must juggle a bit to scrape a few hours together to look at the case. Her private life is in tatters anyway as she is tired of her charming sea captain Göran who is away for six weeks and expects to be pampered during his six weeks at home.

The novel offers romance, a treasure hunt, Nazis, Jews and the Swedish archipelago. A typical Scandinavian ´femikrimi´ in a language which is good but also a bit sugary. Furthermore it stretches belief that the old story about the body in the wall is supposed to take place in Sweden in 1963. 1863 would have seemed more convincing. All in all there are some good sides to this story, but also some things Rosman will have to learn before she is in league with Camilla Läckberg and Mari Jungstedt, e.g. sorting out the huge number of characters and the jumps in point of view.

This Läckberg light was a library book.

Kate Summerscale, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (2008)

This is a British non-fiction account of a true crime in Victorian England which took place in 1860.

The gruesome story begins when three-year-old Saville Kent is taken away from his bed in the nursery in the middle of the night. A few hours later he is found in the servants´ privy in the yard with his throat cut.

Almost immediately the local police suspect the nursemaid Elizabeth Gough, and they are rather unwilling to question the members of the middle class family though it is most likely that the killer was one of the eleven persons who spent the night under the roof of Road Hill House. One of their theories is that the boy caught Gough with a man in her bed and threatened to tell, but even though their prime suspect for this role is the father, Mr Kent, they focus on questioning and charging the young woman.

After two weeks Scotland Yard is called in, however, and the renowned Inspector Whicher suspects Constance, Saville´s sixteen-year-old half-sister who might be jealous because the younger siblings get more attention than her, and/or she might be mentally unstable like her late mother.

There were several aspects of this book I appreciated. The account of the death of little Saville is very thorough and well written, and it is obvious that Summerscale knows her crime and her period thoroughly so it is also an excellent document of crime and police work in Victorian times. Besides, there are several references to Victorian crime novels which are based on or inspired by the Road Hill murder (I plan to read one or two of these soon).

The wide scope was not quite what I had expected, though, so parts of the book felt more like work than entertainment, because I wanted to know who killed little Saville, plus how and why, so I skimmed some sections to get back to the case. I found the lengthy accounts of the detectives´ former careers and private lives particularly uninteresting.

Another weakness is that Summerscale often tells the reader something and afterwards she uses a lengthy quotation to say exactly the same.

I enjoyed this quotation from “The Semi-Detached House” (1859), however:

“´I like a good murder that can´t be found out,´ says Mrs Hopkinson… ´That is, of course, it is very shocking, but I like to hear about it.´” (So true, Mrs Hopkinson).

I bought the book myself and read it for the 2011 Global Reading Challenge (Seventh Continent, history). 



Kate Summerscale, Mr Whichers mistanker (2009)

Denne britiske bog om en virkelig forbrydelse i Dronning Victorias England er ikke en roman, men en fagbog.

Den grusomme historie begynder, da treårige Saville Kent bliver fjernet fra sin seng i børneværelset midt om natten. Næste dag bliver han fundet i tjenestefolkenes udendørs lokum med halsen skåret over.

Det lokale politi retter straks deres mistanke mod barnepigen Elizabeth Gough, og de er ikke meget for at udspørge medlemmer af middelklassefamilien, selv om det er højst sandsynligt, at morderen var en af de elleve personer, som befandt sig i herskabsvillaen den pågældende nat. En af deres teorier er, at drengen overraskede barnepigen og en mand i sengen og truede med at sladre, men selv om den vigtigste mistænkte mand er drengens far, retter de al deres opmærksomhed mod den unge kvinde. 

Men efter to uger bliver Scotland Yard tilkaldt, og den berømte inspektør Whicher mistænker i stedet Constance, Savilles 16-årige halvsøster. Han mener, motivet er jalousi, fordi de yngre søskende får mere opmærksomhed end de ældre, eller at pigen er uligevægtig, ligesom sin afdøde mor.

Der var mange aspekter af denne bog, jeg satte stor pris på. Beretningen om Savilles død er grundig og velskrevet, og det er tydeligt, at Kate Summerscale kender sit materiale og viktoriatiden til bunds, så den er et fremragende værk om forbrydelser og politiarbejde i perioden. Desuden er der adskillige henvisninger til viktorianske krimier, som er baseret på eller inspiret af Road Hill-mordet (jeg har tænkt mig at anmelde et par stykker inden så længe).

Den brede pensel var imidlertid ikke, hvad jeg havde forventet, så visse afsnit føltes mere som arbejde end fornøjelse, fordi jeg bare gerne ville vide, hvem der dræbte lille Saville, samt hvordan og hvorfor, så jeg skimmede en del afsnit for at komme tilbage til sagen. Og de lange redegørelser for detektivernes tidligere karriere og privatliv interesserede mig især ikke.

Endnu en svaghed er, at Summerscale har en tendens til at fortælle sine læsere noget, for bagefter at bringe et langtrukket citat, som siger nøjagtig det samme.

Dette citat fra krimien “The Semi-Detached House” (1859) morede mig imidlertid:

“´Jeg kan lide et godt mord, som ikke kan afsløres´, siger Fru Hopkinson… ´Det vil sige, det er selvfølgelig chokerende, men jeg kan godt lide at høre om det.´” (Ja, det kan vi krimifans jo).

Jeg købte selv bogen under en ferie i Skotland.
.

Thy´s Day # 38

Our proud national guard flying in formation over National Park Thy!

DJ´s Bait in the Box # 87

This week´s book is of a different category – let´s see what my intelligent readers make of it.

“… Benger lifted the lavatory lid and peered in until his eyes adjusted to the darkness. ´By steadily looking down, I could see better, and saw a something like clothing below; I put my hand down and raised the blanket´. The blanket was soaked with blood. About two feet under the seat, on the wooden ´splashboard´ that partly blocked the descent to the pit beneath, was the boy´s body.”

The Rules:
If you recognize the quotation, or if you think you are able to guess who wrote it, please post a comment. Just leave a hint, do not spoil the fun by giving too much away. The book will be reviewed on Friday.

----------------------------------------------------

EKSTRA: 
se min præsentation af DJ´s Krimiblog på Blogkvinder 40+.

To my English readers - sorry there is no translation, but as I have joined a Danish blogging community, I suppose I should write a few words in Danish now and then ;)
.

More snow

Look here what one of my visitors sent me: a manipulation of snow photo 1 and 2:

Thank you very much, Ursula.

C should be for Crime, not Cleaning or Cooking

I am still circling around in Yorkshire, trying to add a bit of suspense to my Halloween mystery. I quite like my set of quirky villagers, but if they have secrets, they guard them far too well.

The funny thing is that last year I told a writer that she had painted her protagonist into a corner, meaning that she had created a setting that didn´t give the poor woman room, and now I have done exactly the same for Rhapsody. I have sent her off to a new cottage in order to clean and paint it - and the sweet, young woman does exactly what she has been told (some of the time, at least). Is it fun to cook or clean a dirty cottage? No. Is it fun to read about it? No. 

So changes will have to happen, but so far I have sent her off to the local pub - again. If she develops an alcohol problem or something, it´s all my fault.

And here a citation: 

Wisteria Featherstone wore a flowing silk dress in several blue and turquoise shades. Opposite her sat a slim, young man in a leather jacket who looked good in a slightly feminine way, but there was an angry set to his shoulders, and his lower lip protruded ominously.

 Two-Sentence Tuesday is hosted by Women of Mystery.  

 [And this was a C post - of sorts - for Kerrie´s alphabet meme]

Mit bedste snefoto - my best snow shot.

Jeg har lige meldt mig til Blogkvinder 40+ og vil selvfølgelig gerne deltage i "Mit bedste snefoto". Her er to snebilleder, jeg bragte sidste år i januar, og jeg vil nu overlade det til læseren at bestemme, om I synes bedst om billede 1 eller 2.

I have just joined a Danish blog association, and of course I want to participate in "my best snow picture." Here are  two photos from January 2010, and now I´ll leave it to my readers to decide if picture 1 or 2 is best.

Camilla Läckberg, Havfruen (2010)

Bogen er sjette bind af den svenske Erica Falck og Patrik Hedstrøm-serie.

Magnus Kjellner, tilsyneladende en tilfreds og ligevægtig familiefar, forsvinder sporløst. Tre måneder senere debuterer Ericas ven, bibliotekaren Christian Thydell, som romanforfatter. “Havfruen” får en fantastisk modtagelse og Thydell burde være lykkelig, men siden han begyndte at skrive sit fantastiske værk, har han modtaget trusselsbreve, og han er nu nået til et punkt, hvor stress og angst truer hans ægteskab og forholdet til hans små børn.

Som sædvanlig får vi glimt af en anonym hovedpersons fortid; en ensom dreng, som bliver adopteret af en smuk, men lunefuld mor, som kun har øje for ham – i hvert fald indtil hun bliver gravid. Først mod slutningen bliver læseren for alvor klar over, hvem han er, og hvad forbindelsen er til de mange trusselsbreve, som bliver sendt til en lille gruppe mænd i Fjällbacka mange år senere.

Bogen er bestemt en af Läckbergs bedste, selv om plottet har nogle temaer til fælles med Ulykkesfuglen. Og så er der ganske enkelt for mange graviditeter, spædbørn og adopterede børn. Nogle forfattere skriver under devisen: skriv om hvad du ved, men selv for denne mor til tre er der mere end rigeligt med bleer, gravide maver og adoptivbørn i denne biblioteksbog. 



Camilla Läckberg, The Mermaid.
The sixth Swedish Erica & Patrik story has not been translated into English yet.

Magnus Kjellner who is apparently a happy family father disappears without a trace. Three months later Erica´s friend, the librarian Christian Thydell, has his debut as an author. “The Mermaid” gets impressive reviews and Thydell should be happy, but since he began writing his novel, he has received anonymous letters, and he has got to a point where stress and anxiety threaten his marriage and the relationship with his small children.

As usual we get sections from the point of view of an anonymous character´s past: a lonely boy who is adopted by a beautiful, but capricious mother who only cares about him – at least until she realizes she is expecting her own child. The reader is not fully aware who this character is until the ending, or why someone sends so many threatening letters to Fjällbacka thirty years later.

The book is definitely one of Läckberg´s best even though she recycles some motifs from her fourth novel. But though the principle “write about what you know” may be a good idea, there is no need to have as many pregnancies, adopted children and babies as in this library book.
.

And the winner is...

Two weeks ago I announced a competition to celebrate my second blog anniversary.


The winner is Margaret of BooksPlease. 

Congratulations, Margaret, and let me know if you want a gift voucher from Amazon.com or Amazon.uk. 
.

John Buchan, The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915)

This so-called dime novel is the Scottish writer´s debut.

After several years in South Africa Richard Hannay feels terribly bored by the London weather and his countrymen. “…the amusements of London seemed as flat as soda-water that has been standing in the sun.”

Hannay, who needs new friends, not sights and clubs, has almost made up his mind to return to South Africa when Scudder, a very nervous neighbour, approaches him for help. He is a war correspondent from Kentucky who has been involved in a political conspiracy involving Russia, Germany and the Jews (sorry, this was written before anyone thought of political correctness). He claims he is the only person who can prevent an assassination of the Greek Premier which is why he has arranged his own ´death´.

Hannay begins to feel more cheerful, his life has a purpose again. And when Scudder is really killed a few days later, Hannay decides to do his best to accomplish Scudder´s mission. As both the British police force and Scudder´s enemies are after him, he escapes to Scotland where he plays hide-and-seek for weeks, dressing up in the most amazing disguises. His Scottish childhood comes in very handy:

“´There´s waur jobs and there´s better,´ I said sententiously. ´I wad rather hae yours, sittin´ a´ day on your hinderlands on thae cushions. It´s you and your muckle cawrs that wreck my roads!´”

Despite the spy angle, which has never been a favourite of mine, this story was a rather fine old puzzle, including ciphers and a protagonist with all sorts of competences. Hannay is your typical bachelor gentleman, a bit of a cross between Sherlock Holmes who prefers using his little grey cells and the more physically active Lord Peter Wimsey.

This was a free book from Manybooks.net; I read it for the Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge # 2
.

Blogging - a Contemporary Literary Practice

"DJ´s Krimiblog - a Study of a Contemporary Literary Practice" - this is the title of a paper my daughter wrote in December (she studies comparative literature). After a course on literary culture, she decided to take a closer look at my blog and write a paper on it.

She wants me to send a thank you from her to Bernadette, José and Peter Rozovsky whose blogs she has quoted in the paper. She used their December posts about writers who were new to them to prove that blogging expands your literary horizon.

She got the result today: 12 (the highest Danish grade, corresponding to A).

A summer picture of mother & daughter.

Alan Bradley, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (2009)

[Dansk titel: Flavia de Luce og hævneren fra Ulster, 2010. De to første kapitler kan læses på Saxos hjemmeside] 

This debut is written by a Canadian but set in Britain in the 1950s.

On the very first page eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce has been gagged, tied and locked up in the attic. Fortunately only by her older sisters Daphne and Octavia. With the mother dead and the father an unobservant philatelist, the daughters are left to solve their conflicts on their own.

Soon, however, a very real enemy from outside the family leaves a dead snipe with a one-penny stamp on the doorstep. Flavia, who is not beyond listening at doors, learns that her father is involved in a thirty-year-old mystery that involves a very rare stamp and a death.  The following morning she finds a dying man among their cucumbers, and when Inspector Hewitt botches up the case, it is up to Flavia to solve the mystery with the aid of faithful Gladys, her mother´s old bicycle.

Despite her young age, Flavia is an excellent chemist who also shows great detecting skills. She has taken over the old lab in the Georgian family home, Buckshaw – a setting which slowly comes to life together with Flavia who seems to know the place better than anyone else.

“Like an inchworm, I wiggled my way up onto my knees, but it was too late.”

This ubiquitous inchworm is a rather unusual amateur detective; a lonely, precocious protagonist who struggles hard to be the son she believes her father wanted.

I bought the Kindle version myself and my one-word judgement: wonderful!

Read for the 2011 Global Reading Challenge: North America (Canada)
.

Thy´s Day # 38

It is quite difficult to get around in Thy without getting your feet wet right now. 

Some of our migrants seem to enjoy that, however.

What they don´t like is yours truly trying to shoot them at close range. 

Small wonder, but I didn´t intend to harm them. 

DJ´s Bait in the Box # 86

This novel is the first in a still fairly short series:

“It was as black in the closet as old blood. They had shoved me in and locked the door. I breathed heavily through my nose, fighting desperately to remain calm. I tried counting to ten on every intake of breath, and to eight as I released each one slowly into the darkness. Luckily for me, they had pulled the gag so tightly into my open mouth that my nostrils were left unobstructed, and I was able to draw in one slow lungful after another of the stale, musty air.”

The Rules:
If you recognize the quotation, or if you think you are able to guess who wrote it, please post a comment. Just leave a hint, do not spoil the fun by giving too much away. The book will be reviewed on Friday.
.

About Cross-Eyed Screwdrivers or ...

I still have some structural problems with the plot of "The Halloween Murderer", but I think I can come up with a couple of sentences:

“Oh no, I didn´t want to disturb you. It´s just that I needed a cross-point screwdriver, and I thought that perhaps you…” She found herself blubbering brainlessly as if she had never seen a handsome man before, and she was almost married. Rhapsody, get your act together, she told herself." 

Two-Sentence Tuesday is hosted by Women of Mystery. 

.

B is for Blood

Thank you to Kerrie for hosting the Alphabet in Crime Fiction

When you read crime fiction, you are bound to come across a spot of blood – or a haemorrhage – quite often. And it seems that those of my friends who never read crime fiction believe blood and death is all there is to it.

But we know better, of course. So much depends on which subgenre you read –if you prefer hard-boiled thrillers set in cities or the cosy village puzzles. But I have hardly met a blogger who is satisfied if there is nothing to the story than violence.

Still, all categories seem to have embarked on an arms race, meaning that one body is no body. Apparently some people – the publishers? – the readers? – the writers? – demand more blood and gore than a decade ago.

Or am I wrong? 

NB: you have four days left to join my competition. 
. 

Jussi Adler-Olsen, Fasandræberne (2008)

Denne danske politikrimi er den anden i serien om afdeling Q. Se min anmeldelse af den første på min ´forsøgs-blog´.

Carl Mørcks sommerferie er forbi, og han savner allerede den næste ferie, men hans mystiske assistant Assad er evigt oplagt og klar til at kaste sig ud i en ny sag. Tomandsafdelingen i kælderen får endda forstærkning i form af aspiranten Rose, en snakkesalig damptromle på høje hæle.

Assad overtaler sin chef til at genåbne en sag fra 1987, hvor et søskendepar på 17 og18 år blev tævet til døde i et sommerhus. De hovedmistænkte var en gruppe privilegerede kostskoleelever, men tilsyneladende er sagen havnet på Mørcks bord ved en fejltagelse, da en af de seks unge tilstod sagen i løbet af halvfemserne, så måske er det derfor, afdeling Q får strenge pålæg om at blande sig langt uden om. En opfordring, som endnu aldrig har haft den forventede virkning på Carl Mørck.

Ind imellem Mørck og Assads opklaring følger vi glimt af historien fra firserne; seks gymnasieelever, som gør oprør mod de strikte regler ved at ryge lidt hash. En mindre skoleelev truer med at sladre, og så oplever flokken det første sus af vold.

Tyve år senere har et par stykker af dem lidt en voldsom død, tre er medlemmer af ´fasan-segmentet´, lever et overklasseliv så trygt og beskyttet, at de er nødt til at ty til jagt for at opleve spænding. Og så er der Kimmie, den eneste kvinde blandt dem, en forhutlet posedame som åbenbart alligevel er i stand til at true det succesrige trekløver.

Sproget er måske mere nyskabende end egentlig elegant: “Han vendte sig og så direkte ind i Assads vitalt smuttende og velpolerede brune øjne.” Men Adler-Olsen leverer et godt plot og en veloplagt krimi med en blanding af traditionelt – og knap så traditionelt – politiarbejde, tilsat en god portion humor og personer af den slags, man gerne vil møde igen.

Bogen var en julegave fra mine betænksomme børn.

Jussi Adler-Olsen, The Pheasant Killers (2012?)

This Danish police procedural, the second in the series about Carl Mørck and the Q Department, has not been translated into English yet, but the first one, Mercy, should be published in Britain in May.

Carl Mørck´s summer holiday has ended, and he is already looking forward to the next holiday, but his mysterious assistant Assad is as keen as ever to sink his teeth in a new case. The two-man army in the basement is even reinforced in the form of Rose, a talkative steamroller on high heels.

Assad persuades his boss to reopen a case from 1987 when two siblings, aged 17 and 18, were beaten to death in a cottage. The main suspects were a group of privileged boarding school students, but apparently the case should never have been sent on to Mørck´s table as one of the group confessed to the murders several years ago. And as soon as they begin asking questions, they are told to stay clear of this case – a request which tends to have the opposite effect on Carl Mørck.

In between the police work we get glimpses of the story from the eighties: six high school students who rebel against the strict rules by smoking cannabis. A young pupil threatens to tell, and the group experiences the first kick of violence.

Twenty years later a couple have died violently while three belong to the ´pheasant segment´; they lead an upper-class life so sheltered that they must resort to hunting to get a bit of excitement. And then there is Kimmie, the only woman among them, a shabby bag lady, yet a threat to the successful trio.

Adler-Olsen delivers an engaging plot with a mix of traditional – and not so traditional – police work, including a fine sense of humour and characters you want to meet again. Soon!

The book was a Christmas gift from my children (they have a great taste).
.

Catching the Blogger Reading

Weekly Geeks: 

"This week, for a Geeky assignment, how about a picture? A self portrait of sorts. I think it would be fun if you all took a picture of yourself (or have someone help you most likely) reading your current book (so we can see what it is) in your favorite reading spot. Then post it! " 

So here you see me in my favourite corner, Kindle in my hand, the hot stove behind me, a mug of coffee in front of me. I thought the moment was perfect - just back from the library with six crime novels (and from the hairdresser, to be honest) - all ready for the photographer.

C.J. Box, Three Weeks to Say Goodbye (2009)

This thriller is an American stand-alone.

The plot begins when Jack and Melissa McGuane gets the worst possible message: something has gone wrong with the adoption; you will have to hand your little girl over to her biological father. As if that wasn´t enough, they learn that Garrett, the young father, mingles with a gang of Mexican immigrants, but they have no chance of winning a lawsuit because Garrett´s father is a highly respected federal judge – with all the right kinds of connections.

The judge gives them three weeks to get used to the thought and hand over nine-month-old Angelina, but Jack and his best friends, the unorthodox police officer Cody and wealthy Brian decide to pool their wits and power to prevent Garrett from getting access to her.

The story is an exciting, fast-paced read about impending disaster, but also about what ordinary people are prepared to do when their world is turned upside-down. And the ending … well, let´s just say it was slightly weaker than the rest, but I am ready to read more books by this writer.

Thank you very much to Maxine who sent her review copy on to me.
The book was read for the What´s In a Name Challenge # 1 (a number). 
.

Thy´s Day # 37

DJ´s Bait in the Box # 85

[I know I have used Jane´s gorgeous box before, but I think it suits the book very well]

 Outside our home, a blue late-model Cadillac SUV slowed to a crawl on the street and swung into our driveway. I could see two people inside.

Garrett, son of the judge and supposed birth father of Angelina, got out first and looked at our house with an expression I can only describe as amused disdain.

The Rules: 

If you recognize the quotation, or if you think you are able to guess who wrote it, please post a comment. Just leave a hint, do not spoil the fun by giving too much away. The book will be reviewed on Friday.

A is for Ancestors

[Thanks to Kerrie for hosting the Alphabet meme – I may not play along every week, but this one suited me very well as my next review is not ready]

I have realized years ago that all my hobbies include some element of the puzzle – or some kind of detective work. This weekend my mother visited us in our cottage, and – not quite unexpectedly – we turned to our shared hobby genealogy. I have spent several years tracking ancestors and enjoy the hunt very much. Recently my mother acquired this wonderful old photo we wanted identified.

Based on the context we found it in plus the woman´s age and her dress my theory was she must be my grandfather´s mother. I knew her full name was Ane Petrea Elsia Kristine Nielsen, born in 1872. She married in 1890 and died of TB in 1913 (which explains why none of my father´s siblings recognized her). I put the photo in a facebook folder Sunday afternoon, and less than six hours later I received a comment from my father´s cousin:

“Thank you for the pictures; Petrea is my father´s mother…” – and I had my identification!

She looks like my grandfather Martinus, don´t you think? 

Esther Verhoef, Close-up (2010)

Denne hollandske thriller er den første roman, Verhoef har skrevet alene og under sit eget navn.

Et citat fra prologen (min oversættelse fra engelsk): 

“Mens badekarret blev fyldt, faldt mine øjne på barberkniven i etuiet. Ikke en engangsskraber, men en håndlavet ragekniv, af den slags man sommetider ser hos italienske barberer, utroligt skarp. Mit hjerte sprang et slag over, så stærk var følelsen den skarpe kniv vakte i mig, og de ideer – nye ideer – jeg fik. Men jeg rystede på hovedet. Nej. Hold dig til planen. Der er altid en næste gang.

Men ikke for Edith.”

Efter en barsk skilsmisse fra John flytter Margot ind i sin nye lejlighed og forsøger at få det bedste ud af det. I lang tid har hun følt, hun blev kvalt af sin konventionelle familie og sit ægteskab; der har ikke været plads til hendes individualitet og kreative evner.

Under en weekend i London møder Margot den fantastiske men også lidt mystiske landsmand og fotograf, Leon. Selv om hun er usikker på, hvad han er for en fyr, ringer hun til ham efter sin hjemkomst og lader ham hvirvle hende ind i hans nye, spændende verden af kunstnere.

Hun dropper sit kedelige job, kommer ud af sin triste sindsstemning og sin afhængighed af mand og familie, og læseren kan kun håbe på, hun ikke er faldet i kløerne på en dominerende mand, som måske ændrer hendes liv til det værre. Og hvad er historien bag Leons ekskæreste Ediths ´selvmord´?

Ikke mere om det spændende plot og hovedpersonen, hvis udvikling var interessant at følge. Efter min mening er der dog et enkelt minus. I en spændingsroman skal der selvfølgelig være en håndfuld mistænkte, men der var lovlig mange personer i den tætte kreds omkring Leon hvis opførsel virkede mere påfaldende end nødvendigt.

Jeg fik bogen fra Maxine, hvis anmeldelse kan læses her.   
Global Reading Challenge # 2, Europa.

HUSK: bogkonkurrence for danske læsere.


Esther Verhoef, Close-Up (2009).

This Dutch thriller is the first novel Verhoef has written on her own and under her own name.

A quotation from the prologue:

“While the bath was filling up, my eye fell on the razor in its case. Not the disposable kind, but a handmade cutthroat razor, the sort you sometimes see in Italian barber shops, extremely sharp. My heart skipped a beat, such was the feeling the sharp razor awakened in me and the ideas – new ideas – that occurred to me. Then I shook my head. No. Stick to the plan. No improvisations. There´s always a next time.
 
Not for Edith, though.”

After a tough divorce from John, Margot moves into her new flat, trying to make the best of it. For a long time she has felt smothered by her conventional family as well as John; in her former life there was no scope for individuality and creativity.

During a weekend in London Margot meets the gorgeous but intriguing country fellow and photographer, Leon. Even though she is not quite sure what kind of person he is, she calls him when she returns home and lets him whirl her into his new, exciting world of artists and jetsetters.

She gives up her boring job, snaps out of her gloom and her dependence on her husband and family, and the reader can only hope she has not fallen into the clutches of a possessive man who may turn her life from bad to worse. And what is the real story behind the ´suicide´ of Edith, Leon´s former girlfriend?

No spoilers; let me just say that in many ways this was a fine debut with an intriguing plot and a main character whose development was interesting to follow. In my opinion there was one drawback, however. I do realize that in a thriller, there have to be a handful of suspects; still, there were too many of the people in the close circle around Leon whose behaviour struck me as more mysterious than necessary.

I read the book for the Global Reading Challenge # 2 (Europe), and it was a gift from Maxine whose review you can see here.

Reminder: competition - win gift card - until Jan 21st.
.

Tools and Tricks

After a wonderful writing summer, my imagination and creativity seem to have been hibernating since November. Before Christmas I got stuck – in two works-in-progress.

But this week I have made a few tiny steps forward with my second cosy manuscript, The Halloween Murderer. I thought Rhapsody´s life was in a rut so I planned to send her off to the local pub for lunch. Not bad, perhaps, but today I changed the scene. On her way to the pub she comes across her new friend, April Hellifield, who is having a loud argument with another woman over a missing painting. Right there on the pavement. I already feel more optimistic.

Another new idea: Rhapsody needs a cross-point screwdriver so she knocks on her new neighbour´s door. A girl has to get out a bit, hasn´t she?

So now I just have to pull myself together and get writing.


The Naming Game
Thank you for your kind words about my blog and my flash stories in your anniversary cum competition emails yesterday. One participant asked me how I came up with the funny names in my stories.

It is much easier if I can come up with a theme for the story or novel. In The Cosy Knave most characters have family names which are related to sweets, biscuits and other brand names.

In my new work-in-progress, The Halloween Murderer, the women have flower names, and all the family names of the characters from ´Aldburgh´ are Yorkshire villages. So in this case it is just finding a list of those names (wonderfully imaginative; thank you Yorkshire) and pick a name which suits the character.

An important point to remember: don´t make up too many similar names. In The Cosy Knave I had female characters called Evy and Elvira. Fortunately my beta readers told me it was confusing so I first tried to rename Evy, but she wasn´t very cooperative. Then I tried calling Elvira Olivia, and I think Olivia Cadbury-Flake was quite satisfied with that.

And some time last year I participated in a flash fiction challenge: make up characters with brand names. Perhaps you´d like to revisit Tea for Ten I – Tea for Ten II to see my little name game.

And Shots is a Knavesborough flash story that suddenly came out of nowhere.

Anniversary & Competition

[For danske læsere: se også bogkonkurrencen nedenfor]

Today, January 7th, is the second anniversary of DJ´s Krimiblog.

Two years with blog posts almost every day, 225 reviews, and most important: 43,000 guests from c 100 countries.

Thank you to each and every one of you for your visits, comments, friendship and encouragement!

This calls for celebration and a competition, I think.

The rules:
World wide competition.

Send an e-mail with your name before January 21st with the title ´competition´ to do.hu.ja (at) mail.tele.dk

Tie breaker: mention one of my blog posts (or a weekly feature) that you like.

The prize: a gift voucher for Amazon.com or Amazon UK of $ 15 or £ 10 (or another online shop where I can pay with visa card).
.

To års jubilæum & bogkonkurrence

I dag, 7. januar, fylder DJ´s krimiblog to år.

To spændende år med blogindlæg næsten hver dag, godt 40.000 besøgende fra 100 forskellige lande og 225 boganmeldelser.

Men det bedste: alle de sjove, søde, spændende venner fra hele verden, jeg er kommet i kontakt med. Blogvenner som deler min store interesse for krimier, enten ved at læse eller skrive dem – eller begge dele.

Tak for jeres opbakning med besøg, blogtips, kommentarer osv!

Det skal fejres med en lille konkurrence.

Skaf mig en ny skandinavisk læser – og få én chance for at vinde en Susanne Staun krimi.
Frit valg mellem en pæn, let brugt paperbackudgave af de første tre Fanny Fiske-bøger: 
Som arvesynden, Mord som forløser (også udgivet under titlen Liebe) eller Mit smukke lig.

Sådan gør du: find en skandinav (eller hvem som helst som kan læse dansk, også personer bosat i udlandet), som melder sig til som ny læser via ikonet “Faste læsere” i højre sidebjælke. Derefter sender den nye læser en mail til mig (do.hu.ja at mail.tele.dk) og fortæller, hvem der har overtalt dig til at blive læser (navn + mail-adresse).

Hvis du skaffer flere læsere, får du selvfølgelig også flere chancer, og hvis du ikke selv er medlem endnu, må du ud og finde en ven(inde), så I kan melde hinanden til. 

Konkurrencen udløber 21. januar. 

NB: hvis jeg får over ti nye læsere, udlover jeg en ny, dansk bogpræmie inden længe - for alle medlemmer som kan læse dansk.

Margery Allingham, Hide My Eyes (1958)

This British novel was the very prolific author´s sixteenth Albert Campion story.

I thought it would be very suitable for two of my reading challenges. I read it in Danish (I shouldn´t have, but my excuse is that I found it in a bargain bin).

On the first pages we meet the bus driver with the terrifying and uncanny face who carries a revolver and gloves in his case. He kills a money-lender, and for eight months he believes he has committed the perfect crime – until Inspector Charles Luke takes a closer look at some unsolved cases and sees a pattern emerge, assisted by Mr Albert Campion, the private detective. If the murderer had not turned out to be too smart, planning his very intricate crimes and alibis, they might never have caught him, though.

This story was a traditional crime story with lots of atmosphere and interesting characters, but the murderer´s behaviour was a bit incredible for me.

Read for 2011 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge & Bogudfordringen 2011

Margery Allingham, En morder lukkes ind (1971)

De første linjer:
“Bussens ankomst var tidsmæssigt nøje beregnet. Køretøjet blev overhovedet ikke bemærket af nogen, som kunne være interesseret i det.”

Nej, man bør ikke læse klassisk, britisk krimi i venstrehånds-oversættelse, man risikerer at støde på ´possessive kvinder´og andet mærkeligt, men min undskyldning er, at den var så billig.

På første side møder vi buschaufføren med det rædselsfulde og uhyggelige ansigt, som render rundt med en revolver og et par handsker i sin taske. Han dræber en pengeudlåner, og i otte måneder ser det ud til, han har begået den perfekte forbrydelse – indtil kriminalkommissær Charles Luke kigger nærmere på en række uløste sager og aner et mønster, godt hjulpet af privatdetektiven Albert Campion. Men hvis morderen ikke havde været oversmart og gjort for meget ud af sine udspekulerede forbrydelser og alibier, havde de måske aldrig pågrebet ham.

Romanen er en meget traditionel krimi med masser af Londonatmosfære og interessante personer, men morderens opførsel virkede ikke alt for overbevisende. Hurtigt læst hyggekrimi som ikke ødelægger nogens nattesøvn. 

Læst som en del af:
Bogudfordringen 2011, januar: en krimi fra før 2000.
2011 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge.
.

E-Book Resources

You probably remember that I bought a Kindle e-reader in November. I do enjoy my gadget, but I still read more printed books. I read 8-10 crime novels per month, and my principle is that I go for the cheapest possible copy. I understand if some writers grit their teeth when they hear about all the used books I buy, but then professional reviewers get all their review copies for free.

I know I am not the only e-book reader who is looking for new ways to get around the fact that some  e-books are more expensive than the paperback (typically $ 10-13 for Danish customers), and no matter what the retailers say, that is not a reasonable price. [Customers outside UK cannot buy e-books from e.g. Amazon UK or Waterstones]

So far I have found Smashwords, a wonderful site where many writers upload their older works at extremely fair prices.

If you are looking for free classics, ManyBooks.Net is the place to go, and if you are interested in review copies directly from the publishers, you may join NetGalley.

Where do you get your e-books? 
Have you found resources you will share with me and my readers? 

Readers´ resources: 

Ebooks.com

Read Without Paper 

Untreed Reads Publishing

Project Gutenberg

Book Depository (NB: they do not ship to Denmark) 

.

Cathryn Grant, The Demise of the Soccer Moms (2010)

This American suspense novel is the writer´s debut.

“After a moment of silence, a thud shook the walls of the living room and the hallway outside Amy´s bedroom. Her mother yelped. Amy rolled onto her back. The walls shivered again. There was a thick, damp sound like the pounding of her mother´s meat tenderizer on a piece of beef.”

When Amy Lewis was a little girl, her mother was raped in their own living room. She was too terrified to do anything, but for the rest of her life she remembers her father´s verdict: if her mother hadn´t invited a stranger in or ´dressed like a slut´, nothing would ever have happened to her.

Afterwards Amy´s mother stops caring about clothes, make-up, food – even her two daughters. So when Amy grews up, she decides to create a perfect life for her own girls. She becomes one of the group of devout soccer moms in their pleasant Sunnyvale suburb.

When Charlotte, a budding photographer and the mother of Meadow, enters the scene, things change very quickly, however. “She wore a gauze skirt paired with Doc Marten boots that made her look like a hybrid of Tinker Bell and a thug.”

The outrageous newcomer who doesn´t even wear a bra sticks out a mile, and the soccer moms Amy, Rachel, Jane and Kit are less than pleased with this inchworm in their paradise.

When it comes to plot, it is difficult to say if the story is mainly about crimes against women, or about the long-term consequences of these. No matter what, I rushed through the book in a few hours. As I had expected, the suburban environment was well drawn, and I was intrigued by the small group of female characters, especially Amy and Charlotte who appear to be opposites.

I bought the Kindle version myself.

Global Reading Challenge # 1, North America. 

Tana French, The Likeness (2008)

[Dansk titel: Tana French, Som i et spejl - 2009]

This thriller is the Irish writer´s second novel featuring Cassie Maddox. See my review of her debut, In the Woods.

As I have read this one for the Ireland Reading Challenge, I thought the quotation below was very suitable. Besides, the setting (the Georgian Whitethorn House in Wicklow outside Dublin) is fairly important for the story:

“This country´s passion for property is built into the blood, a current as huge and primal as desire. Centuries of being turned out on the roadside at a landlord´s whim, helpless, teach your bones that everything in life hangs on owning your home. This is why house prices are what they are: property developers know they can charge half a million for a one-bedroom dive, if they band together and make sure there´s no other choice the Irish will sell a kidney, work hundred-hour weeks and pay it.”

After her latest murder case, Detective Cassie Maddox was traumatised which is why she has worked for the relatively quiet Domestic Violence section for a couple of years. But in the first chapter of this novel, her boyfriend Sam O´Neill who works for the Murder squad calls her out to take a look at a body. On the scene Cassie sees her own face, and she learns that some young girl has stolen her undercover identity as Lexie Madison. So now the main question is if the murderer wanted to kill the anonymous girl, or if he might have been after Cassie Maddox. In order to smoke out the murderer, Frank Mackey who runs the undercover operations persuades Cassie to assume Lexie´s identity – just for a few weeks.

Cassie had just found some kind of equilibrium with her new colleagues and Sam, but now Frank and Sam pull her in each their direction. Frank is a persuasive detective who obviously loves excitement and challenges whereas the gentle and level-headed Sam tries his best to protect Cassie. And Cassie has to make up her mind whether she prefers her quiet existence or if she wants to live the highly intoxicating life of an undercover agent again. And then there are Lexie´s four, young friends whom she lived together with in Whitethorn House.

Though I must agree with reviewers who have pointed out that the story is long-winded (the paper back is 700 pages), I was completely absorbed by the haunting atmosphere and the compelling characters. I just had to know what happened to them.

I bought the book myself. Read for Ireland Reading Challenge # 1.
.

Nyere nordisk

[My Nordic TBR + my wish list of untranslated fiction]

2010 blev et år, hvor jeg i stor stil læste britiske og amerikanske krimier. I 2011 vil jeg forsøge at få indhentet nogle af de nordiske serier & forfattere, jeg sættter stor pris på. (Men flere hundrede kroner pr bog – næh, så kan jeg godt vente på et gratis eksemplar fra biblioteket).

Mine julegaver fra familien hjælper lidt:

Anne Holt, Pengemanden (norsk – 2010)
Jussi Adler-Olsen, Fasandræberne (dansk – 2008)
Jussi Adler-Olsen, Flaskepost fra P (dansk – 2009)


Andet nordisk på hylden:

Åsa Larsson, Till dess din vrede upphör (svensk – 2004)
Carin Gerhardsen, Pandekagehuset (2009)


På ønskesedlen/bibliotekslisten: 

Susanne Staun, Døderummet (2010)
Jo Nesbø, Panserhjerte (norsk – 2009)
Arnaldur Indridason, Hypothermia/Frostnätter (islandsk – 2009 - endnu ikke oversat til dansk)
Håkan Nesser, En fortælling om hr. Roos (svensk – 2009)
Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Aske (islandsk – 2009)
Jussi Adler-Olsen, Journal 64 (dansk - 2010)
Camilla Ceder, Babylon (svensk - 2010 - endnu ikke oversat til dansk)
Henning Mankell, Kineseren (svensk – 2008)
.

Extra News: Congratulations, Cathryn!

Great news on the first day of 2011: one of my American blog friends, the wonderful writer of suburban noir, Cathryn Grant, has published her first novel, THE DEMISE OF THE SOCCER MOMS.

The Kindle price is very fair indeed, but you can buy an even cheaper copy from Smashwords.

Congratulation, Cathryn!

NB: if you are more patient than me - or if you don´t own an ebook reader, the print version will be out later this month. Cool cover, isn´t it?

DJ´s Bait in the Box # 84

Not Wednesday yet? How should I know, this is my holiday.

“For a second I was confused … because I knew her from somewhere, I´d seen that face a million times before. Then I took a step forwards so I could get a proper look and the whole world went silent, frozen, darkness roaring in from the edges and only the girl´s face blazing white at the centre; because it was me. The tilt of the nose, the wide sweep of the eyebrows, every tiniest curve and angle clear as ice: it was me, blue-lipped and still, with shadows like dark bruises under my eyes.”

The Rules:
If you recognize the quotation, or if you think you are able to guess who wrote it, please post a comment. Just leave a hint, don´t spoil the fun by giving too much away. The book will be reviewed on Wednesday.