My first crime novel: Clouds of Witness (1926)

The first crime novel I got was Dorothy Sayers´ Cloud of Witness. Together with my parents I visited my grandmother one Sunday afternoon when I was around thirteen years old. As usual, I browsed her books and fell into the first adult crime story I had ever read. I enjoyed meeting Lord Peter Wimsey, the distinguished detective, and his little helper, Inspector Charles Parker, but of course we had to go home before I had finished reading the 286 pages.

"You may keep it. I have read it," my grandmother said so I brought my treasure home. Even today, when I own more than 500 crime novels, this old book is quite special to me. Not only because it was the first, but my dear, generous, humorous grandmother gave it to me!

So this was my first meeting with Dorothy Sayers. I really liked the book, and I have read all her Peter Wimsey stories years ago. One of the things I remember about "Clouds of Witness" is that I thought Wimsey and Parker were ´old men´, or at least middle-aged, so I was amazed when they had solved the mystery and celebrated by getting drunk. I thought that was out of character.



Min første krimi: Et væld af beviser (1947)
Den første krimi jeg fik, var Dorothy Sayers "Et væld af beviser". Jeg var på søndagsbesøg hos min farmor sammen med mine forældre, da jeg var ca tretten år gammel. Som sædvanlig gik jeg ombord i hendes bogreol, og faldt i min første voksenkrimi. Jeg nød mødet med Lord Peter Wimsey, den adelige detektiv, og hans lille hjælper, politiassistent Charles Parker, men selvfølgelig skulle vi hjem, længe før jeg var nået igennem alle 286 sider.

"Du må godt beholde den; jeg har læst den" sagde min farmor, så jeg tog min nyerhvervede skat med mig hjem. Selv idag, hvor jeg ejer mere end 500 krimier, er den plettede, gamle bog helt speciel for mig. Ikke bare fordi den var den første, men min søde, gavmilde og humoristiske farmor gav mig den!

Så sådan mødte jeg Dorothy Sayers for første gang. Jeg blev vældig glad for bogen, og har siden læst hele Peter Wimsey-serien. En af de ting, jeg kan huske om "Et væld af beviser" er, at jeg så Peter Wimsey og Charles Parker for mig som gamle mænd, eller i hvert fald midaldrende, så jeg var helt forbløffet, da de havde opklaret mysteriet og fejrede det ved at drikke sig fulde. Det passede ikke rigtigt til mine forestillinger.

Inger Frimansson, Skyggen i vandet (2006)

- oversat fra svensk, (Skuggan i vattnet 2005) - inverted mystery
Advarsel: Da denne bog er en fortsættelse af Frimanssons krimi-debut, "Godnat, min elskede", kan det ikke rigtigt lade sig gøre at skrive noget om plottet, uden at komme ind på, hvad der er foregået i den første bog.

Ved bogens begyndelse møder vi Jill Kylén og Tor Assarsson, som er på ferie sammen i Norge. Jill nyder sejlturen til Lofoten, ser en kaskelothval (sperm whale), mens Tor sidder indendørs, kold og søsyg. Tors kone forsvandt for seks år siden, og hverken han eller politiet aner, hvad der blev af hende. Jill er hans kones bedste veninde, og hun gør sit bedste for at ruske lidt op i ægtemanden.

Læseren ved imidlertid lige fra begyndelsen, at Berit blev myrdet af sin gamle klassekammerat, Justine, som blev udsat for grov mobning, bl.a. af Berit og Jill. Det er altså denne viden om morderen, samt hendes opvækst og personlighed, der skal drive handlingen fremad, men det tager sin tid, før der for alvor begynder at ske noget.

Ligesom Sjöwall og Wahlöös første krimi, Roseanna, udspiller handlingen i denne bog sig omkring Stockholm og sluserne ved "Mälaran med det mørke vand". Et andet fælles træk er de mange triste menneskeskæbner. "Skyggen i vandet" vrimler med ensomme og triste mennesker, skuffede, grædende, onde og skyldige mennesker, mennesker som oplever mishandling, død og ulykker, og man mærker ikke meget til deres gode sider. Bogen er altså i høj grad en mørk, psykologisk thriller og ikke en krimi, selv om den fik prisen for bedste svenske krimi i 2005.

Inger Frimansson har et bedre sprog og er sikrere i sine personkarakteristikker end Ingrid Hedström, men selv om der kommer nogenlunde gang i spændingen efter de første hundrede sider, er den langt fra så helstøbt som Kerstin Ekmans krimi om det sorte vand.

Inger Frimansson, The Shadow in the Water (2008)
Swedish thriller from 2005 - inverted mystery.

Warning: as this book is a sequel to Frimansson´s debut, "Good Night my Darling", it is not possible to write about the plot without spoiling the first book.

At the beginning we meet Jill Kylén and Tor Assarsson on holiday in Norway. Jill enjoys the Lofoten Islands and the sperm whales while Tor is sitting indoors, freezing and seasick. Tor´s wife disappeared six years earlier, and neither he nor the police has any idea what has happened. Jill is his wife´s best friend, and she does what she can to brighten up his life.

The reader knows from the outset that Berit was murdered by her old classmate, Justine, because of the gross bullying she was subjected to in school by the other girls. So this knowledge about the murderer, her background and personality is supposed to be the incentive of the story, but it takes some time before the action really begins.

Just like Sjöwall and Wahlöö´s first crime novel, Roseanna, the setting of this book is the area around Stockholm and the locks of "Mälaren with the dark water". Another similarity is the many dismal fates. "The Shadow in the Water" is practically swarming with lonely and sad people, disappointed, crying, evil and guilty people, people who experience maltreatment, death and accidents, and their good sides rarely surface. So this book is certainly a ´noir´ thriller and not a crime story, even though it won the prize for the best Swedish crime novel in 2005.

Inger Frimansson writes better and her characters seem more real than Ingrid Hedström´s, but even though this thriller is reasonably exciting after the first hundred pages or so, it is not of the same literary quality as Kerstik Ekman´s crime novel about the black water.

Weekly Geeks # 6 - what´s in a name

- this week´s task is to write about the name of one of the fictional characters we like

The name of my favourite British crime fiction heroes is Adam - can you guess who?

- here is part of the information found at BabyNamer
Meaning: Its source is a Hebrew expression meaning "Red earth."
Languages: This boy's name is used in Hebrew, German, English, French, Hungarian, Kiswahili, Polish, Serbian and Croatian.
Feminine Forms: Adamina
Narrative: Some authorities believe this name is Phoenician in origin, and simply means ''man.'' Others believe the Hebrew original refers to ruddy skin.
In the Jewish scriptures, this is the name of the first man. Though we aren't told if Adam named himself, it was his job to give names ''to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field.''
Adam was also the first person to give a name to another human being. He named his wife and helpmate Chava (in English, Eve), meaning ''life,'' because she was ''the mother of all living.''

The prize: when someone has sent me the correct name, I will post a photo! (No, not of the winner - of my hero, of course). Congratulations, Steph (from WhoDunnit)

Weekly Geeks # 6 - om navne.
Denne uges opgave går ud på at skrive om navnet på en af de litterære figurer, vi holder af.
Min britiske helt hedder Adam - kan du gætte hvem han er?

Gevinst: når nogen har gættet navnet og sendt det til mig, viser jeg et fint billede her på siden (nej, ikke af vinderen, men af helten)

Stephen Booth, Blind to the Bones (2003)

While reading the first three novels in this series I noticed that each book was better and better, so I have been looking forward to this one for some time.

In this series the Peak District environment is described in great detail. The village of Withens is anything but idyllic as it is harrowed by rats, vandalism of gravestones, burglary, and a desperate mother, waiting to hear news about her daughter, young Emma Renshaw who disappeared two years ago. (As we all know from reading newspapers and crime fiction, some of these missing persons do turn up again one way or the other - others haunt the memories of their relatives, turning into mythical and idealized figures, never changing or growing older). The first chapter is practically teeming with warnings: "Danger of Death". Withering Withens seems to be dying out, and the reader soon begins to wonder if someone has decided to help the development along.

Central figures of the village are the Oxleys - three generations of easy targets when it comes to pointing out a scapegoat - but how much are they really guilty of? Another recurrent figure is reverend Derek Alton, a vicar with death on his mind, ridden by guilt for what he did not do. Not exactly a handyman, he is also bothered by the large, unkempt cemetery. Like the village, the church seems about to be invaded or even conquered by the strong forces of nature. The numerous rats and carrion crows may be the real winners of this war.

The book also offers a delightful reunion with Detective Constable Ben Cooper who is of local Peak District stock. He is basically an equable and kind mand, and obviously has a strong sense of solidarity with the local farmers and villagers. In this book he is loaned to the Rural Crime Team which is why he is involved in the goings on of Withens even before a battered body is found in the area.

His superior, Detective Sergeant Diane Fry, is not exactly well integrated. She is a city dweller from Birmingham, a woman with a past and a phobia. She has a strained relationship with Cooper whom she does not really understand, but as soon as he is sent away from her beat, she wants him back. Someone from her past suggests that Cooper is the only friend she has which may not be far from the truth.

Finally, it is difficult to say whether the sinister environment or the detection plays the major role in this great book. One would hardly thrive without the other, however. All in all, a really satisfactory reading experience - every six hundred and thirty pages of it.


Stephen Booth, Blind to the Bones
- vil formodentlig blive oversat til dansk i løbet af 2009 -
Mens jeg læste Stephen Booths tre første bøger, lagde jeg mærke til, at de blev bedre og bedre, så jeg har glædet mig til at læse den fjerde i ugevis.

I denne serie bliver det bjergrige Peak Distrikt-miljø grundigt beskrevet af en forfatter, som helt sikkert kender sin egn. Landsbyen Withens er meget langt fra at være nogen idyl, da den bliver hærget af rotter, hærværk på kirkegården, indbrud og en desperat mor, som venter på nyt om sin datter, Emma Renshaw. Emma forsvandt sporløst to år før bogens begyndelse. (Som vi ved fra nyhederne og krimilæsning, dukker nogle savnede personer op på den ene eller den anden måde - andre bliver til mytologiske, idealiserede væsener, som aldrig forandrer sig eller bliver ældre, mens de hjemsøger deres pårørendes hukommelser). Withens er tilsyneladende på vej til at uddø, og man begynder snart at spekulere på, om nogen har besluttet sig for at sætte skub i udviklingen.

Centrale skikkelser i byen er Oxley-familien - tre generationer af lette ofre, når det drejer sig om at udpege en syndebuk - men hvor meget bærer de i virkeligheden skylden for? En anden gennemgående person er pastor Derek Alton, en sognepræst med død på hjernen, plaget af skyld over hvad han ikke fik gjort. Da han ikke ligefrem er nogen handyman, er synet af den store, forsømte kirkegård yderligere en byrde for ham. Ligesom landsbyen er kirken ved blive invaderet, eller måske endda erobret af stærke naturkræfter. Det kunne godt se ud til, at de talrige rotter og de ådselsædende sortkrager er de oplagte vindere af denne kamp.

Bogen byder også på et hyggeligt gensyn med kriminalbetjenten Ben Cooper, søn af en lokal landmand. Ben er i bund og grund et venligt og ligevægtigt menneske, og han udviser stor forståelse for de lokale bønder og landsbyboeres levevilkår. I denne bog bliver han lånt ud til "the Rural Crime Team" (en ny enhed, som skal opklare forbrydelser i landområdet), og er derfor på stedet, endnu før et stærkt medtaget lig bliver fundet udenfor Withens.

Coopers overordnede, kriminalassistent Diane Fry, er derimod ikke særlig velintegreret. Hun er en rigtig bybo fra Birmingham, en kvinde med en fobi og en fortid. Hun har et anstrengt forhold til Cooper, som hun ikke rigtig forstår sig på, men så snart han bliver sent udenfor hendes gebet, tigger hun om at få ham tilbage. En person fra Frys fortid påstår, at Cooper i virkeligheden er den eneste ven, hun har, og måske er der noget om snakken.

Det er svært at sige, om de dystre omgivelser eller kriminalplottet spiller den største rolle i denne glimrende krimi. Jeg er jo komplet anglofil, så jeg nød bare begge dele. Alt i alt bød bogen på en rigtig tilfredsstillende læseoplevelse - på ikke mindre end 630 sider!

DJs Bait in the Box # 4

[Bingo post 10] What book is this - and who wrote it?
This week´s fantastic tin belongs to Julia, A Piece of my Mind.

"With shaking fingers, he brushed some of the dust from his sleeve. The exertion had made his collar stick to the back of his neck, and a few strands of hair had fallen over his forehead, where they lay like barbed wire on his skin. He rubbed at a fresh scratch on his knuckles, but managed only to smear a streak of blood across the back of his hand. He could taste dust in his mouth, too - old dust, the debris of years, stirred into the air by a random act of violence."

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.

NB: want to know a bit more about who DJ is? - look here

Gæt en bog (4)
Hvilken bog - og hvem skrev den? Det drejer sig om den fjerde i en serie, og den kommer sandsynligvis på dansk i løbet af 2009 (og det er jo også en slags spor).

"Med rystende fingre børstede han noget af støvet af sit ærme. Anstrengelsen havde fået hans krave til at klæbe sig til bagsiden af hans hals, og nogle få hårtjavser var faldet ned over hans pande, hvor de lå som pigtråd mod hans hud. Han gned på en frisk skramme på sine knoer, men det lykkedes ham bare at tvære en stribe blod tværs over håndryggen. Han havde endda smagen af støv i sin mund - gammelt støv, flere års efterladenskaber, hvirvlet op i luften af en tilfældig voldshandling."

Reglerne:
Hvis du kan genkende citatet, eller hvis du tror du kan gætte hvem forfatteren er, så læg venligst en kommentar. Skriv bare et hint til nye besøgende, lad være med at ødelægge fornøjelsen for andre.

NB: vil du gerne vide lidt mere om, hvem DJ er? - så kig her

Ingrid Hedström, The Schoolmistress of Villette (2008).

The book has not been translated into English, but I have decided to use it as part of my 2009 suspense and thriller challenge even though it is a bit unfair (legal thriller).

This Swedish thriller takes place in Villette, a fictitious town on the river Meuse in the French-speaking part of Belgium. In the prologue, which takes place in 1961, we meet eleven-year-old Nico who receives a serious blow when he sees his hero, the older brother Daniel, crying! The plot continues in 1994 when the beloved old schoolmistress of Villette is killed by a hit-and-run driver. Her last words are, "It was wrong of us... the truth... always wrong to hide it."

Other jigsaw pieces are a medival mass grave under a building site, two missing children and some Belgian solders who lose their lives in connection with the Rwandan genocide (Rwanda is a former Belgian colony).

Now it is up to the newly appointed investigative judge Martine Poirot and the reader to figure out what is the connection between these pieces of information, and what is behind the murder. Martine Poirot is 34 years old, married to a professor of history, and apparently always attired in black Armani suits.

My view of the book: the author seems strangely uninvolved in the characters and the murder of the old teacher. Furthermore, the book is swarming with people, and the language is marred by a number of cliches and clumsy expressions, "... she was glad their parents had been spared from seeing Philippe throw his career and marriage away." "The blody corner of the mantelpiece does not come from the lesion in her head..." [Sic]

At any rate I know which designers Ingrid Hedstrom´s characters prefer, however, and the book undoubtedly lives up to at least nine out of ten "femikrimi commandments". Roughly speaking, the characters can be divided into three groups: first the idealistic women who want to bring forth the truth at any cost, and second the female victims of the third group, the dishonest, Machiavellian politicians of the town.

At some point Poirot´s female subordinate turns down an invitation with the following words, "unfortunately I do not have time, detective inspector, I am going to castrate my cat tonight. That is the only way you can prevent them from squirting all over to mark their territory." (Is this good femi-humour or sexism? - judge for yourself).

The case is duly solved, and the last 20-30 pages are fairly exciting, but far too often Martine Poirot has the answers handed to her on a plate e.g. when an inkeeper happens to trudge into the Palace of Justice with a basket full of sandwiches and is able to give her important information about a photo related to the case. I think enough has been said; this crime novel was just not my cup of tea.

Ingrid Hedström, Lærerinden fra Villette (2008)
- oversat fra svensk (Lärarinnan i Villette 2008) - legal thriller

Denne krimi udspiller sig i Villette, en fiktiv by ved floden Meuse i den fransktalende del af Belgien. Den indledes med en prolog, som foregår i 1961. Her møder vi 11-årige Nico, som får sit livs første knæk da han oplever sin helt, storebroderen Daniel, græde! Handlingen fortsætter i 1994, hvor byens højt-elskede lærerinde bliver dræbt af en flygtbilist. Hendes sidste ord lyder: "Det var forkert af os... sandheden... altid forkert at skjule den."

Andre brikker i sagen er en ældgammel massegrav på en byggegrund, to forsvundne børn og nogle belgiske soldater, som mister livet i forbindelse med folkemordet i Rwanda (tidligere belgisk koloni).

Og derefter er det op til den nyudnævnte undersøgelsesdommer Martine Poirot og læseren at finde ud af, hvordan disse oplysninger hænger sammen, og hvad der ligger bag. Martine Poirot er 34 år gammel, gift med en historieprofessor, og går tilsyneladende altid i sorte Armanisæt med tilhørende knude i nakken.

Mit indtryk af bogen: både personbeskrivelserne og mordet på lærerinden virker sært uvedkommende (som om forfatteren ikke en gang selv bryder sig om nogen af dem). Det bliver ikke bedre af, at man møder et væld af personer, og at bogen skæmmes af en del klicheer og kluntet sprog: "... hun var glad for, at forældrene var blevet skånet for at se Philippe kaste karriere og ægteskab bort."
"... det blodige hjørne af kaminhylden stammer slet ikke fra læsionen i hovedet..."

Men i det mindste, så ved jeg hvilke designere, Ingrid Hedströms personer foretrækker, og man kan heller ikke være i tvivl om, at bogen lever op til mindst 9 af femikrimiens 10 bud. Personerne kan groft sagt inddeles i tre grupper: først de idealistiske kvinder, som vil have sandheden frem for enhver pris, dernæst de kvindelige ofre for den tredje gruppe: de uhæderlige og magtgale mænd.

Martine Poirots kvindelige underordnede afslår på et tidspunkt en date med følgende replikker: "desværre, kriminalassistent, jeg har ikke tid, jeg skal kastrere min kat her til aften. Det er den eneste måde, man kan forhindre dem i at gå rundt og strinte over det hele og markere deres territorium." (er det god femihumor eller sexisme? - døm selv).

Sagen bliver naturligvis opklaret, og de sidste 20-30 sider er absolut de mest spændende, men Martine Poirot får alt for ofte svarene foræret, som når en kroejer ´tilfældigvis´ vader ind i selve justitspaladset med en kurv sandwiches og lige på stedet kan give hende vigtige oplysninger om et foto med tilknytning til sagen. Så er det vist sagt, denne krimi faldt slet og ret ikke i min smag.

Information on Scandinavian crime fiction.

[Bingo post 9 - billedet stammer fra Københavns Biblioteker]

Danske sider om skandinaviske krimier:
Krimimessen - sidste nyt om årets krimimesse i Horsens

Krimisiden - omfattende side med anmeldelser af krimier og forfatterportrætter

Agatha læseklub - diskussion af en ny krimi hver måned (kræver medlemsskab)


English pages about Scandinavian crime fiction:
CrimeFest 2009 - the international crime fiction convention

Euro Crime - Scandinavian authors and biographies

Scandinavian Crime Fiction

Scandinavian Mysteries

Scandinavian Books - reviews of new books - you may also look here for a list of upcoming translations - New Crime Books