Stella and me

I don’t know who Stella Blómkvist is. That’s not quite true, as I know who the razor-tongued, morally wayward lawyer Stella Blómkvist is. What I don’t know is who actually writes these stories that have been appearing at intervals for the last twenty-five years. I had read a few of them, years ago, before crime…

Remembering Beer Day

He sat back, folded his arms and frowned. ‘It should be banned. Simple as that,’ he said, mind firmly made up on the issue. My friend, an alcoholic who followed ten mad, self-destructive years with twenty (and counting) dry ones, has strong views. We were talking about booze. This is something the Nordic countries do…

The Shape of Things To Come

To celebrate the continued rise of Nordic crime fiction, here’s a sneak preview of the latest Scandinavian sensation you haven’t heard about yet, the first chapter of the trilogy in four (or maybe five) parts of reclusive author Jan-Holger Sildquist’s Surströmming series. Until recently a little-known writer, Sildquist spent his early years in north Bråland…