I just finished a very cool book “3 hours” by Börge Hellström and Anders Roslund … Yes, Swedish and no, its not a surprise as they a very good with those tyle of stories.
It made me think: what are other authors in Europe that write interesting crime novels?
Btw: Scandis and Poles please also share. I might have read it already but others may have not.
14 comments
Going with the classics by Friedrich Dürrenmatt that every Swiss has read in school (or at least one of them):
– Der Verdacht ([The Suspicion](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspicion_(novel)) )
– Das Versprechen – Requiem einer Kriminalgescichte ([The Pledge – Requiem for a detective novel](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pledge:_Requiem_for_the_Detective_Novel) )
– Der Richter und sein Henker ([The judge and his Hangman](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Judge_and_His_Hangman))
(Links to the English Wikipedia articles)
Edit: as a word of warning; these are classics, as such they are pretty old (50ies)
I’m a fan of Marek Krajewski. His crime novels are almost all set in the interwar period in German Breslau and in Polish Lwów.
Some faves of mines are Ian Rankin & Val McDermid, arguably the most popular ones but for good reason!
Camilleri, the author of Montalbano, is probably the most famous author. *Il ladro di merendine* (*The Snack Thief*), *La forma dell’acqua* (*The shape of water*) and *La concessione del telefono* are probably his most famous works.
A famous duo is Fruttero & Lucentini, who are not only great writers but have been the teachers of many Italian writers with their writing manual. Their most famous work is *La donna della domenica* (*The Sunday woman*).
The most famous Italian crime novel is *Il nome della rosa* (*The name of the rose*) by Eco of course.
The masterpiece is probably *Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana* by C. E. Gadda.
In French, you have two kinds, the classics like Maurice Leblanc “Le mystère de la chambre jaune”, “Le parfum de la dame en noir”, or the famous “Commissaire Maigret” by Georges Simenon (Belgian author).
In recent time, I would highly recommend “Fred Vargas” and in a more “Nordic noir” style, Pierre Lemaitre.
I recommend Laidlaw by William McIlvanny. Scottish crime writing at its finest, depicting Glasgow in the 1970s. He’s often referred to as the ‘father of tartan noir’ and cited as a key influence by many contemporary crime writers.
Thought you had misspelled his name but it actually is Bör**g**e lol
Crime novels are extremely popular in the Nordics, there’s even a term describing the style [Nordic Noir](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_noir).
If you are familiar with Swedish crime novels you’ve probably already read Stieg Larsson – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Män som hatar kvinnor) and its sequels, but I thought I’d mention it for the others anyway.
Many Swedish crime novels are serials following a character or group taking on a different case each book.
* Lars Kepler – Inspector Van Veeteren
* Arne Dahl – A-gruppen
* Per Wahlöö/Maj Sjöwall – Martin Beck
* Camilla Läckberg – Fjällbacka
* Henning Mankell – Kurt Wallander
* Liza Marklund – Annika Bengtzon
* Leif G.W. Persson – Lars Martin Johansson
Boris Akunin’s historical crime novels are rather well-known, but I haven’t read any of them myself.
Does *Crime and Punishment* count? You can’t say it’s not a crime novel, it’s literally in the title.
I highly recommend [The murderess](https://www.politeianet.gr/books/9789607120281-papadiamantis-alexandrs-nteniz-charbeu-ekdoseis-the-murderess-204921) by Alexandros Papadiamantis (*attention: link contains spoilers*). Written in 1903, it is considered a classic for a reason and is one of Papadiamantis’ finest works.
Ian Rankin, Val McDermid and Hugh McIlvanney have all been mentioned for Scotland so far, so I’ll add in Stuart MacBride and Chris Brookmyre.
Stuart MacBride writes serial killer thrillers set in the North East, with a streak of black humour through the grimness to lighten them up.
Chris Brookmyre writes sharp, satirical novels laden with jokes and cultural references.
I think the most notable series of crime novels are the “[De Cock](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Cock_(boekenserie))” (renamed “Dekok” in English, for obvious reasons) series bij A.J. (Appie) Baantjer.
It also spawned the very popular tv-show [Baantjer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baantjer), which ran for 11 years.
The book series has been running since 1965 with the latest one being released just two weeks ago, with 90 in total. Although Baantjer died in 2010, the series was continued by Peter Romer, son of the actor who played De Cock in the TV show.
I don’t read much krimis, but Max Seeck is a popular Finnish writer currently. I haven’t read them, but his books are more in the thriller genre.
Matti Yrjänä Joensuu is an older classic, whose style is more realistic police procedural. I’m not sure how well it’s available in translation.
Crime isn’t really my thing, but I know “Afdeling Q” (department q) by Jussi Adler-Olsen has had some success here. The name Jo Nesbø is also quite big in crime novels, so maybe he’s got something that might interest you