Criminal Reading: Norway, 1969 - Satellite People by Hans Olav Lahlum

Satellite People by Hans Olav Lahlum
Beginning with an enigmatic phone call from a wealthy tycoon wishing to discuss an imminent threat to his life with Oslo homicide detective Inspector Kristiansen (known as K2), Lahlum's crime novel is both tribute to and dedicated to the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie.

Potential victim and detective never keep their Monday appointment as the tycoon is killed during a regular Sunday gathering of family and friends. His killer's identity provides the core conundrum for detecting partners K2 and his young, precociously bright, wheelchair-bound, friend - Patricia. But more people will die before they unearth the killer from amongst the dinner guests.

I try, but have to admit to rarely finding the "constructed" style of detective novel, full of chronological interviews, witness accounts and deductive discussion, a gripping read. So, much as I admire Lahlum's writing from reading his third in the "K2" series The Catalyst Killing a while ago, for this reason alone it took me some time to finish "Satellite People", his second novel in the series.

Lahlum is an excellent writer and this English translation by Kari Dickson works well. I like the way he sets his books retrospectively in the late 1960s and 1970s, a period which can still touch both pre- and postwar Europe (the dead tycoon in this story had been a member of the Norwegian Resistance) and in this way is able to bring a flavour of contemporary Nordic Noir social psychology to his plotting whilst constructing his books as classic, constrained, detective-mysteries.
In his end note, Lahlum pays tribute not only to Christie but to Conan Doyle. I can't help wondering if, given Lahlum's underlying sense of humour, he relishes the fact that Inspector Kristiansen is very much the Dr. Watson to Patricia's "Sherlock".

Believe it or not, despite causing me a slight reading struggle, I really recommend Lahlum's K2 series to fans of classic detective stories.

Greydoll's Criminal Reading: "The Catalyst Killing" by Hans Olav Lahlum

Back in 1970, I was a student. It was a time of revolution, rebellion and sitting-in. This didn't happen much in my own college... which was a great source of disappointment to some of our tutors who, I think, fancied themselves as being at the heart of change. But then teaching (yeah, right) at an art college in a West Country town more conformist than my own native suburbia was perhaps not the anarchist hub they might have tried for if their hearts were in it. (OK - I didn't enjoy my stay there.) I do remember that some student union meetings where quite vocal... but these never really resulted in any kind of decision because the various student factions were challenging Each Other more than The Authorities.... usually about agenda structure and points of order.

So it is that my ancient bones remember the political flavour of the late 1960s and early 1970s setting for "The Catalyst Killing" by Hans Olav Lahlum. (Translated from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson. Paperback, Pan Macmillan, 2016) and another find from my local bookshop.

The story begins one evening when Inspector Kolbjorn Kristiansen is mesmerised by the expression of fear on the face of a young woman desperately running to catch his train. The doors close on her. And later her murdered body is found on the train tracks. It is Kristiansen (known as K2) who must find her killer and who soon discovers that her boyfriend, the charismatic leader of a small, radically left-wing, political group, had disappeared two years before. Political rivalry? Or was his death linked to his research into possible current links between a group of Norwegian Nazis from the war years. And was his girlfriend's death connected to his disappearance?

Set in Norway in 1970 this murder mystery conjures the era of Mao's Little Red Book and its effect upon world politics and the fashionably radical young. Starting from the base of the student political group, K2 is presented with a tight list of possible witness interviews. We follow the progress of his interviews and crime-scene visits, punctuated by his lunches and suppers with his gifted and mysteriously accurate detection-muse, the young Patricia. Meanwhile the crimes themselves escalate.

I will own up that I am not a particular fan of Agatha Christie-style whodunits. So, when I realised how much I was in classic "whodunit land" with this book - the third in Lahlum's series featuring K2 and his young helper - I didn't think I would enjoy it. But I did.
It reads smoothly and coolly in this English translation by Kari Dickson. Instead of a boring traipse through clues, I found a calm narrative pace which surprised me with a great buildup of suspense as it ran to its conclusion. And Lahlum's writing gives us individualised characters, irony, humanity... and a slightly surreal world conjured by a combination of investigation, coincidence and the truly prodigious gifts of Patricia.

If you are a little tired of the relentless grit of much Nordic Noir .... and if the notion of 1960s Nordic retro-whodunits whets your appetite ... try this series of books by Hans Olav Lahlum.

Grey Doll & Criminal Reading: Scandi-Noir - Camilla Ceder's "Babylon" & Karin Fossum's "I Can See In The Dark"

Two very different psychological crime books by Scandinavian women - Camilla Ceder (fairly new to the genre with Babylon being her second book) and Karin Fossum, an award-winning great of Nordic Noir.

Ceder is a young Gothenburg-based Swedish writer with a background in social work and Babylon (2013, UK Publisher: Pheonix) is her second novel, featuring Inspector Christian Tell and journalist Sejer Lundberg.
A young man and an older woman, his tutor, are found shot dead in an apartment. The young man's girlfriend, who has a history of violent jealousy, is a suspect in the murder. As it should be in crime fiction... things are not always what they seem.... and some of the events touch on the consequences of the sack of archaeological treasures in a war zone. Ceder has an acute sense of individual psychology and the story, anchored by the young journalist Sejer, twists about masterfully, building suspense in its final race to save lives. Its excellent translation by Marlaine Delargy, who has also translated Johan Theorin and Asa Larsson, ensures it reads well for an English audience.
You can read a full Euro Crime review  here.

I Can See In The Dark  (2014, UK Publisher: Vintage) is a short standalone book by Norwegian crime writer Karin Fossum which gives us the chillingly dark portrait of its narrator, Riktor - a loner, a nurse in a local care home and a man whose careful manners and smile masks the urges and hallucinations of his world. A true sociopath, his manipulative actions escalate, reaching a dreadful conclusion. One day a police inspector walks up his path - and accuses him of a crime.... which he has not committed. Fossum has performed a feat of empathic writing with this story, full of unease and suspense but leaving me with an appreciation of the damage in Riktor and some pity for him. .... (But maybe I'm a bit crazy that way.) Not everyone's cup of tea, but I think it is a brilliant book. A full Euro Crime review is here.

Grey Doll & Criminal Reading: Anne Holt's "Blessed Are Those Who Thirst"

I'm not sure... with books in translation ... how much the foreign language reader's experience is dictated by the translator and their translation. I mean... how do we know? Cos we can't read the original. Otherwise we would. Read the original, I mean.

With Norwegian writer Anne Holt  ... I have read or listened to three of her books so far. I liked them all. But some more than others. And each had a different translator and it has to be said that each "felt" as if it had a slightly different voice. In addition, the one that I listened to as an MP3 download was read by a clear but rather mannered narrator. So.... who is to know already how Holt "reads" to a Norwegian reader? Frustrating, ain't it.

Anyways I do read Anne Holt's second in her "Hanne Wilhelmsen" series ("Blessed Are Those Who Thirst") centred on Hanne, a woman detective in the Oslo Police. It was originally published in Norway in 1998. Er... that's fifteen years ago now. But its content and plot seem bang up to date in social context and concerns. A particularly bloody serial killer and a traumatic rape make up the core of Hanne's caseload and through it all we get to know Hanne and her colleagues better and the hostile climate they work in. (No...I don't mean snow and stuff... I mean public and management attitude.... Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose, huh?)

Anne Holt is an important Scandinavian crime writer to try if you are a Nordic Noir fan.... and you can certainly read a more detailed review of this book over at Euro Crime.

Graphic Passions: Jason's "Left Bank Gang"

I been having a good time reading Jason's graphic novel "The Left Bank Gang" which won an Eisner award in 2007.

You may remember that I've mentioned Norwegian artist Jason's work before when I did post about his zombie tale "The Living and the Dead".

"Left Bank Gang" is hilarious if you're a culture snoot like what I am.
Imagine the literary figures of Left Bank Paris of the 1920s... transformed into trademark Jason "dogs n' crows". Not only that. They have become comics artists trading problems of panels and brush style... and they're fed up with being poor.

I certainly do snigger at the conversations... such as Hemingway explaining that he can't stop because Gertrude Stein is "having him for dinner". Stein was famously fierce in her criticisms of her fellow writers' work. I'm sure she was capable of making a meal out of Hemingway.

Graphic Passions: Norwegian Ink: Comics Artist Jason

And just in case you think it's purely a question of Scandinavian Crime Writing... Consider the possibilities of Scandinavian Comic artists...

My eyes were drawn (by the group blog Drawn!!) to an interview with Norwegian comic artist Jason by Dan Wagstaff on his book culture blog "The Casual Optimist"... which is great.

I borrowed Jason's "The Living and the Dead" from my local library some time ago. (Good choice!) And very much enjoyed it.... Zombies as Krazy Kat. (If you don't realise my tastes by now...) So for me this was a happy reminder of the intriguing work of another comic artist which I'd like to see more of.

Oh and comic artists in Norway? Well let's just say that Jason decided to base himself in France for more work opportunities. Bande-dessinee and all that.