So, You Finished the Millennium Trilogy, What Next?: A Reading List

With the English-language version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo film due to come out in December of this year, fans of Stieg Larsson who have already seen the Swedish films and read the trilogy may be searching for more. Here is a loosely inspired reading list. For a more comprehensive list of Swedish crime writers, see this blog post on Nordic Whodunits.

"There Are Things I Want You to Know" About Stieg Larsson and Me by Eva Gabrielsson: Stieg Larsson's longtime partner discusses their shared love of science fiction, recently discovered documents, and her battles concerning his estate.

Stieg Larsson: Our Days in Stockholm: A Memoir of Friendship by Kurdo Baksi: A short biography by Larsson's friend, who worked on the magazine Expo with him. He discusses threats they received from White Supremacists and the origins of Larsson's dedication to women's issues. He mentions a female Swedish crime writer who thinks she's a better writer than Larsson, but doesn't name drop. There's a small chance that he's talking about Camilla Lackberg, an economist turned writer who found breakout success with The Ice Princess and now, with The Preacher, but my guess is someone else.

The Tattooed Girl: The Enigma of Stieg Larsson and the Secrets Behind the Most Compelling Thrillers of our Time by Dan Burstein, Arne de Keijzer, and John-Henri Holmberg.

The Informationist by Taylor Stevens: The protagonist of this author's first novel, Vanessa Michael Munroe, is unabashedly inspired by Lisbeth Salander. Stevens draws on her time spent traveling with the 60s cult the Children of God, which informs the action scenes in Equatorial Guinea.

The Snowman by Jo Nesbø: Other than Larsson, this novel has perhaps received the most press.

Inspector and Silence by Håkan Nesser: The newest Inspector Van Veeteren mystery.

Three Seconds by Anders Roslund and Börge Hellström: The Wall Street Journal declared this duo to be next to achieve the popularity of Stieg Larsson.

Karma by Nancy Deville: This American author's novel focuses on Dr. Meredith Fitzgerald, who finds herself abducted in Istanbul. Although melodramatic in parts, this novel portrays a topic that Stieg Larsson frequently reported on.

Swedish Breads and Pastries by Jan Hedh: Although Lisbeth Salander may be more partial to frozen pizza, this oversized cookbook illustrates how to make the kind of pastries that might be available at the kaffes Mikael Blomkvist visits, and maybe even a few sandwiches.

The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi: Okay, so this sci-fi novel has next-to-nothing in common with the Millennium trilogy, except that the author is from Finland and one of the characters has a butterfly tattoo on her back. That said, it's a debut novel that has received a lot of buzz for adult summer reading, and, as mentioned above, Stieg Larsson had a love of sci-fi.

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist: Again, this is a sci-fi novel that happens to have a Swedish author, but it has a dystopian human trafficking plotline that seems like it would mesh with the causes that Steig Larsson championed. Fans of the TV series Dollhouse will recognize the spa and treatment-filled utopia that's hiding a sinister secret, presumably meant to benefit society at large.

 

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Swedish murder mystery writes

Here's a Swedish author I discovered at the Mid Manhattan library--Asa Larsson and she's written several books which have been tanslated into English--Sun Storm, The Blood Split and a few others. Perhaps other readers would enjoy her works. Thanks Deborah

scandinavian crime

How is it possible to leave out Henning Mankell, the best of them all?

I love Henning Mankell and

I love Henning Mankell and the Wallander series, and I've heard great things about Asa Larsson. The "Nordic Whodunits" blog post I mentioned lists lots of writers. This list is meant to showcase some other titles that are in the same vein, including some American authors.

Scandinavian noir

Any list of recommendations of good Scandinavian noir should include the "Department Q" series by Jussi Adler-Olsen. The first title in that series (7 books and counting) is The Keeper of Lost Causes. Memorable characters, grim crimes leavened by a fair amount of humorous interplay between the regular characters.

You could also mention Harry

You could also mention Harry Bingham*s Fiona Griffiths crime novels. She has much in common with Lisbeth Salander