>
I must admit I was tempted to cheat with my contribution to this week’s Crime Fiction Alphabet Meme at Kerrie’s Mysteries in Paradise.
The letter H could have been used for one of my favourite detectives. But it has to be the title of the book or the first or second name of the author, so my choice is:
H for Hakan, Hakan Nesser.
I knew I wanted to read Hakan Nesser’s books some time ago, but I was delaying until the first book in his Inspector Van Veeteren series Mind’s Eye was published this year. I had been confused in the past with Nordic crime being translated out of order by pixilated publishers.
Hakan Nesser is one of the nominees for the Best Swedish Crime Fiction novel of the year with The Worms in Carmine Street.
His novels with their subtle humour, interesting characters and well constructed plots have won him many awards including a Nordic Glass Key, Best Debut novel in 1993 and Best Swedish novel in 1994,1996, and 2007, as well as nominations in 1995,1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001.
At Crime Fest in Bristol this year he proved to be just as amusing in person as he was on the written page, and I am looking forward to many more of his twenty novels being translated into English. Unfortunately only four of his Van Veeteren books have been translated so far and none of his new series featuring the intriguingly named Gunnar Barbarotti.
CRIME SCRAPS REVIEW 