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Book lovers, could you help me? I'm thinking of getting my Dad a book for Christmas, but stuck on ideas. He likes crime/thriller, but already has lots of books but popular authors (e.g. James Patterson, Stieg Larsson, Colin Dexter). I'm thinking about maybe a Scandinavian author (Jo Nesbo? Arne Dahl?) as he loves the Scandinavian crime TV programmes...thinking he wouldn't have books by them.

Any ideas? Recommendations? Thanks

The Martin Beck series is old, set in the 1960s and 1970s when it was written, but great. Roseanna is the first in the series - authors are Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo.

Arnaldur Indridason's series set in Iceland, beginning with Jar City, or Norwegian Karin Fossum. Don't Look Back isn't really the first, but start there anyway (it was the first translated, and the real first in series has been recently published in English but it's not so good).

Ooh, I asked the exact same question a few days ago, hang on and I'll find the link, had oodles of good stuff on it.

Oh, just realised you're particularly after Scandinavian stuff. But here it is anyway:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/adult_fiction/1612559-crime-fiction-recommendations-please

Thanks everyone

Sorry TempusFuckit - didn't see your thread! But thank you so much for linking yours here....there's so much on it, not sure which one to start looking at! At least there's choices!

I enjoyed 1222 by Anne Holt, she's a Norwegian author.

There's one called "Let the Right One In" that is by a Scandinavian author and has that "chilly" feel to the prose that they do so well. It's a dark fantasy about a little boy who is bullied at school, and makes friends with "the weird girl" in the next apartment. She turns out to be a vampire and "avenges" him against the bullies - it is well written, and gripping and a murder mystery, the vampire thing is more an aside if that makes sense, she could just as easily have been a ninja/special forces/trained assassin and it would have worked - it's an aside to the story of the children and the bullies interacting and the murder mystery of the vampires "guardian" grown up killing people to feed her.
I think they made a film of it recently iirc too.

Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow is old but brilliant.

Henning Mankel is the original and best Scandinavian Noir author; there are loads of them too, so if he likes him, you've several birthdays and Christmases sorted!

See what you think of this link. Scandinavian crime plus similar set elsewhere. It is a minefield to find the right book!

http://tripfiction.blogspot.de/2012/10/scandicrime-not-only-in-scandinavia.html

The man from Beijing by Henning Mankell is great

Agree with posters who said the Martin Beck series and Arnaldur Indridasson.
Others he might like are Mons Kallentoft, Åke Edwardson, Camilla Läckberg, Mari Jungstedt, Jo Nesbo and Yrsa Sigurdardottir.

Oh, just checked the other thread and saw someone mentioned Johan Theorin - his books are great!

I have read a slew of them in the last week.
I liked & would read again (in this order) Ake Edwardson, Kjell Eriksson and sort of Camilla Lackberg (interwoven plots, but guilty of point I make in next paragraph).

I tend to shun authors where the protagonist themselves or their loved ones or their colleagues gets targeted & even worse assaulted by psycho mad killer(s). Very yucky to resort to such cheap ridiculous sensationalism.

Different part of the world completely (Indonesian archipeligo), but I am immersed in the Inspector Singh novels right now. Less because of the appeal of mystery to solve & more because of the detailed atmosphere of places & cultures, and the characterisation is excellent. Every single chapter ends in a small cliff hanger, so hard to put down books.