Scandinavian crime novels light up dark days
WINTER months without sunshine and summer days without night; the vast empty stretches of Arctic tundra and the teeming, poly-cultural capitals of Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen; the liberal laws and open-arms relationship with immigrants and refugees coupled with a tendency to inner melancholy and a love-hate relationship with the demon booze.
Such are the tropes we encounter again and again in Scandinavian (or Nordic) noir, and with good reason: the vivid contrasts of Scandinavia renders it an ideal setting for the crime novel, with its emphasis on the black-and-white divisions between evil and good.
