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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The Kurt Wallander series got me into Nordic noir. The series is so well done - there are 10 books in all. Wallander is a talented detective on the police squad in Ystad, a town in Sweden. But while he excels at his work, he struggles with his personal life; he's divorced, lonely, diabetic, and dealing with his aging father and distant adult daughter. He's also unsure of his place and the future of detective work in a rapidly changing Sweden. Highly recommend the series.

I'm now reading the Erlendur Sveinsson series (by Arnaldur Indridason). Similar to Wallander - a police detective with a complicated personal life - except set in Iceland, darker, and grittier. Also worth checking out is Karine Engberg's Koerner and Werner mysteries (3 books in all, set in Denmark). [/quote]

Just realized you mentioned Henning Mankell, the author of the Wallander series, in your original post. If you liked Wallander, try Indridason's Sveinsson mysteries - the main characters are similar, but the feel overall of the books is darker and more bleak. Just like Iceland in the winter - harsh and eerie. Perfect for curling up on the couch in front of the fire while it snows outside. [/quote]

It looks like this is a series of 11 books. Do they have to be read in order and do you recommend any particularly ones in the series over others? Should I just start with Jar City, for instance?[/quote]

I'm only on Book 3 of the series, but I'd recommend starting with Jar City. The books are shorter than Wallander, and are a quick read. Jar City gives you a good backstory to the main character and the supporting cast he'll be working with.

One interesting point about this series is that the translator (Bernard Scudder) is British, and so the style and dialogue definitely reads as British English. It took a bit of getting used to at first, especially because Wallander's translators rendered the text as closer to American English and thus, more familiar-sounding to me. This isn't a negative point, but rather something that just took a bit of getting used to... and now that I'm 3 books in, I really enjoy it. [/quote]

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