An Unholy Alliance by Judy Nedry |

A June 16 New York Times  article tackled the Stieg Larsson phenomenon as well as the more pressing matter: how are we mystery readers to survive now that Larsson is gone?

Easy. For the seeker, there exists an entire collection of Swedish noir novelists waiting to be read.

To me, the most obvious is Henning Mankell, author of the famed Kurt Wallander series. Mankell had sold millions of books before any of us had even heard of him. He jumped on my radar screen last summer when the first “Wallander” mysteries were aired on PBS. Since then I have read them all. While some translations are better than others, the books overall deal with complicated human relations, knotty (and often gruesome) crimes, and surprising insights into modern Swedish culture.

I also happen to love Wallander the character. Definitely the anti-hero. Sometimes even his daughter can’t stand him. And Mankell is a skilled novelist, whether writing about Wallander and his investigations, or on any number of other topics.  Italian Shoes is an excellent example.

A recent discovery, through a friend, is Swedish mystery writer Hakan Nesser. Like many crime fiction heroes, Nesser’s Inspector Van Veeteren, is a character in his own right. And while all the locations in the Van Veeteren series are fictional, one can assume that the setting is Sweden. Nesser’s mysteries have won numerous awards and are nearly as popular in Europe as Mankell’s.

(I did object to Nesser’s handling of the ending in The Return. As an author, I think he copped out.  However, I am continuing with the series. You’ll have to judge for yourselves.)

The late Per Wahloo and his co-author and partner Maj Sjowall created the Martin Beck series, also set in Sweden. By the time of his death in 1975, Wahloo and Sjowall had completed 10 Beck novels. Their fourth and most famous, The Laughing Policeman, was made into a movie starring Walter Matthau.

Meanwhile, a relative unknown in this country, Camilla Lackberg, was picked up by Pegasus Books for a hefty advance.  A former economist, Lackberg has enjoyed great popularity in the Scandinavian countries. Her first novel, The Ice Princess, was recently released in the U.S.

Happy mystery reading, everyone!

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It’s the digital age. None of us lives in a vacuum.

Thus, it occurred to me–perhaps as long as five minutes ago–that to achieve Lisbeth Salander (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,et al) there first had to be Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers (see June 6 blog). To someone like me,  Salander is simply an extension of Havers.

Salander, for those of you still living in igloos, is the brilliant near-superhuman heroine of Stieg Larsson’s “Millennium Trilogy”. Havers–recently named my favorite detective–is Elizabeth George’s gritty yet vulnerable sidekick to big shot Scotland Yard detective Thomas Lynley.

Here are the two heroines’ similar characteristics:

• Outsider/loner – doesn’t fit in “normal” society.
• Odd looking.
• Intuitive.
• Thinks outside the box.
• Doesn’t work or play well with others.
• Stubborn to a fault.
• Gets even, gets the bad guy, often at great cost to herself. In Havers’s situation she gets in trouble with the higher-ups in the form of reprimands and demotions while damages to Salander are usually physical.
• Fearless in the face of danger.
• Doesn’t trust men.
• The men usually can’t keep up with her/them.

Mystery/suspense writers read other mystery/suspense writers. We devour them. It’s what we do.Elizabeth George had several Lynley/Havers novels under her belt before Stieg Larsson was heard of. Ergo… I believe that Larsson was inspired by George.

While his novels are plot driven, Larsson has shown growth as a writer through the three novels he wrote before his death. As odd and antisocial as Salander is, we know what is going on with her and how she operates. We get inside her head and are able to bond with her through her difficulties. We get inside the other characters, too. But Salander is special–as is her relationship with Blomqvist. Different as they are, they seem to be psychically in touch, always there for one another–like Havers and Lynley.

In Hornet’s Nest, Larsson also hit his stride with timing. As scenes switched effortlessly from character to character building tension as the book progressed,  I could feel Elizabeth George in the background. She was cheering as Larsson feinted, tempted and teased, always one step ahead of the reader.

We need writers like these to inspire us as authors–and to improve the genre.

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He’s tall and drop-dead gorgeous, with sandy hair and dark brown eyes. He’s a meticulous dresser with an upper crust accent. He drives an indecently expensive car, and yet he tries to pretend that he’s not the 13th Earl of something-or-other and seldom visits the family pile of rocks in Cornwall. He carries heavy baggage from a long-ago drunken driving incident that disabled his best friend, and he has issues with his mother.

He is Elizabeth George’s fictional Inspector Thomas Lynley.

We love him because he is the Wounded Hero. He has intimacy problems and a sharp tongue, and he can act a bit effete. But it’s OK because he is brilliant, and underneath that often crusty exterior beats a heart of gold. How can any female mystery lover not fall immediately in love?

Well, it took me a while. And, alas, I still have a the occasional aversion to his perfectly English ways. In truth, it took the introduction of Sgt. Barbara Havers to bring Thomas Lynley to his knees professionally. In doing so, she made me her lifelong admirer.

Also a Wounded Hero, Havers is working class and resentful–and everything Lynley is not. She’s lumpy and frumpy and gorges on junk food. She is the Glamour-Don’t nightmare from Hell. She lives with her parents for a good part of the series, and has been trying to attract a man since before the Flood. I personally think she should explore a same-sex relationship, but what do I know?

This unlikely combination of characters have won a special place in my heart, but it’s Haver’s who gets the nod for favorite detective. Her modus operandi is that of an abused dog. She is watchful and intuitive because she always has had to be. She lives in fear of criticism and of not being taken seriously. She is quick to anger and slow to forgive. And she is a risk-taker. She refuses to  be a team player, and willingly risks her job to follow her hunches because at some level she needs to be right. It’s part of her DNA.

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The end of April I took on a new project with Examiner.com. (Click on the Examiner thingy and you will access my page. The kids already know this but often we fossils need instruction!)

First thing y’all must know is that I am doing this for charity, at least so far. But for me, every time I go into a restaurant I want to tell people about it.

Projects such as this one give me a reason. The journalism training is there. Why not take a break from fiction and use it? I am good at this, yet save for a couple of wine books I have not had a regular writing gig in nearly 14 years. 

And, in times of high stress I typically pile on more work. That is not always a good thing, but in this instance it feels OK. I look at it as a break.

In the past three weeks, I’ve turned out seven reviews, all of which were fun eating and fun writing. I have some flexibility here; I feel as if I am at home in this little job; and, I hope to teach and delight (thank you, Sir Philip Sidney, you pretentious old fart).

Now for the good part. Y’all can participate! Simply send me your ideas for great ethnic dining experiences in the greater Portland area. You can comment below, or shoot me an email. The address is judy.n1@comcast.net. I look forward to hearing from you and sharing this wonderful experience with as many folks as possible.

Meanwhile, to subscribe to my reviews, simply use the Examiner.com link, find the subscribe button, and click. Once a subscriber, you will be notified personally by email every time a review is posted. How fun is that? Easy, too.

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On Sundays about 9 a.m. the faithful of Lower Hillsdale Heights (the neighborhood where amateur sleuth Emma Golden resides) begin to move.

Emma spots them from her kitchen window as they march determinedly, sometimes singly and sometimes in packs, south down the sloping street toward what is known as Hillsdale Town Center. Some ride bicycles; many walk with dogs; even more, it seems, push baby strollers and herd small children. All carry empty shopping bags and baskets and totes, not to mention water bottles, backpacks, travel mugs….

These are purposeful people wearing purposeful looks, not unlike, Emma thinks, Lewis and Clark might have worn as they wended their ways west. Important things await them. They congregate rain or shine, and even every other week throughout the winter. Like the Lutherans of Lake Wobegone, they take their duties seriously.

By 10 a.m. the wanderers downhill past Emma’s kitchen have become throngs of neighbors. Some laugh and chatter with each other if the day is fine.  There are fewer dogs now. The Hillsdale Farmers Market is officially open for the weekly season, and from May through November dogs are not welcome there. It’s just too complicated.

People are walking uphill now, too–with the dogs, coffees, and goodies from Baker & Spice. The totes (or toddlers) jiggle on their hips. Carrot tops wobble in the breeze. Bunches of greens protrude from bags. Happy adults labor under flats of fresh berries. Tired children scream. (The occasional binky or lost miniature “croc” often finds its way to the top of Emma’s mailbox, having become separated from its owner during the Sunday rites.)

By 2 p.m. it is done. A few stragglers trudge. A quiet descends on the neighborhood. The Sabbath has been observed and all is well. Hallelujah. AMEN.

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