Hi and welcome to #ScandiSaturday – the Oslo Detectives edition!
I am usually hellbent on reading series in the right order and starting with book one like a good little reader, but every once in a while one has to bend one’s own rules, so when I was invited on the blog tour for Sister earlier this year I decided to give it a whirl, despite it being the ninth instalment of this series and my not having read any of the previous books. I ended up loving it – though it did nothing for my insomnia – and I knew right away I had to go back and read the previous instalments.
Faithless is the seventh Oslo Detectives novel and the first one published by Orenda Books. I had no issues whatsoever with getting into the story, despite having missed the previous 6 novels (which, one day, I will read too, but ya know, too many books, too little time, yada yada) and I had an absolutely brilliant time with it. The chapters are short and snappy, just the way I like it, always tempting me to read just one more but ending up reading five chapters more and as such, I flew through it.
Oslo detectives Frølich and Gunnarstranda have a full dance card: a young black woman is missing, presumed dead, and another woman has been found in a skip, murdered, scalded, wrapped in plastic. The investigations point to a cold case, a stalker and multiple suspects, and I gobbled it all up. A rather short read that I’d happily recommend to readers who enjoy Nordic Noir detective stories!
The Ice Swimmer is the eighth Oslo Detectives novel. The Oslo Detectives are working two major cases: a woman has jumped under a train and a man has fallen into the freezing waters of Oslo Harbour and drowned. These could be cut and dried cases, suicide and nothing more, but of course they aren’t. There’s more to these cases then meets the eye and they seem to be linked to each other to boot. Meanwhile, another death occurs and detective Gunnarstranda very nearly meets his Maker as well, and detective Lena Stigersand not only has some personal issues to work out, she also finds she’s being stalked. A journalist, a military man and a politician muddy the waters further. As in the other instalments, multiple threads float on the icy winds of Oslo, but get neatly tied up in the end. The Ice Swimmer is another great addition to any Scandi Noir collection: extremely readable, yet very clever!
This is the last episode of #ScandiSaturday for the foreseeable future, I hope you had fun, I sure did, and thanks for joining me! Have you read any books by Kjell Ola Dahl? Let me know below!
