West Swedish crime fiction and Nordic noir

Following on from the books and screen adaptations, Swedish crime fiction tourism is thriving, and in West Sweden the fictitious murder locations are densely packed. Curious crime readers can follow in the author’s footsteps everywhere from the coastal idyll of Bohuslän and the forests of Dalsland, to Västergötland’s historic landscapes and Gothenburg’s urban settings.

The generic term Nordic Noir is often used to describe crime fiction from Sweden and the Nordic countries. But what does it actually mean when we talk about Nordic Noir?

What is Nordic Noir?

Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö who wrote the Martin Beck detective series The Story of a Crime (Roman om ett brott, 1965–1975) are considered to be the forerunners of Nordic Noir. Timewise however the main focus is on the most recent decades, after Henning Mankell published the first Wallander novel, Mördare utan ansikte, in 1991. The English translation, Faceless Killers, followed in 1997.

It’s sometimes wrongly said that Nordic Noir is a genre, but in fact it’s a generic geographical term which includes all crime fiction from the Nordic countries, in other words a number of different crime fiction variants or subgenres: from gory serial murder thrillers to whodunnits, detective novels and humorous cosy crime fiction. When it comes to film and tv the term is also often used to describe a particular aesthetic that is dark, melancholy or violent, but that only covers a small part of the selection when we’re talking about literature.

In book form Nordic Noir is so much more, and if you’re going to summarise what all this different crime fiction has in common then it’s better to focus on content than aesthetics. So we can say that the typical characteristics of Nordic Noir are things like strong female characters, a discussion about the welfare state and current social phenomena, as well as a strong focus on descriptions of nature and the environment.

Strong women and Swedish equality

In Sweden and the other Nordic countries we’ve come relatively far regarding equality, and that’s also reflected in the crime fiction. A majority of Swedish crime novels have female main characters, and they tend to be both strong and complex – something that naturally appeals to many readers, not least women. A good example is detective Irene Huss in Helene Tursten’s Gothenburg series. Huss doesn’t just juggle lots of things around career and family life, she has also been a European jiu-jitsu champion.

Something that often appeals to readers from other countries is reading about men who stay home to take care of their families. There aren’t many countries where equality has advanced as far as it has in Sweden regarding shared parental leave. We can mention here for instance Camilla Läckberg’s policeman Patrik Hedström who is periodically on paternity leave and grapples with looking after children and being a house husband while his wife, an author called Erika Falck, is out solving murders in the islands around the seaside village of Fjällbacka, in Bohuslän.

On the hunt for murder in the welfare state

Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö “exposed” the underbelly of the Swedish welfare state in their detective novels. Since then crime fiction has become the literary genre in Sweden highlighting the social phenomena and problems of the hour. This strong focus on current political and social issues marks out Swedish crime fiction from an international perspective. At the same time people in other countries are curious about the Nordic welfare states, which appear to have created a successful combination of socialism and capitalism. But can it really be as good as it seems to be?

Crime fiction gives the reader an in-depth glimpse into the workings of the welfare state, which outsiders would otherwise have difficulty obtaining through news coverage. Like when Lina Bengtsdotter describes the former industrial area of Gullspång, with delinquent kids, drug problems and poverty. Or when Åke Edwardson, in his detective fiction about Erik Winter, takes a leaf out of Sjöwall-Wahlöö’s and Mankell’s books and in a lovingly depicted Gothenburg setting covers everything from gang criminality to domestic violence.

Another kind of social problem is discussed in Mariette Lindstein’s Dimön series, set on a fictitious island off the coast of Bohuslän. The author herself was a member of the Church of Scientology for twenty five years and had a long struggle to try and escape. In her crime novels she describes how cults recruit and entrap people, and how dangerous they can be.

Swedish nature – an exotic environment

Ever since medieval ballad poetry, Swedish literature has been characterised by a strong focus on the depiction of nature and the environment, and the current crime fiction tradition doesn’t deviate from that. Moreover, Sweden is one of Europe’s least populated countries and to international readers Swedish nature often appears to be something exotic, with idyllic archipelagos, wild forests, deep lakes and vast fells. Here we have summer’s endless light nights and snowy, dark and chilly winters – the Swedish seasons’ changes create unusually sharp contrasts.

Bohuslän’s coastal landscapes with its rocky islands, the constant presence of the sea, the ancient fishing culture and summer tourism has inspired many Swedish crime writers. Best known is of course Camilla Läckberg who had already placed the fishing village of Fjällbacka on the Swedish crime fiction map back in 2003, but many others have followed suit.

Ann Rosman lets her murder mysteries play out on the island of Marstrand, where she anchors them deeply in the place’s dramatic history. Kristina Ohlsson has chosen Hovenäset north of Kungshamn as location for her Strindberg series, and in Anna Ihréns novels it’s Smögen where the action happens.

The historic landscapes of Västergötland, with its plains, forests and many churches have also attracted Swedish crime writers. Kristina Appelqvist sets her books partly in the Skövde area and partly around Mjöbäck, in rural Sjuhärad. Having grown up in Mjöbäck’s vicarage herself, Appelqvist is partial to ecclesiastical settings. Christina Gustavsson also gets out in the Sjuhärad countryside’s varied surroundings, but has chosen Tranemo as the source of her Focal Point (Brännpunkt) Västergötland series, and found exciting murder locations there such as Gräne Mine. Håkan Nesser placed his fictitious Kymlinge, the main town in the Barbarotti series, around Borås.

Västergötland’s former industrial areas are also popular crime settings. Whereas Lina Bengtsdotter depicts Gullspång in the north east, Kamilla Oresvärd has chosen Vargön in the north west. In Oresvärd’s books the spectacular scenery around Vargön often plays a crucial role, such as when a new bride in the first book of the series, Brudslöjan (which translates as The Wedding Veil) is found dead at Skäktefallet, the dramatic waterfall which locals call just that - the Wedding Veil.

Dalsland’s deep forests and numerous waterways could have been made for thrilling crime plots. Susanne Jansson has chosen the treacherous marshlands in northern Dalsland as mysterious – and mythical – locations in The Forbidden Place (Offermossen), while Helen Tursten starts her West Swedish series about Detective Inspector Embla Nyström with an elk hunt. Her book Hunting Game (Jaktmark) takes place in wild and grandiose forest landscapes, which also are in northern Dalsland.

Nordic Noir – a shifting crime fiction landscape

Up till the publication of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy, detective novels were the dominant crime fiction subgenre in Sweden, something which can largely be attributed to the Swedes' general trust in the police. Police procedurals are still popular, but Larsson’s method of successfully combining elements from different crime fiction genres has inspired breadth and variety in the anthology.

Nowadays the West Swedish crime fiction selection includes everything from suspenseful but relatively gore free detective novels to violent, action packed stories. Kristina Appelqvist’s previously named books belong to the former, as do Marie Hermansson’s historic crime novels set in Gothenburg, which bring to life real events and places during the 1920s. The other extreme is exemplified by hard-boiled detective fiction with thriller elements, by Camilla Ceder, Ingrid Elfberg, Tony Fischier and Christina Larsson, authors whose novels are all primarily set in the city of Gothenburg.

But what the bulk of modern Swedish crime fiction – of what is so often called Nordic Noir – has in common, whatever subgenre it is, are the strong women, the exploration of society and the lovingly described settings.

We’d love you to come and wander along your favourite detective’s streets and paths here in West Sweden.

Discover our fantastic nature and culture, and in that way delve even deeper into the exciting world of crime fiction.

More cultural experiences in West Sweden & Gothenburg