Let’s begin in Stockholm, with Stieg

I read tons of Scandinavian crime novels. I watch every Scandinavian mystery or police procedural I can find. If there are Finns* in a remote town jumping on snowmobiles to reach the site of a bludgeoning, I will track that show down on the most obscure streaming service in existence. If there are Danish detectives racing across the Øresund Bridge to inform distraught Swedish parents of the fate of their missing child, I am staying up until 2 am to binge the whole season, early morning school run be damned.

This spring, while visiting Stockholm, I reread Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. At first, I followed the characters around the city, observing some of the sites mentioned in the book. (The courthouse on Kungsholmen, the magazine office on Södermalm, and so on.) As I kept going, however, I got drawn further into my memories of the book, and the connections I’d made over time between it and events such as the rise of Trump. Larsson was a journalist focused on the far right, who died in 2004. His writing has often struck me as prophetic. Since that trip in April, I have wanted to tease out some of the insights I found in his work.

These days, I’m trying to write some crime fiction myself - set a bit further south - and thought I might reach into the larger trove of knowledge I have accumulated in my haphazard, bleary-eyed fashion in a more organized way. I’ll attempt some analysis of story and character in these frozen landscapes, beyond Stockholm.

Scandinavian crime is not all I read or watch. I may make a few detours out of the tundra as I go along. I have the distinct feeling that I’ll make a foray into the desert at some point. But for now, strap on your woolen cap and come along.

*Apologies if you are a Finn who does not identify as Scandinavian, please blame standard English usage