Thursday, March 28, 2024

Paaskekrim: Norwegian Easter Crime Wave


I've posted about Paaskekrim before, but with the increased interest in Scandinavian crime,
especially the large number of Scandinavian authors available in English, I'm reposting about Norway's Paaskekrim (Easter Crime)! It takes place Holy Thursday through Easter Monday and is a public holiday in Norway. It's a time when just about everyone in Norway reads crime novels. Bookstore displays are full of detective novels, television and radio stations run crime serials and newspapers publish special literary supplements.


This is a very peculiar national activity. Publishers in Norway actually time series of books known as "Easter-Thrillers"or PĂ„skekrim, and dates of publication are moved to Spring and released at this time when the sale of mysteries goes up 50%. TV stations, radio and newspapers follow suit by running detective series based on the works of famous crime novelists such as Agatha Christie, P.D. James, Simenon and Ruth Rendell. Many of the Norwegian crime series are rerun.

 

Why does Norway choose Easter to delve into crime solving?
According to one widely accepted theory, the tradition began in 1923 as the result of a marketing coup. Advertisements that resembled news items were published on the front pages of several newspapers, shocking readers who failed to grasp that it was a publicity stunt. This idea spread like wildfire among other publishing houses, and the crime novel became one of the few forms of entertainment available during the Easter break. Cafes, restaurants and movie theatres were closed during Easter, which was supposed to be a time of introspection and repentance. There was no radio, and of course no television either. But everyone could read, and so the Easter crime novel was born.

Some Norwegian Crime Writers
 
Jorgen Brekke 
Samuel Bjork
Camilla Bruce
Alex Dahl 
K.O. Dahl 
Thomas Enger 
Karin Fossum 
Vigdis Hjorth
Anne Holt 
Jorn Lier Horst 
Unni Lindell 
Jon Michelet 
Jo Nesbo 
Kjersti Sceen 
Gunnar Staalesen 
Agnes Ravatn 
Pernille Rygg 
Linn Ullman 

Great websites about Norwegian crime writers
Scandinavian Crime Fiction
Scandinavian Books
International Noir Fiction
Detectives without Borders
Euro Crime
 
There are 2 Scandinavian issues of Mystery Readers Journal. They're still available. 

Volume 30:4 (Winter 2014-15) Scandinavian Mysteries

Volume 23:3 (Fall 2007)  Scandinavian Mysteries
 

Hardcopy and PDF -- Reviews, articles and Author! Author! essays, many by and about Norwegian crime writers.

Subscribe to Mystery Readers Journal HERE.

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

EASTER MYSTERIES // EASTER CRIME FICTION

Just in time for Easter, here's my updated Easter Crime Fiction list. As always, I welcome any additions. I've also added some Good Friday mysteries, rounding out the weekend.

EASTER CRIME FICTION/
EASTER MYSTERIES

The Easter Evader by Mathiya Adams
Death by Flamenco by Jennifer S. Alderson
Antiques Bizarre by Barbara Allan
Ship of Danger by Mabel Esther Allan
Aunt Dimity: Detective by Nancy Atherton
Bunny Donuts and a Body by Cindy Bell
Show Me the Bunny by Laurien Berenson

Death and the Easter Bunny by Linda Berry
In a Gilded Cage by Rhys Bowen
Easter Weekend by David Bottoms
The Last Enemy by Grace Brophy

The Faberge Easter Egg by Sharon E. Buck

Wycliffe and the Last Rites by W.J. Burley
The Chocolate Bunny Brouhaha by JoAnna Carl
Papa la-Bas by John Dickson Carr
Do You Promise Not To Tell? by Mary Jane Clark
Easter Hair Hunt by Nancy J. Cohen
Easter Buried Eggs by Lyndsey Cole
Little Easter by Reed Farrel Coleman
A Holiday Sampler by Christine E. Collier
Last Easter by Caroline Conklin
Absolute Certainty by Rose Connors
Murder on Good Friday by Sara Conway
Holy Terrors by Mary R. Daheim
Big Bunny Bump Off, Easter Escapade, Hippity Hoppity Homicide by Kathi Daley
Death of a Harlequin by Mary-Jane Deeb

KittyKai's Easter Mystery by Debbie De Louise
The House of Death by Paul Doherty
Cue the Easter Bunny by Liz Evans
Root of All Evil by E.X. Ferrars
Death at the Wheel by Kate Flora
The Chocolate Kiss by Laura Florand
Lord James Harrington and the Easter Mystery by Lynn Florkiewicz

Toxic Toffee; Criminally Cocoa by Amanda Flower
Eula May and the Easter Kandy Killer by Amy Mull Fremgen

Lord James Harrington and the Easter Mystery by Lynn Florkiewicz
Deadly Sin by P.J. Grady
Hop 'Til You Drop by J. M. Griffin

Precious Blood by Jane Haddam
Chocolat by Joanne Harris
The Good Friday Murder by Lee Harris 
Server Down by J.M. Hayes
Semana Santa by David Hewson
Eggsecutive Orders by Julie Hyzy

Killer Easter Pie by Carolyn Q. Hunter
Easter Murders by Bryant Jackson & Edward Meadows
Death of a Dumb Bunny by Melanie Jackson
Easter Eggs and Shotgun Shells by Madison Johns
On the Lamb by Tina Kashian

Murder on the Eightfold Path by Diana Killian
Beauty Expos are Murder by Libby Klein

Bunny Drop by Linda Kozar
Chef Maurice and the Bunny-Boiler Bake Off by J.A. Lang
Forest of Souls by J. G. Lewis

Do Not Exceed the Stated Dose (short stories) by Peter Lovesey
Dyeing Season: Basket Case by Karen MacInerney
Shot Cross Buns by Tegan Maher
Pagan Spring by G. M. Malliet
Some Like It Lethal by Nancy Martin
Alibis & Angels by Olivia Matthews
Easter Bunny Murder; Easter Bonnet Murder by Leslie Meier
The Chocolate Easter Baking Challenge by M'Lissa Moorecroft
Devil's Door by Sharan Newman
The Easter Mystery by Joan Lowery Nixon
The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny

The Easter Sunday Slaughter by Imogen Plimp
The Wolf and the Lamb by Frederick Ramsey
Chicory is Trickery by Sheri Richey

The Chocolate Egg Murders by David W. Robinson
The Baritone Wore Chiffon; The Soprano Wore Falsettos by Mark Schweizer
Easter's Lily by Judy Serrano
Prey on Patmos by Jeffrey Siger
Tourist Trap by Julie Smith

Wicked Egg to Crack by Lotta Smith
Out of the Deep I Cry by Julia Spencer-Fleming
And Four To Go includes "The Easter Parade" aka The Easter Parade Murder" by Rex Stout
Easter Breakfast by John Stuart

Nickeled-and-Dimed to Death by Denise Swanson
The Quarry by Johan Theorin
Midnight at the Camposanto by Mari Ulmer
The Lord is My Shepherd by Debbie Viguie
Of Crocuses and Confessions; On Borrowed Time; Baa'd to the Bone by Sarah Jane Weldon

The Blind Man of Seville by Robert Wilson
Easter Egg Murder by Patricia Smith Wood
Easter Egg Hunt Murder by Rachel Woods


Short Story: 

"The Man on the Cross" by Bill Crider from the collection Thou Shalt Not Kill, edited by Anne Perry.
"The Rabbit Died" by Sue Ann Jaffarian.


Looking for Easter Chocolate to eat while reading? Stop by my other Blog, DyingforChocolate.com for some great Chocolate Easter Recipes and the History and Culture of the Chocolate Easter Bunny.

Look Magazine, April 16, 1957

Monday, March 25, 2024

A MODERN TUDOR MYSTERY: Guest Post by Karen E. Olson

In 2014, I was on a panel at the Long Beach Bouchercon moderated by Hank Phillippi Ryan, and she asked each of us to reveal something about ourselves that no one—at least in the mystery community—would know about us.
            
I might as well have said, “I’m Karen, and I’m a Tudorphile.”
            
My decades-long obsession with all things Tudor—Henry VIII, his wives, his children, and their various relations like Lady Jane Grey and Mary Queen of Scots—came tumbling out. I don’t generally read fiction about the era—the exceptions being Hilary Mantel’s brilliant Wolf Hall trilogy and Elizabeth Fremantle’s Queen’s Gambit—rather, I collect biographies and books about the Tudor era (The Private Lives of the TudorsThe Tudors in LoveThe Hidden Lives of Tudor Women) that line my bookshelves. In recent years I’ve made more trips to the library for books because there are just so many in my house, but I make an exception for anything Tudor related, mainly because they’re denser and longer and require far more time than the three-week borrowing period.
            
For years, I wondered what I could do with all of my “research.” I’m not a historian and not particularly interested in writing historical fiction—although I love reading it. But I felt that I had to do something with all of these Tudors taking up residence in my head.
            
Bringing Henry and his wives into modern day was something I’d never seen before—and the more I thought about it, the more I thought they could easily be as relevant now as they were 500 years ago. The wives were all strong and progressive in their own ways. Henry was a serial husband. While he was king of England back in the day, why couldn’t he be a billionaire CEO of a corporate empire now? I abandoned the idea that Henry would be obsessed over having a son; that wouldn’t work in today’s world. In the same vein, religion and destroying monasteries were ditched in favor of corporate takeovers and stockholders who ran scared when murder surfaced. Wives had to interact with each other and deal with other wives’ children.
            
It was a story that we’ve heard before, but new.
            
Because I write murder mysteries, that had to be the direction I headed in. Funnily enough, I started writing a police procedural, beginning with the discovery of a headless body—how else could it start?—being investigated by a state trooper. The bones of the story began to take shape, but I found myself drawn even more to the wives—not just as potential witnesses or victims. While all my other books are written in first person from one point of view, I changed it up to have multiple points of view in third person. The state trooper is still there, but he’s now a more peripheral character. 
            
I struggled with how close I wanted to stay to the history, but I found it was a bit too confining so I took liberties with the facts and decided I was okay with it, hoping a diehard Tudorphile would be as well. 
By the time I was done, I had transformed the narrative into a domestic suspense homage to the Tudors.

***
Karen E. Olson 
is the winner of the Sara Ann Freed Memorial Award and a Shamus Award finalist. She is the author of the Annie Seymour mysteries, the Tattoo Shop mysteries, and the Black Hat thrillers. Karen was a longtime editor, both in newspapers and at Yale University Press. She lives in New Haven, Connecticut. 
Karen E. Olson's latest mystery, An Inconvenient Wife: A Modern Tudor Mystery (Pegasus Crime – April 2nd, 2024), is the first in a new crime series inspired by the Tudor era. This story takes the reader into the world of Kate Parker, who has just married billionaire Hank Tudor when a headless body is discovered near their summer home . . .


Friday, March 22, 2024

MYSTERY READERS JOURNAL: Southern California Mysteries (40:1)

Mystery Readers Journal is a quarterly thematic mystery Journal. Each issue contains articles, reviews, and author essays on a specific theme, as well as special columns and other mystery related material. Journals run an average of 100 pages. Subscribe.

Current Issue: Southern California MysteriesAvailable in hardcopy or as a downloadable PDF. If you're a subscriber or contributor to this issue, please scroll down.

Recent Issues: Southern California Mysteries (Spring 2024); Animals in Mysteries II (Winter 2023); Animals in Mysteries I (Fall 2023); Hobbies & Crafts in Mysteries (Summer 2023).

Coming Up: Murder Takes a Holiday; Partners in Crime, London Mysteries. Submit an article!

Mystery Readers Journal: Southern California (40:1) is now available as a PDF and Hardcopy

And, FYI, we had two other themed SoCal issues in 2009: 


and 


***


If you're a PDF subscriber to Mystery Readers Journal, you should have received download instructions (let me know if you haven't). Hard copy subscription copies should be received within a  weekInternational subscribers will receive their issues within two weeks. PDF Contributor copies will go out tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this amazing issue.

Southern California Mysteries

Volume 40, No. 1, Spring 2024

SoCal Mysteries

Buy this back issue! Available in hardcopy or as a downloadable PDF.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ARTICLES
  • Vintage Hollywood Crime by Aubrey Ney Hamilton

AUTHOR! AUTHOR!

  • Why I Love Writing About L.A. by Anne Louise Bannon
  • The Mysteries of True Crime by James T. Bartlett
  • California, the Origins of Reckoning, and the Ty Dawson Series by Baron Birtcher
  • The Lighter Side of SoCal Mysteries by Sally Carpenter
  • Where Rick Cahill Lives by Matt Coyle
  • Technology, AI and Murder Collide in L.A. by Art Chester
  • A Mystery in More Ways than One: A Fascination with Southern California by Elizabeth Crowens
  • Los Angeles Ninja Lily Wong by Tori Eldridge
  • San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter—Come for the History, Stay for the Mystery by Sara Driscoll
  • California in Black and White by Terence Faherty
  • A Different Perspective on Southern California by Earlene Fowler
  • Los Angeles: City of Dreams by Lee Goldberg
  • Kesey & Me by Chuck Greaves
  • The Monkey in Venice by Russell Hill
  • Wendy Stays Home by Wendy Hornsby
  • L.A.’s Mr. Goodbar by Georgia Jeffries
  • San Diego: Where Paradise and Crime Meet by Curtis Ippolito
  • Sand, Surf, Murder by Sybil Johnson
  • Changing Coast Changed My Life by John Lansing
  • The OC, Baby by D. P. Lyle
  • Like So Many Before Me by Larry Maness
  • Mysteries of Southern California by T. Jefferson Parker
  • You’re Right— That’s Exactly What Southern California is Like by Thomas Perry
  • Finding Your Place When You’re Writing About Place by Eugenia Parrish
  • Through a Lens Brightly by Gary Phillips
  • Beach Noir by James Preston
  • Beached by D. R. Ransdell
  • Don’t Give Up the Day Job by Clive Rosengren
  • That Screwy, Ballyhooey SoCal by Robert Rotstein
  • Los Angeles: Boundless, Disturbing, Inspiring by Elizabeth Sims
  • After-Hours by Lida Sideris
  • If At First You Don’t Succeed… by Jennifer Slee
  • Limitless Los Angeles by Patricia Smiley
  • Location, Location, Location by Elena E. Smith
  • Dwelling in the Southern Region of the Soul by David Unger
  • Hollywood, My Exuberant Muse by Halley Sutton
  • The Lair of the Bear by Duane Swierczynski
  • Making a Reader Feel the Character of a Setting by Carl Vonderau
  • What Do You Know? by Pamela Samuels Young
  • Safe, Hope, and Always by Mark Zubro

COLUMNS

  • Mystery in Retrospect: Reviews by Jay Gertzman, Aubrey Hamilton, Lesa Holstine, Dru Ann Love, Lucinda Surber, and Kristopher Zgorski
  • Children’s Hour: Southern California Mysteries by Gay Toltl Kinman
  • The Trunk Murderess by Cathy Pickens
  • Crime Seen: Southern California Noir by Kate Derie
  • From the Editor’s Desk by Janet A. Rudolph