Welcome to Litsy!

Catch up review from mid year 4/5

On a cruise of the Stockholm Archipelago we stopped at Sandhamn on the island of Sandon & heard about the Sandhamn Murders series (the guide described Sandhamn as being the Swedish Midsummer 🤣) so I had to buy the first book at the island‘s bookshop. It‘s a good mystery with interesting characters & a fantastic setting, obviously. I‘m looking forward to going on with the series.

Photo is Sandhamn harbour

My second to last #ChristmasCrimeChallenge completed.

These Martin Beck police procedurals from 60s-70s Sweden are well deserved classics of crime fiction. In this one, a child rapist and murderer is terrorizing Stockholm and police resources, already stretched thin, are under extreme pressure to prevent the next brutal crime. It takes hard work (little forensics and limited technology) and sharp patrolmen and detectives to succeed.

The Crow Girl both mesmerized and disturbed me. Trigger warnings for almost all content. We are used to the darkness of most Scandinavian novels. The Crow Girl makes not attempt to drown out true monsters. It artfully illustrates broken memories, fragments of self shattered by trauma. I could not put it down. The authors (two under one name) wrote of horrors and the horrid. I recommend this book, but with caution and care.

It's been years since I read this #standalone zombie book, but I recall it being a very slow burn that I couldn't put down. A close examination of death and grief that stops just short of being a full zombie apocalypse story.

#HauntedShelf #BlackCatCrew @BookwormAHN 31 pts

A soft pick - I think I got this translated middle grade historical mystery as a Kindle freebie. I don‘t know how popular the series is in Sweden, but I think something gets lost in translation. The pacing is off and the prose is choppy. The ending is so abrupt. However, I liked the main characters and the setting. The main mystery leads to the discovery of other secrets that I‘m sure will be explored in future books.

This was such a cute middle grade mystery book!

I scored this off of Amazon-maybe a First Reads book? It was on my #ReadYourKindle list for this month and I inhaled this in two days.

It's Sweden, 1800's, winter and there's a serial killer on the streets. Orphan Mika and a policeman team up to solve the crime.

Definitely recommended!

@CBee

2 Christmas books, a Kindle First Pick, and a romance book.

I'm starting the tagged book which is translated from Swedish and is a middle grade/J Fiction book. (My library calls them J Fiction so that's what I'm use to calling this grade level.)

#ChristmasinSeptember

@CBee
#ReadYourKindle

This story was of its time. There was casual sexism, misogyny, and racism. The mystery was slow and had a noir feel to it. The characters were not complex and were somewhat unlikable. I won‘t read anymore but the mystery and whodunnit kept me reading when I was contemplating a dnf.

Not the tagged book, but Khemiri‘s latest novel is not in the database

Wow! Just WOW! This book is amazing. About 3 sisters, Ina, Evelyn and Anastasia. The book starts as the world is heading into a new millennium and the sisters are in their 20s and we follow them until after the pandemic.

Three‘s also a storyteller, telling us about the sisters in the 90s and how he came in contact with them.

A book about family, absent parents and kids