If I Liked the Stieg Larsson Books, What Other Books Should I Look At?

As the title says. I really enjoyed those books. What other ones should be on my radar?

I was wondering the same thing, and this past week I read several articles about Henning Mankell, another Swedish crime/mystery writer. Having never read his books, I can't personally recommend him, but the articles I read suggested that he is equally popular in Europe, and he has a very loyal following of serious mystery fans. I plan to pick up a title or two for my next trip.

jbird

Hemming Mankel is more of a police procedural while the Dragon Girl are more adventure. If you like the Scadanavian background you might enjoy Mankel's books. You might also like Smila's Sense of Snow, an unusual mystery set in Scandanavia. If you like action mysteries, I might suggest Baldacci (the Camel Club series) has the action/conspiracy plots not unlike the Dragon Girl.

TheShaun said:

As the title says. I really enjoyed those books. What other ones should be on my radar?

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What about the Dragon books did you like the mist?

Nelson Demille might fit the fill - IMHO one of the most entertaining storytellers out there.

I've never read the Stieg books but I love books and if you say the aspects of the stories you liked I might be able to direct you in a good direction.

I'd read the Girl wit books in order .. not so happy with the first, seemed directed to a 14 year old .. then the library delivered the others. The last was very good, as I finished I realized the author had cleared the field ..

So this thread will give me some ideas for me hold list at the library. I already "do" DeMille

Never read a Stieg Larson book, yet - its on my list, though. But I have read a few thrillers with Swedish background from the following writing couple, very good, too:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sjöwall_and_Wahlöö

Yrsa Sigurdarsdottir, if I'm spelling it right, is an Icelandic mystery writer and very good---I read her My Soul To Take and enjoyed it a lot. Like Larsson's mysteries, there's a strong subtheme of the secrets of the past, and the Icelandic locales and culture add a lot of interest.

Loved Larsson's trilogy. The movies were excellent, too.

NANP™

Even if I am from Sweden myself I am not that good at the Swedish crime novel scene. I like Stieg Larsons novel and I can fully recommend both Henning Mankells novels about Wallander (I did my military service in the same town as most of the stories are played out) as well as Sjövall & Wahlöös serie about Martin Beck. The Back series has been made into moves at least four or five different times in Sweden, and even one of them in the US (in ´70s?) with Walther Mattahu as Martin Beck.

The Wallander Series has also made into Movies and TV series, currently by the bbc with Kenneth Branagh as Kurt Wallander. Probably because I am Swedish I do not find that Kenneth Branagh manage to capture the right mood of the books as well as the first Swedish movies.

TheShaun said:

As the title says. I really enjoyed those books. What other ones should be on my radar?

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Good question, as we obviously will not be getting more books from this deceased author. I enjoyed this set of books also.

I'm a BIG fan of Mankell's Wallander series; I'm less enthusiastic about his stand-alone novels (although The Return of the Dancing Master is excellent).

Mankell is much more interested in developing his characters as fully-rounded human beings than Larssen was - as someone commented, Larssen's books are less detective fiction and more adventure stories. You get the sense that Mankell's stories could occur in the real world; you have to suspend your disbelief to enjoy Larssen. And Larssen's personal stance on social issues gets a bit tiresome; he insists on hitting the reader over the head with it much like James Cameron did in Avatar - I kept wanting to yell out "okay, I get it!".

Stieg Larsson's books aren't really comparable to any other Swedish writer.
They are quite unique.

However, Mankell is a talented writer & his books are very well written, well worth reading if you are into the genre.

Going to pick up the first of the Wallander series but can't figure out if the first book is faceless killers or the pyramid. seems there are different thoughts. any suggestions?

I like Arnaldur Indridason's Iceland books too. Very atmospheric procedurals. There's also a film version of Jar City that I liked.

I saw that film version. More and more, I'm finding myself into European movies and European mystery movies at that. They just seem to be more cerebral and less bang-bang. That's why I kind of liked Steig's books. Also, because they didn't necessarily dwell on the sensational.

All of that said....I would consider checking out the Kathryn Dance series by Jeffrey Deaver, or his Lincoln Rhyme books.

If I remember right, "Faceless killer" is the first nowl in the series, "Pyramid" is a couple of short stories were som cover the earlöy career of Kurt Wallander as patrolling police man. I would start with "Faceless Killer" - reade all of them several time by now - still just as good.

TheShaun said:

Going to pick up the first of the Wallander series but can't figure out if the first book is faceless killers or the pyramid. seems there are different thoughts. any suggestions?

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