Literary Scene: Three mysteries set outside the US

By Ryan G. Van Cleave
March 2021

Where Ravens Roost
by Karin Nordin

Karin Nordin’s debut thriller takes place in Sweden, and its star is Detective Kjeld Nygaard. This book is pure Nordic noir, meaning often-procedural crime fiction told in plain language and having bleak landscapes and morally challenging situations—think Steig Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (which was made into a terrific movie) or Jo Nesbø’s The Snowman (which was made into a terrible movie). 

Another common feature of Nordic noir is their troubled protagonists, and that’s the situation with Detective Nygaard, for sure. Among other problems (mostly due to poor judgment), his last case went REALLY wrong, so he’s currently on suspension when his father (Stenar) calls and leaves a garbled message—maybe he witnessed a murder? Detective Nygaard has no choice but to drive up to the mining town of Varsund in the far north of Sweden to check on his Alzheimer-plagued father. He arrives to find there’s no evidence that a murder took place…until he finds a human tooth in an old barn that’s been taken over by ravens.

Things worsen when a body is discovered and the local police decide Stenar is the likeliest suspect. With the help of his partner, Esme, Detective Nygaard works to uncover the truth amidst the snow, secrets, and darkness (literal and metaphorical) of the Swedish landscape.

While this is the first in a new series, it has hints both forward and backward such that Nordin’s sequels have more options than most. Detective Nygaard is just likable enough to offset his many flaws, and Nordin’s presentation of Alzheimer’s is heartrendingly accurate in many ways.

If you’re up for an icy-dark read in the vein of good Nordic noir, this is a solid addition to your list. 

Ryan’s Rating: 4 out of 5
www.karinnordin.com

Dangerous Women
by Hope Adams

Hope Adams’ debut novel, Dangerous Women, takes place in April 1841 on a ship called Rajah that’s taking 180 women convicts from London to a penal colony in Australia. The crimes of these mothers, sisters, and daughters are all petty, but it doesn’t matter—they’ll never see their homes, family, or dear London again. 

The story about their three-month journey unfolds via multiple voices through two timelines as we learn about these woman, including a sewing group led by Matron Hayter that’s making a quilt to present to the governor when they land. As one might expect, when you put criminals together in tight quarters for such a long time, tension rises, and before long, someone gets hold of a knife and one of the women is mortally wounded.

At that point, what we have is a nautical locked-room whodunnit. All of these women are already guilty of crimes, but did one of them murder one of their own? Was it a member of the sewing group, one of the other convicts, or even one of the sailors? All of the women’s crimes were petty—but is it possible one of the women isn’t who she says she is, and was capable of such violence even before getting on the Rajah?

This book is based on reality—the idea for this story came about when author Adams got fascinated by seeing the actual Rajah quilt at a museum. Yes, the quilting group was real, as was the Rajah and the many women being sent to the other side of the world for crimes that the author insinuates aren’t worthy of such punishment, including specifically Matron Hayter.

There’s an admirable sense of historical accuracy in play here, such as how men on the ship (such as Captain Charles Ferguson, the ship’s priest, and the physician, James Donovan) don’t immediately accept what Matron Hayter says simply because she’s a woman. The nautical terminology and descriptions of the travel, too, feel fairly accurate.

If female-led historical fiction is your particular brand of sailing ship, then take a ride with Dangerous Women on the Rajah for sure. You’ll enjoy the journey.

Ryan’s Rating: 4 out of 5

Who Took Eden Mulligan?
by Sharon Dempsey

Who Took Eden Mulligan? is the first in a Belfast-based crime series by Belfast author Sharon Dempsey. It starts fast when a blood-covered Iona Gardener bursts into a Northern Ireland police station and confesses to the murder of four friends. The coppers check it out, and there are indeed dead bodies in a Belfast cottage as Iona said, though one of the four is still alive. Barely. 

On the wall is scrawled a strange message: Who took Eden Mulligan?

Eden Mulligan is a woman who vanished right out of her Belfast home during The Troubles (in case you’re not up on your Irish history, this was a time of great conflict in Northern Ireland between paramilitary groups, British security forces, and civil rights groups that lasted for three decades until the Good Friday Agreement in 1998). Chief Inspector Danny Lowe is taken off his job of chasing down cold cases to handle this multiple murder. He’s saddled with a typical amount of personal and marital problems, but this is his chance to get back into Major Investigations—all he needs to do is solve this case. Easier said than done since so much has to do with the deep past.

He’s helped by the reluctant Dr. Rose Lainey, a criminal psychologist who has done her best to get away from Belfast. But like we so often see in stories and our own lives, it’s harder than one hopes to truly escape your past.

Here’s a warning—if you want to Google The Troubles or The Disappeared (people in The Troubles like Eden Mulligan who were believed to be abducted, murdered, and secretly buried), be careful or you might spend a few hours digging into this amazing but disturbing period in the history of Northern Ireland like I did.

This isn’t Sharon Dempsey’s first book, and she’s a teacher of creative writing, so it’s no surprise that the writing is smooth, the plotting solid, the research apt, and the ending satisfying. This book is disturbing and gripping in all the right ways.

Ryan’s Rating: 4.25 out of 5