Jussi Adler-Olsen – Fast-paced stories, with inventive plotting and visceral psychology, in an atmospheric, suspenseful, violent tone, with taunt prose and flashes of humor.
Jørgen Brekke – Addictive crime fiction with sympathetic characters, written in a gritty, richly detailed, complex style.
Anne Holt – A former Norwegian Minister of Justice, Holt uses her background to create suspenseful, intricately-plotted and haunting mysteries with a chilliness that befits their icy setting.
Lene Kaaberbøl – Gritty, emotionally resonant and complex thrillers with bleak settings, deeply flawed characters and desperate causes; Fast-paced and intricately plotted stories in a compelling writing style.
Robert Karjel – Sophisticated crime fiction in a suspenseful, compelling, and fast-paced style in the darkly riveting narrative tradition of Nordic crime fiction.
Lars Kepler – An unsettling mixture of police procedural, thriller, and occasional horror, replete with graphic violence and disturbing villains.
Camilla Läckberg – Deliberately plotted stories that move along by precise use of language, with characters that interact in very human ways, and with the difficulties and pleasures of human relationships always central to the plot.
Stieg Larsson – Suspenseful page-turners, with intricate plotting, in-depth investigative work, factually accurate details, and thought-provoking social themes, all set in a hauntingly beautiful Sweden, with unforgettable heroes and engrossing secondary characters.
Henning Mankell – Well-crafted stories with fully developed characters, complex plots, and careful pacing; Compelling writing style, in a bleak, melancholy tone, with a strong sense of place.
Liza Marklund – Richly detailed suspense stories set in Stockholm, with gritty descriptions that evoke all the ugliness and fear that can follow a violent crime.
Jo Nesbø – Twist-filled, fast-paced, gripping page-turners that contain explicit depictions of disturbing violence but also demonstrate a keen and sensitive understanding of the social realities of poverty, drug addiction, and organized crime in urban environments.
Harri Nykänen - A clever combination of classic Jewish themes with the traditions of Nordic crime makes for refreshing tales with wide appeal.
Anders Roslund – Thrillers featuring eccentric, hard-bitten detectives with crystalline, cinematic prose set in a cold, frightening Stockholm.
8/15