Jacob Christensen

160 Years of Democracy IV, originally uploaded by jacobchristensen.

Just in case you wondered. And, boy, is the concrete here at SDU concrete-y.

I must admit that I’m not a passionate reader of crime novels, but it has been noted that Scandinavian writers are curiously homicidal: Mankell, Larsson, etc, etc. I once saw a documentary on Swedish television about a group of female Swedish crime writers who met regularly to exchange murder plans.

Anyway, how do we explain the success of the Scandinavian Crime Novel? Literary innovations? Hardly.

Nathaniel Rich of Slate suspects the juxaposition of easygoing Scandinavian lifestyle (Scandinavians easygoing? Huh?) and blood-dripping crimes forms the basis.

And we Scandinavians? We’re hooked on homicidal Brits from the countryside as we meet them in Midsomer Murders.