Coasty Mysteries: New, Nordic Mysteries and Thrillers to Read this Fall

Centered around Elsa, a member of the indigenous Sámi people, Stolen interweaves Nordic mystery and the culture of the Sámi, a historically marginalized group for whom reindeer are both a sacred symbol and a way of life. As a young girl, Elsa sees a reindeer murdered, but the local police are apathetic when her father reports the crime. As Elsa becomes a young woman, she decides to once again try to solve the crime, but this time the hunter comes after her. This novel marries the cultural and social history of the Sámi with a captivating mystery and enthralling setting.

The Stella Blómkvist books are written by an anonymous author, the pen name comes from the main character: Reykjavík attorney Stella Blómkvist who in this novel finds herself being asked to solve multiple cases: the disappearance of a young girl, the proclaimed innocence of a man accused of murdering his father-in-law and mistress, and the identity of an arm that has emerged from an ice cap, wearing a ruby ring.

Married couple Karin and Kai have borrowed a luxurious home on the Norwegian fjords in hopes of escaping the stress of their lives. However, rather than being a calming retreat, the home and its wealthy neighbors are a constant reminder of the faults and wants in their own lives. When Karin tells a lie to an unfriendly neighbor, she and Kai become entangled in a spiral of deceit and psychological suspense that contrasts the beauty of their surroundings with the nightmares that lurk just below the surface.

The Mermaid utilizes the Nordic tradition of tackling social and political issues in crime fiction by examining the tensions between the existing residents of a small town and the recently arrived immigrants who have settled there. The book opens when the body of a houseless woman is found in the river and an immigrant who was in the vicinity at the time is accused of her murder. The next time the suspect is seen is when he walks into the town square wearing a bomb-laden vest and carrying a detonator. But is he actually a murderer? Or a victim in a tangled crime?

In 1983, a nurse is found murdered at a sanatorium turned hospital in Iceland. After an investigation that identifies initial suspects, the chief physician dies by suicide, leading the investigators to believe he was behind the killing and to close the case. In 2012, Helgi Reykdal, a young police officer, returns to Iceland from the UK and begins investigating the 1983 case as part of his research in historical murders. As he unravels the decades-old investigation, new and deadly revelations come to light.

Known for his atmospheric and haunting writing, De La Motte’s latest book is the first in a planned series about Criminal Inspector Leonore Asker from Malmö’s Major Crime Division. When a high-profile kidnapping case goes awry, Asker is relegated to the Department of Lost Souls, a dumping group for odd, cold cases. There, she begins to investigate a series of odd figurines that have begun appearing in abandoned buildings, a search that takes her into some of the darkest, most vile parts of the city.