Kristina Ohlsson’s Unwanted, recently released in the U.S., is an excellent addition to the rapidly growing Scandanavian mystery field. (Scandinavian mysteries seem to the mystery genre a little like the British Invasion was to music many decades ago, and like that other “invasion,” they’re bringing a fresh development to the genre.) Ohlsson’s debut introduces investigative analyst Fredrika Bergman, a young woman with a sharp mind and a prickly personality who is struggling to prove herself to experienced, senior officers. The interplay among the detectives is entertaining, but the real hook in this book is the crime: a young child has disappeared from a crowded train as it pulls into Stockholm, in what should be plain view of dozens of people, yet no one has noticed anything amiss. As the team fails to find the child, Frederika is sure they are looking in the wrong direction, and she is proved right. Then the crime escalates.

While not quite as sure-handed as Mankell, Larsson, and Nesbo, Ohlsson nonetheless has written a gripping story with intriguing characters that will grab your attention and hang onto you until the last page. This is the first in a series that looks to be a treat.

Ann Patchet’s latest novel, State of Wonder, is a terrific book, as was her previous novel, Run. But when I recommend either of these excellent books to friends and library customers, I find that each and every one says, “Oh, I loved Bel Canto. Is this like Bel Canto?” Of course, in some stylistic ways, in the way she turns a sentence or describes a character’s emotional reaction, you certainly know you are reading Ann Patchett. But no, it’s not Bel Canto. State of Wonder is its own story, a fascinating one that begins in a research laboratory in Minnesota and journeys to the Amazon and a mysterious tribe deep in the jungle whose women remain fertile into old age.

Dr. Marinah Singh, a 42-year-old scientist, is dispatched by the pharmaceutical company for which she works to investigate the reported death of a fellow researcher. The state of wonder begins from the moment she arrives in Brazil and journeys into an increasingly strange land, but also into unexplored parts of her own psyche and past. Singh locates the legendary Dr. Annick  Swenson, in her 70′s and carrying on her research in the village. Singh studied under Swenson in medical school and had a catastrophic experience there that changed the direction of Singh’s life; Swenson doesn’t seem to remember her. The oddities of Swenson’s character, the almost hallucinatory characteristics of the insects, the plants, the animals of this jungle environment create a dream-like quality that becomes nightmarish as Singh searches more deeply into the Swenson’s work and the life of the tribe.

But back to the Bel Canto curse: every time I describe State of Wonder to someone or recommend Run, another brilliant work, s/he immediately starts talking about Bel Canto. I begin to think Patchett should have saved Bel Canto until the end of her writing career. Bel Canto is, of course, an extraordinary novel, and I do understand why everyone who reads it remembers it and longs to repeat the delight of reading it. Still, Patchet’s later novels are each outstanding. Please read them both and stop hoping to re-read Bel Canto while you do! If by some strange chance you have not yet read Bel Canto, put that one on your list as well. 

The Darkest Room is set on the island of Oland in Sweden, and the setting is half the delight of this intriguing mystery. Like many of the Scandinavian mysteries (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series being a notable exception), Theorin’s book downplays the action (although there is, all in all, quite a bit of action), and creates the mists, dramatic blizzards, powerful waves, and other aspects of Oland, past and present,  Joakim and Katrine have recently moved with their two young children from Stockholm to the lightkeeper’s manor house at Eel Point, a huge home in need of repair. They are up to the refurbishing, but unfinished business from the past of the manor house and associated lighthouses, nefarious doings on the part of a trio of morally deficient young islanders, and their own past issues converge with deadly results. The manor house is said to be built with lumber from a massive shipwreck and to be haunted.

Meanwhile, Tilda Davidsson, a young policewoman, has moved to Olaf to become part of a newly created police presence in Marnas, a few miles north of Eel Point. Her commitment to her job comes into play in unravelling the events at the manor house, and her struggles with the smug assumptions of the male-dominated police force form a deft counterpoint to the island histories she and Joakim are unearthing.

I find the subtle, quiet tone of this book a delightful change from some of the American mysteries and thrillers with unending, screaming-level action from start to finish . And it’s fun to read about ferocious blizzards on a sunny beach, should you find yourself on one!

Let the Great World Spin is a delight to read–the language, the imagery, the characters are all extraordinary. Beginning with a poetic recreation of Phillippe Pettit’s tightrope walk (or rather, dance) between the Twin Towers in 1974, McCann uses that human expression of daring and delight as the touchpoint of his story of equally dancing characters. Irish born brothers Corrigan and Ciaran immigrate to New York and live in a project in the South Bronx. Corrigan is a monk who choses to serve the prostitutes of the project–mainly by providing them a convenient bathroom, but watching over them with quiet care as well.  These characters interweave with several others, finding connection, failure, despair, and joy. The novel will captivate you, and it earns every emotion honestly. McCann’s dance with words is unforgettable. Put in a request for this book right away.

Another great Scottish mystery writer—I don’t know how I could have overlooked MacBride for so long. He has an ongoing series featuring Detective Sergeant Logan McRae and a memorable cast of fellow officers working in the city of Aberdeen, also known as the Granite City. This is a dark series with frustrated police trying to solve horrific crimes while still pursuing their own lives and loves in occasional snatches of free time. McRae is an honorable but stubborn man whose experiences have left him sleeping badly, drinking excessively, and working obsessively. In Blind Eye, he is hunting for a man who is blinding a series of victims by gouging out their eyeballs. The crimes seem to be motivated by hatred of the growing population of Polish immigrants in Aberdeen, but each lead fails, while police and civilians are increasingly agitated by the horror of each new crime.

Once again, this is fairly violent, dark stuff. (It seems as though a good many American and European mysteries being written now are preoccupied with the underside of the human psyche–perhaps not a surprise to anyone reading the newspaper headlines day in day out.) However, the violence is the object of McRae’s concern, not something glorified, even covertly. And McRae is a character of considerable substance and interest. MacBride is a writer worth your time and attention.

The Silence of the Rain; December Heat; Southwesterly Wind; A Window in Copacabana; Pursuit

Recommended by a friend who rarely leads me astray, this mystery series featuring Inspector Espinosa is a treat of spare but vivid writing set in the lush environs of Rio de Janeiro. Espinosa has a literary and philosophical bent befitting his name as well as a sensual nature that emerges now and then. The characters are distinct and intriguing. Like many of his Scandinavian counterparts (such as Martin Beck,  created by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, and Kurt Wallander, created by Henning Mankell), Espinosa seems to be mildly depressed most of the time, perhaps because of the pathetic diet of frozen pasta dinners he habitually consumes in the disarray of an apartment he never brings himself to put in order. Darkly comic, worldly wise, these mysteries have memorable moments of human connection and serenity. Their pace is quite deliberate, and Espinosa sometimes seems to turn over every rock on the shore, but they are well realized and engaging. Any of these will be a welcome escape from the January blizzards some of us endure.

This dystopian novel focuses on characters who are part of God’s Gardeners, a progressive/rational/Green religious group that has separated itself from most aspects of mainstream society. Led by the Adams (Adam One, Adam Two and so on) and Eves, the group raises lush gardens on rooftops around an unnamed metropolis, tends bees, lives a vegetarian life, and honors “Saints” each day with hymns and a talk by Adam One. The violence and cruelty of mainstream society is apparent in a great variety of details. Police and military have become private enterprises funded by corporations to protect their interests. Prison, “Painball,” is a kind of Roman circus of criminals hunting one another and televised for the enlightenment of the citizenry. Two women, Ren and Toby, who have been rescued from violent sexual predators by the Gardeners, are the central characters. Their efforts to survive after The Flood, a pandemic that kills most of the human population, are painful. Despite the dark themes of the novel, there is also great hope for the kindest and most generative aspects of humankind, and there is a dark humor throughout the novel.

As always, Atwood is a master stylist who uses and plays with language and imagery with glorious results.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo  was a favorite of mine last year (reveiwed here a few months ago).  A generous friend who read my review handed me a copy of The Girl Who Played with Fire soon after it was published. I devoured that one in a couple of sessions, and pondered again how much I wish Stieg Larsson were alive and still writing. Really engaging thrillers—ones with intriguing characters, an unusual setting, a fast pace, but also some social or political issues of interest, and a high quality of writing—are not so common. Sometimes I imagine there are dozens of them on our shelves, just waiting until I have some free time to settle in with a great book.  And then, as I browse, I find that many of them are just not so great. The Girl Who Played with Fire is as riveting as the first entry, with more of the back story on Lisbeth Salander, the fascinating protagonist of the series, who lives by her own moral code, snooping at will through computers and standing off against some truly scary villains. Her history is compelling, and gives us sympathy with her even as she sometimes seems to care little for other people. Her utter refusal to give in or lose is really fun to see played out. Larsson brings in the world of journalism with the character of Mikael Bloomqvist, the clever investigative reporter who happened into partnership with Salander in the first novel, and who spends most of this one chasing her shadow. The final installment, The Girl Who  Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, is due out in May of 2010. I will be in a quandary—once I read it, the series is over for me. (If you missed the story, Stieg Larsson, a Swedish journalist, submitted the manuscripts for the three novels, but died before the first was published.) If you like edgy, fast-paced thrillers with a lot of style and you haven’t read this series, you have some fun in store.

The Laughing Policeman is one of a series of police procedurals featuring Superintendant Martin Beck and Detective Lennert Kollberg as well as several other detectives. Written in the late 60′s and early 70′s by a husand and wife team, these are really wonderful slices of Swedish society, police work, and a darkly comic view of the human animal. Nearly every person in The Laughing Policeman behaves in predictably irritating and selfish ways, the weather is miserable and gets worse, and solving the case requires hours of boring, tedious investigation. Nonethless, Beck and Kollberg are engaging precisely because they, too, are fully human. They persist despite the tedium of the work, and the rare moments of connection and delight are rewarding. This and the others in the series are exceptionally well-written and a great antidote to the endless “thrill-ride” of most current mysteries and thrillers. The series has recently been re-released in trade paper. Those who enjoy the classics of the genre and those who enjoy dark comedy will love this series.

Below are  fiction and non-fiction books with dog characters, training and care information, or other information about dogs.   All of them are available through the libraries of the CLEVNET Consortium — many are owned by the Cleveland Hts-University Hts. Public Library System. You can click on the title if you’d like to order the book through the CLEVNET webcatalog.

Fiction:

Adams, Richard

Plague Dogs

*Ault, Sandi
The Jamaica Wild Series

Wild Indigo

Wild Inferno

Wild Sorrow

Auster, Paul

Timbuktu

Koontz, Dean

The Darkest Evening of the Year

From the Corner of His Eye

One Door Away from Heaven

Watchers

Markoe, Merrill

Nose Down, Eyes Up

Walking in Circles Before Lying Down

Stein, Garth

The Art of Racing in the Rain

Wroblewski, David

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Non-Fiction:

Dodman, Nicholas

The Dog Who Loved Too Much: Tales, Treatments, and the Psychology of Dogs

The Well-Adjusted Dog: Dr. Dodman’s Seven Steps to Lifelong Health and Happiness for Your Best Friend

Katz, Jon

Dog Days: Dispatches from Bedlam Farm

A Dog Year: Twelve Months, Four Dogs, and Me

The Dogs of Bedlam Farm: An Adventure with Sixteen Sheep, Three Dogs, Two Donkeys, and Me

A Good Dog: the Story of Orson, Who Changed My Life

Izzy and Lenore: Two Dogs, an Unexpected Journey, and Me

Katz On Dogs: A Commonsense Guide to Training and Living With Dogs

The New Work of Dogs: Tending to Life, Love, and Family In a Changing World

Kerasote, Ted

Merle’s Door: Lessons From a Freethinking Dog

Markoe, Merrill

What the Dogs Have Taught Me: And Other Amazing Things I’ve Learned

McConnell, Patricia

For the Love of a Dog: Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best Friend

Tales of Two Species: Essays on Loving and Living with Dogs

Millan, Cesar

Be the Pack Leader: Use Cesar’s Way to Transform Your Dog-And Your Life

Cesar’s Way: The Natural, Everday Guide to Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems

Dog-Focused Mystery Series:

(As opposed to mysteries that happen to include a dog)

Benjamin, Carol Lea
The Rachel Alexander and Dash Mystery Series

This Dog for Hire

The Dog Who Knew Too Much

A Hell of a Dog

Lady Vanishes

The Wrong Dog

The Long Good Boy

Fall Guy

Without a Word

The Hard Way

Berenson, Laurien
The Melanie Travis Mystery Series

A Pedigree to Die For

Underdog

Dog Eat Dog

Hair of the Dog

Watchdog

Hush Puppy

Unleashed

Once Bitten

Hot Dog

Best in Show

Jingle Bell Bark

Raining Cats and Dogs

Chow Down

Hounded to Death

Doggie Day Care Murder

Conant, Susan
The Dog Lover’s Mystery Series

A New Leash on Death

Dead and Doggone

A Bite of Death

Paws Before Dying

Gone to the Dogs

Bloodlines

Ruffly Speaking

Black Ribbon

Stud Rites

Animal Appetite

The Barker Street Regulars

Evil Breeding

Creature Discomforts

The Wicked Flea

The Dogfather

Bride and Groom

Gaits of Heaven

All Shots

Guiver, Patricia
The Delilah Doolittle Pet Detective Mystery Series

Delilah Doolittle and the Purloined Pooch

Delilah Doolittle and the Motley Mutts

Delilah Doolittle and the Careless Coyote

Delilah Doolittle and the Missing Macaw

Delilah Doolittle and the Canine Chorus

The Beastly Bloodline

Henry, Sue
The Jessie Arnold Mystery Series

Murder on the Iditarod Trail

Termination Dust

Sleeping Lady

Death Takes Passage

Deadfall

Murder on Yukon Quest

Beneath the Ashes

Dead North

Cold Company

Death Trap

Murder at Five Finger Light

Degrees of Separation

Henry, Sue
The Maxie and Stretch Mystery Series

The Serpents Trail

The Tooth of Time

The Refuge

The End of the Road

Moore, Barbara
The Veterinarian Gordon Christy Mystery Series

The Doberman Wore Black

The Wolf Whispered Death

O’Kane, Leslie
The Allie Babcock Mystery Series

Play Dead

Ruff Way to Go

Give the Dog a Bone

*The dog in these mysteries is actually a wolf, but the relationship is very much a human-dog relationship.