Tag: crime

Blog Tour/Review: Wolves in the Dark by Gunnar Staalesen

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I’m thrilled to co-host today’s stop on the blog tour for Gunnar Staalesen’s latest crime novel featuring Private Investigator Varg Veum, Wolves in the Dark. Be sure to check out the post by my co-host David at Blue Book Balloon as well. Orenda Books are becoming known for publishing the most amazing Scandinavian crime fiction and Wolves in the Dark will only add to that reputation.

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WolvesintheDarkAbout the Book

Publisher’s description: Private investigator, Varg Veum, fights for his reputation, his freedom and his life…Reeling from the death of his great love, Karin, Varg’s life has descended into a self-destructive spiral of alcohol, lust, grief and blackouts. When traces of child pornography are found on his computer, he’s accused of being part of a paedophile ring and thrown into a prison cell. There, he struggles to sift through his past to work out who is responsible for planting the material… and who is seeking the ultimate revenge. When a chance to escape presents itself, Varg finds himself on the run in his hometown of Bergen. With the clock ticking and the police on his tail, Varg takes on his hardest – and most personal – case yet.

Praise for Gunnar Staalesen and the Varg Veum series:

‘Gunnar Staalesen is one of my very favourite Scandinavian authors. Operating out of Bergen in Norway, his private eye, Varg Veum, is a complex but engaging anti-hero. Varg means ‘wolf’ in Norwegian, and this is a series with very sharp teeth’ (Ian Rankin)

‘A Norwegian Chandler’ (Jo Nesbo)

‘Gunnar Staalesen was writing suspenseful and socially conscious Nordic Noir long before any of today’s Swedish crime writers had managed to put together a single book page… one of Norway’s most skilful storytellers’ (Johan Theorin)

‘With its exploration of family dynamics and the complex web of human behaviour, Staalesen’s novel echoes the great California author Ross MacDonald’s Lew Archer mysteries… mature and captivating’ (Herald Scotland)

‘Norwegian master Staalesen is an author who eschews police procedural narratives for noirish private eye pieces… with some abrasive social commentary’ (Financial Times)

Format: ebook Publisher: Orenda Books Pages: 276
Publication: 15th June 2017 Genre: Crime    

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk ǀ Amazon.com ǀ Barnes & Noble
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find Wolves in the Dark on Goodreads

My Review

Wolves in the Dark is the latest outing for Varg Veum and, to be honest, things are not going well for him. He’s still recovering from the emotional aftermath of a tragic event in his personal life and the past few years have just about disappeared in a haze of booze. His bank account is all but empty, the new cases have dried up and it’s a struggle to keep off the bottle. Last, but definitely not least, he’s been arrested on a charge of participating in a child pornography ring on the basis of material found on his computer. Somehow you just know he wouldn’t be involved in anything as grotesque and evil as child pornography (not to mention that he and modern technology are pretty much strangers beyond the basics).

Varg knows he’s been set up and that the material found by the police has somehow been placed on his computer in order to discredit him as an act of revenge. The trouble is the number of people who believe him is small…and getting smaller.  Looking for the possible culprit means revisiting previous cases and confronting some shameful episodes from his alcohol-fuelled years. Forced to take proving his innocence into his own hands, Varg finds unexpected links and possible connections that throw up more questions than answers.  Eventually, the pieces of the jigsaw fall into place but a resolution?  Sometimes things in life don’t work out as neatly as that…

This was a great read containing everything you need for a satisfying crime mystery. I loved the character of Varg. He has many flaws but you have to admire his dogged determination and his relentless desire to search for the truth (not to mention a seemingly encyclopaedic knowledge of the back streets of Bergen and its one way systems). The book is full of twists and turns (not just in the streets of Bergen) and interrelated stories creating a complex web for Varg to untangle.  The author is clearly a master of his art because the story is set up perfectly for a next book (we hope!).

Despite being part of a long running series, Wolves in the Dark works perfectly well as a standalone read. I was intrigued by the hints of events in Varg’s past but not knowing didn’t affect my enjoyment, just added to the sense of mystery.  Having the opportunity to read Wolves in the Dark has made me keen to read the earlier books in the series that have been translated into English. Hopefully, the whole series will be translated eventually.

I received an advance reader copy courtesy of publishers, Orenda Books, in return for an honest review.

In three words: Gripping, compelling, atmospheric

Try something similar…Faithless by Kjell Ola Dahl

Granite Noir Fest 2017About the Author

Gunnar Staalesen was born in Bergen, Norway in 1947. He made his debut at the age of 22 with Seasons of Innocence and in 1977 he published the first book in the Varg Veum series. He is the author of over 20 titles, which have been published in 24 countries and sold over four million copies. Twelve film adaptations of his Varg Veum crime novels have appeared since 2007, starring the popular Norwegian actor Trond Epsen Seim. Staalesen, who has won three Golden Pistols (including the Prize of Honour), lives in Bergen with his wife. When Prince Charles visited Bergen, Staalesen was appointed his official tour guide. There is a life-sized statue of Varg Veum in the centre of Bergen, and a host of Varg Veum memorabilia for sale. We Shall Inherit the Wind and Where Roses Never Die were both international bestsellers.

About the Translator

Don Bartlett is the foremost translator of Norwegian, responsible for the multi-award winning, bestselling books by Jo Nesbo, Karl Ove Knausgaard and Per Pettersen. It is rare to have a translator who is as well-known and highly regarded as the author.

Connect with Gunnar

Website ǀ Goodreads

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Blog Tour/Q&A: Day of the Dead by Mark Roberts

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I’m delighted to be today’s host on the blog tour for Day of the Dead by Mark Roberts, the latest crime mystery featuring DCI Eve Clay.  I’m also excited that Mark has agreed to answer some questions about Day of the Dead, the inspiration for it and his approach to writing.

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DayoftheDeadAbout the Book

Publisher’s description: Vindici is a hero to many. He is also the nation’s most dangerous criminal… The man who calls himself Vindici broke out of prison last year. Now he’s filmed himself torturing and killing paedophiles in Liverpool’s affluent suburbs. Half the city are celebrating: the streets are safer for their children. But for DCI Eve Clay and her team at the Merseyside Police, it’s a nightmare. Their job is to solve the crimes and lock up the killer – hard enough without being despised by the public they are trying to protect. And now, just when they think they’ve cracked the case, they receive a photo of Vindici, at a Day of the Dead parade in Mexico. So if Vindici is 5,000 miles away, who are they hunting in Liverpool? DCI Eve Clay must draw on all her cunning to unmask a killer who is somehow always one step ahead…

Book Facts

Format: Hardcover                   Publisher: Head of Zeus             No. of pages: 464
Publication: 4th May 2017       Genre: Crime, Mystery

To purchase Day of the Dead from Amazon.co.uk, click here (link provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme)
Find Day of the Dead on Goodreads

Interview: Mark Roberts, author of Day of the Dead (Eve Clay #3)

Mark, welcome to What Cathy Read Next.  Day of the Dead is the third book in your DCI Eve Clay series. What are the challenges of writing a series compared to a standalone novel?

In writing a series, one has to be consistent with the journey taken by all the recurring characters. For instance, DCI Eve Clay, the lead character, has a son. With each book he ages a year. Also, in unfolding Eve’s back story of her childhood, when she thinks back to her early life and how that impacts on the present as new information is revealed, everything has to tie up and be consistently interlinked. In managing the challenges of consistency across a series, it presents opportunities to develop each and every character in this way: as in life as in fiction. We are all the same people we were a year ago, but we have changed because experience makes us change, and so it is with characters in a series of novels

Without giving too much away for readers who haven’t yet discovered the series, can you tell us a bit about Day of the Dead?

A paedophile has been murdered in his home. A week later, another paedophile is murdered in his home and his wife has been tortured and had her eyelids hacked off. DCI Clay suspects it is either the work of Justin Truman aka Vindici, a serial killer who targeted paedophiles in the south of England years earlier and who has escaped from prison or the work of a copy cat killer. For once the public are not behind Clay and her team and are, in fact, openly hostile to the investigation. And to make matters worse for Clay she suspects someone on the inside of Merseyside Constabulary is feeding information to the killer. It is her most complex case to date.

The two earlier DCI Eve Clay books were set in Liverpool. What made you decide to inject an international flavour into Day of the Dead?                                                             

I’m proud of Liverpool for many reasons but top of my list is the fact that as it has been a major port, we’ve had the world come to us for a long time. It is a really multi-cultural society and we have links all across the world. I wanted to reflect that side of Liverpool. Also, the Mexican Day of the Dead festivities are fascinating. I was intrigued by the complex image system and wanted to explore the meaning behind the rituals.

How has Eve developed as a character over the series?

She has learned more about herself and those around her. Eve becomes more passionate about her family and her work with each new book. And with this growing passion, she becomes more vulnerable. I wanted to have a lead character who detected not only crimes but also learns about her mysterious childhood. As her self-awareness grows, she learns more about the world around her, and her vision of all situations becomes more complex and multi-dimensional.

You’ve also written two books featuring DCI Rosen (The Sixth Soul and What She Saw) set in London. What prompted you to start a new series featuring a new central character?

I wanted to write a female lead detective in a city I know that I both love and have an in-depth knowledge of. I often go exploring and find new places that I haven’t seen before. With each new Eve Clay novel, I learn more about Liverpool and apply this to the novels. We have a wealth of atmospheric and interesting places like the Williamson Tunnels, the two Cathedrals, the Littlewoods Building. I could go on.

How do you approach the research for your books? Do you enjoy the process of research?

I love reading and I love researching. For Day of the Dead I did extensive research on the Mexican Festival. For Dead Silent, I had to research King Psamtik I (Egyptian king five centuries BC). I can’t go further on that one as it would give too much away. I work full time as a teacher in a special school and have spent the last fourteen years with disabled teenagers. That gave me a great insight into how to portray people with learning difficulties. For Blood Mist I had to go fourteen metres underground into the Williamson Tunnels. Each new book demands new research. Thankfully. For Black Sun my current work, I went to the Mortuary at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, and will be going back again no doubt. At the mortuary I received massive help from Barbara Peters, the manager, and her team.

Do you have a special place to write or any writing rituals?

I think constantly about my writing, developing and reshaping material as I move through my daily life. When I get home from school, I set about the physical task of writing in my study. I have monthly targets that I have to achieve through daily and weekly targets. I don’t listen to music, I just stay at the laptop until I hit my daily target. Saturdays and Sundays are big target days, as are the school holidays. I think of the actual physical process writing as being the end of a much longer conscious and subconscious journey.

I do a lot of work when I am running along Otterspool Promenade, on the banks of the River Mersey heading out for the Irish Sea. Also I swim each day and my mind goes into improvisational mode when I’m in the water. Often, I will wake up at two in the morning and head to my study to try out some idea that has seized me somewhere between waking and sleeping. I believe in Max Ernst’s view of creativity as being one eye open and one eye shut. Ernst also said, ‘When an artist finds himself he is lost…’. Hence, I never carry maps or a torch as my ambition is to remain permanently lost.

What is your favourite and least favourite part of the writing process?

I love the whole process. There is nothing I dislike about it.

Which other writers do you admire?

Samuel Beckett, Thomas Harris, Edgar Allan Poe (boyhood hero), Captain Beefheart (amazing lyrics), Dostoyevsky, Gitta Sereny, Graham Masterton, Jimmy McGovern, Joyce Carol Oates, Franz Kafka, Colin Schindler…

What are you working on next?

The new book is called Black Sun. It is set in Liverpool and has DCI Eve Clay as the lead character. As it’s a work in progress, I can’t say much more than that because it would feel like walking on virgin snow.

Thanks, Mark, for those fascinating answers and for the good news that there will be another case for Eve Clay coming soon!

MarkRobertsAbout the Author

Mark Roberts was born and raised in Liverpool. He was a teacher for twenty years and now works with children with severe learning difficulties. He is the author of What She Saw, which was longlisted for a CWA Gold Dagger.

 

 

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