Monday, October 09, 2017

Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: Encyclopedia of Nordic Crime Fiction: Works and Authors of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden Since 1967 by Mitzi M. Brunsdale


Encyclopedia of Nordic Crime Fiction: Works and Authors of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden Since 1967 by Mitzi M. Brunsdale (McFarland, 2016) is an authoritative resource on the explosion of detective fiction that has been pouring out of Scandinavia since Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo introduced Martin Beck to the English-speaking world in 1967. Brunsdale believes simmering societal issues are driving this production of dark crime fiction in the North.

Separate chapters are devoted to Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. For each country, a lengthy chapter has a detailed analysis of the cultural context of crime fiction in that country, followed by a list of awards given to crime fiction there and a chronology of national crime fiction and events set against world crime fiction and events. Crime fiction authors from each country with their works and awards are listed and discussed. Finally, titles of crime fiction set in each country by authors from other countries are listed. A 35-page bibliography and an index round out the book.

This unusual book was shortlisted for the Dartmouth Medal earlier this year by the American Library Association. The Dartmouth Medal honors the creation of a reference work of outstanding quality and significance. The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) of the American Library Association gave it along with ten other titles their Outstanding Reference Sources award for 2017, titles they consider the most outstanding reference publications for small and medium-sized libraries.

A review copy of this book will be available for bidding in the silent auction at Bouchercon this week.

·         Paperback: 572 pages
·         Publisher: McFarland (April 28, 2016)
·         Language: English
·         ISBN-10: 0786475366
·         ISBN-13: 978-0786475360


Aubrey Hamilton © 2017
 
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal IT projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

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