A toothsome slices of Nordic Noir, Fallen Angels by Gunnar Staalesen (translated by the matchless Don Bartlett) is proof positive that Staalesen is the key detective writer in Scandinavia still working in the great American tradition, as in this 1989 novel – appearing for the first time in English. A gruesome murder has Staalesen’s social-worker-turned-sleuth, Varg Veum, revisiting his own youth to track down a murderer.
Staalesen has constantly reminded us he is one of the finest Nordic novelists with such books as The Consorts of Death (2009), the thirteenth novel in the series about Bergen PI Veum. Staalesen strives to extirpate the parochial in his writing, describing himself as a Norwegian writer of detective novels, but working within an international genre, and drawing on a variety of writers from other countries to recharge his creative batteries (always, above all, he says, the ‘inestimable American Ross Macdonald’.) Nature is a key element for him, as it is, he says, in most Norwegian novels, be they detective or mainstream fiction. ‘Regarding a sense of place,’ he says, ‘it is imperative for me to draw a precise picture of my stamping ground: the second-largest city in Norway, Bergen. It’s a rainy city … the perfect background for my type of noir, private-eye stories. Rainswept streets are a satisfying ingredient in this field.’
If you’re looking for an entry point to Staalesen’s work, Fallen Angels, particularly when rendered into English by the doyen of Scandinavian translators, Don Bartlett, fits the bill admirably.
Reviewed by Barry Forshaw
FALLEN ANGELS
Written by Gunnar Staalesen
Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett
Published by Orenda Books (2020)
Buy this title through the European Literature Network’s bookshop.org page.
Barry Forshaw’s books include Crime Fiction: A Reader’s Guide, the Keating Award-winning Brit Noir and Nordic Noir. Other work: Death in a Cold Climate, Sex and Film and the British Crime Writing encyclopedia (also a Keating Award winner). He edits Crime Time (www.crimetime.co.uk).
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