Helsinki Noir

Description

The excitement around Scandinavian crime fiction has focused largely on Sweden, but Finland - as poignantly revealed here - is equally dark, grisly and strong in the noir department. Helsinki's endless bays and islands offer a killer plenty of places to dump a body and, because winter days can often contain less than six hours of daylight, hiding in dark corners is almost too easy. The authors of Helsinki Noir take full advantage of this as they pen more grisly short stories in the true spirit of Akashic's award-winning Noir series.

James Thompson (1964-2014) lived in Finland for over fifteen years and was one of the most popular representatives of Nordic noir, with his work being published in a dozen countries. His novel Snow Angels, the first book in his acclaimed Kari Vaara series, was one of Booklist's Best Crime Novel Debuts of the Year and was nominated for Edgar, Anthony, and Strand Critics awards. Kirkus selected Lucifer's Tears, the second book in the series, as one of the best books of 2011. G.P. Putnam's Sons will release Helsinki Dead, the fifth installment in the series, in 2014. Jim was a reviewer for the New York Journal of Books and held a master's degree from the University of Helsinki. He was the editor of Helsinki Noir.