As of: February 9, 2024, 6:00 p.m
By: Sven Trautwein
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Danish crime fiction has a long tradition and is now an important part of the international crime scene.
You can find ten titles worth reading in the photo gallery.
1 / 10Kim Faber, Janni Pedersen “Mörderland”: An explosion rocks a coal-fired power plant in Denmark.
The targeted attack was carried out by a combat drone, and it will not be the last.
The next attack hits a power plant in Rostock.
A group of militant climate activists claimed responsibility for the attacks. On the same morning, the son of the climate minister was found murdered in Copenhagen.
Martin Juncker and Nabiha Khalid are investigating the case.
Evidence points to a connection between the crimes.
When the autopsy report proves that the minister's son was heavily addicted to cocaine, Signe Kristiansen joins the investigation.
She is now with the Organized Crime Department and deals with drug dealing on a large scale.
And that's exactly what the dead man was involved in... © Blanvalet
2 / 10Katrine Engberg “Glutspur”: The suicide of a prisoner on release, the death of a museum employee and the murder of a journalist three and a half years ago - these cases cannot have anything in common.
Or is it?
Former police officer Liv Jensen, who has just set up her own business as a private detective in Copenhagen, is trying to find out exactly that.
She receives support from Hannah Leon, a crisis psychologist who has just suffered a stroke of fate herself, and Nima Ansari, an Iranian car mechanic who is suspected of murder in one of the cases.
Together they discover a dark past that someone desperately wants to keep secret.
By all means… © Piper
3 / 10Anette Hinrichs “Northern Lights – Death in the Floods”: Constant rain and strong winds over the Flensburg Outer Fjord.
During a customer event on a sailing yacht, the young banker Saskia Niekamp falls overboard during a turning maneuver.
A few days later, her body washed up on the Danish coast in Sønderby.
What initially looks like a tragic accident turns out to be a treacherous murder. Vibeke Boisen and Rasmus Nyborg investigate the influential world of boardrooms and well-heeled customers.
The deeper they dig, the more incriminating information they uncover about the dead woman.
But it's only when they come across a connection to an old, unsolved case that they discover the true background... © Blanvalet
4 / 10Jens Østergaard “In the Light of Evil”: A police officer and a six-year-old girl disappear without a trace after a car accident.
Thomas Nyland from the Copenhagen police is assigned to the case.
Shortly afterwards he discovers mysterious videos.
Apparently the girl was on the run with her mother.
But in front of whom?
© Lyx
5 / 10Jussi Adler-Olsen “Sodium Chloride”: A woman commits suicide on her 60th birthday.
Her death leads to the reopening of a cold case from 1988 that brought Marcus Jacobsen together with his best investigator Carl Mørck.
Carl, Assad, Rose and Gordon have no idea that the case is pushing Special Department Q to its limits: for three decades, people have fallen victim to a cunning serial killer who kills without any evidence of murder being proven.
The first clue leads the team deep into a system of perverted morals and boundless contempt for humanity.
And the investigators have to hurry because time is running out... © dtv
6 / 10Steffen Jacobsen “røben - punishment must be”: The first case for Jakob Nordsted and Tanya Nielsen - Detective Inspector Jakob Nordsted is confronted with two unusual murder cases in the Danish port town of Holbæk.
Both were committed directly one after the other, the procedure and murder weapons are completely different.
He knows that the two cases are connected, that's what the experienced military man's intuition tells him.
He is assisted by young Tanya Nielsen.
The rough Nordsted is initially not at all enthusiastic about his inexperienced colleague; he usually investigates alone.
But Tanya is tough and doesn't allow herself to be intimidated by Nordsted, around whom there are numerous rumors.
She also has an unusual ability that proves to be particularly helpful in the investigation.
Together they get to the bottom of the matter.
© Heyne
7 / 10Jens Henrik Jensen "Oxen - Noctis": Now in paperback - Everything could be fine: Flashbacks and nightmares torment Niels Oxen less often and he thinks about what he is missing in his life: relationships.
And love.
Ex-PET boss Mossmann asks him for support.
The bodies of murdered veterans were found in an abandoned gravel pit.
Is a sniper threatening the country?
Having become careless, Oxen is kidnapped - and where he wakes up, there is only darkness... © dtv
8 / 10Julie Hastrup "Retaliation" - the start of the crime series about Rebekka Holm: On a warm summer night, young Anna is found murdered, not far from her parents' home in a small Danish town.
The police call in special investigator Rebekka Holm.
She soon finds out that the details of the crime are reminiscent of a murder of a young woman 20 years ago.
Has the crime from back then been repeated?
Did Erik, son of the local priest, kill his girlfriend?
But then a two-year-old girl is kidnapped.
Her name: Anna… © Piper
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9 / 10jensen_pilgrim.jpg © dtv
10 / 10Jussi Adler-Olsen “Betrayed” – tenth volume: On Boxing Day 2020. Carl Mørck sits in handcuffs in the back seat of a police car on the way to Vestre Prison.
After 15 years, an old case has caught up with him, and charges of drug smuggling and murder threaten to destroy his life and career... © dtv
The crime novels from Denmark, which have attracted worldwide attention in recent years, are an indispensable part of any collection of Nordic noir literature.
They impress with their complex storylines, deep characters and the ability to address social issues.
But what makes crime novels from Denmark, whether by Julie Hastrup, Jussi Adler-Olsen or Jens Henrik Jensen (like the “Oxen” series that has now been filmed) so unique?
The roots of Danish crime fiction go back to the mid-19th century, when the first crime stories were published in the form of short stories.
Since then, Danish crime fiction has built up a long tradition and has become an important player on the international crime scene in recent years.
Whether holiday thrillers or dark ones, the photo series presents ten captivating titles that are worth reading.