Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
A novel that could only have been set in Iceland – murder with a human genome plot.
What about Jar City?
This is Icelandic and it’s the first in the series. Another miserable cop and the backdrop of Iceland which is bleak and rainy or snowy. The cop has a daughter who’s a junkie and he doesn’t see much of his kids. I chose this one because it could only have been set in Iceland, could only have been about Iceland. The plot is all about the human genome discovery and stuff. I won’t go into it but it has these medical and scientific projects going on and the jars are the test-tubes and jars with parts of the body in them.
Why are all the detectives miserable old men?
I suppose it’s traditional. It started in the States with Philip Marlowe – you know, they drink too much and are flawed in some way. If you have to follow this guy through half a dozen books it’s more interesting if he’s flawed. He has to keep your interest. I mean, Ruth Rendell’s Wexford who is happily married and all that, he gets very boring after a while.
How is Nordic crime fiction different from any other crime fiction? What makes these books special?
It’s like virtual travel. It’s not only a good novel but you get a sense of another country and of that country’s preoccupations.
What are Nordic preoccupations?
There is a lot of morality in a way and the novels are much more literary, more philosophical. I know Karin Fossum sees herself as a descendent of Ibsen. You don’t get all the slash and rip, car chasey, pacy stuff that you get in a lot of American and now British novels.
Read full interview
Ann Cleeves, a celebrated crime writer and winner of the 2006 Golden Dagger, finds inspiration in Nordic crime fiction and is gripped by the sense of loss and isolation that permeates the rural communities in the novels she has chosen. She began writing when she and her husband were the only residents on an island nature reserve in the Dee estuary.
