Publisher Spotlight: Orenda Books
The Man Who Died
9781910633847
“[A] relentlessly funny crime novel.”
“This one is a winner right from the first sentence. [...] An offbeat jewel.”
“A tightly paced Scandinavian thriller with a wicked sense of humor and a bumbling ne’er -do-well at its center.”
A successful entrepreneur in the mushroom industry, Jaakko Kaunismaa is a man in his prime. At just 37 years of age, he is shocked when his doctor tells him that he's dying. What is more, the cause is discovered to be prolonged exposure to toxins; in other words, someone has slowly but surely been poisoning him. Determined to find out who wants him dead, Jaakko embarks on a suspenseful roller-coaster journey full of unusual characters, bizarre situations and unexpected twists. With a nod to Fargo and the best elements of the Scandinavian noir tradition, The Man Who Died is a page-turning thriller brimming with the blackest comedy, marking a stunning new departure for the King of Helsinki Noir.
We Were the Salt of the Sea
9781912374038
“I’ve read the French original edition of We Were the Salt of The Sea and loved that book; probably the best French-Quebecois novel I’ve read in the past 10 years. It’s that good!”
As Montrealer Catherine Day sets foot in a remote fishing village and starts asking around about her birth mother, the body of a woman is dredged up in a fisherman's nets. Not just any woman, though: Marie Garant, an elusive, nomadic sailor and unbridled beauty who once tied many a man's heart in knots. Detective Sergeant Joaquin Morales, newly drafted to the area from the suburbs of Montreal, barely has time to unpack his suitcase before he's thrown into the deep end of the investigation. On Quebec's outlying Gaspé Peninsula, the truth can be slippery, especially down on the fishermen's wharves. Interviews drift into idle chit-chat, evidence floats off with the tide, and the truth lingers in murky waters. It's enough to make DS Morales reach straight for a large whisky.
Wolves in the Dark
9781910633724
“[S]tellar [...] Staalesen does a masterful job of exposing the worst of Norwegian society.”
“Mr. Staalesen’s latest—ably translated by Don Bartlett —employs Chandleresque similes with a Nordic twist.”
Reeling from the death of his great love, Karin, Varg Veum's life has descended into a self-destructive spiral of alcohol, lust, grief and blackouts. When traces of child pornography are found on his computer, he's accused of being part of a pedophile ring and thrown into a prison cell. There, he struggles to sift through his past to work out who is responsible for planting the material, and who is seeking the ultimate revenge. When a chance to escape presents itself, Varg finds himself on the run in his hometown of Bergen. With the clock ticking and the police on his tail, Varg takes on his hardest and most personal case yet. Chilling, shocking, and exceptionally gripping, Wolves in the Dark reaffirms Gunnar Staalesen's position as one of the world's foremost thriller writers.
Snare
9781910633847
“A taut, gritty, thoroughly absorbing journey into Reykjavik’s underworld.”
“Thriller of the year.”
After a messy divorce, attractive young mother Sonia is struggling to provide for herself and keep custody of her son. With her back to the wall, she resorts to smuggling cocaine into Iceland, and finds herself caught up in a ruthless criminal world. As she desperately looks for a way out of trouble, she must pit her wits against her nemesis, Bragi: a customs officer, whose years of experience frustrate her new and evermore daring strategies.Things become even more complicated when Sonia embarks on a relationship with a woman, Agla. Once a high-level bank executive, Agla is currently being prosecuted in the aftermath the Icelandic financial crash. Set in a Reykjavík still covered in the dust of the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption, and with a dark, fast-paced plot and intriguing characters, Snare is an outstandingly original and sexy Nordic crime thriller.