Scandinavian Crime Fiction, or: A Few Words on Snow, Myth, and Murder

Abstract

This article is a review of Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen’s book Scandinavian Crime Fiction. The author takes a firmly critical position towards the welfare state in practice and as an idea. He demonstrates that it is the consequence of the rampantly developing capitalist system and merely intensifies class differences rather than effacing them. Stougaard-Nielsen analyzes examples of Scandinavian crime fiction from both literature and television and presents them in their expansive cultural and economic contexts. The author identifies crime fiction’s capacity to reflect the identity crisis of Scandinavian society and in so doing, expose the idea of the welfare state as a false narrative.