@Archaeolibrary, @debbiereadsbook, @KazaboBooks
Before there was Nordic Noir, there was Sven Elvestad.
It is an evening in early May when the quiet of Montrose Abbey is shattered by the sounds of shouting and broken glass. When the police arrive, they find the abbey library ransacked and bloodstained. Broken furniture and a burning carpet bear witness to a violent struggle. And the abbot himself, the scholarly Abbot Montrose, is missing. Only a torn fragment of his cassock remains, caught in the wrought-iron fence surrounding the abbey. The police, the press, and citizens of this northern city fear the worst. What could have befallen the missing abbot? Has he been murdered? Abducted? As world-renowned Detective Asbjørn Krag and his partner, Detective Sirius Keller, begin to unravel the tangled knot of clues left behind, they find themselves in the city’s infamous Krydder District, “where the dark doorways are as close together as rat holes in an old warehouse.” The more answers they find, the more questions seem to pop up. This well-constructed, evocative and witty mystery by Sven Elvestead, also known as Stein Riverton (for whom the Norwegian Riverton Prize was named), will keep you guessing until the very last page.
3 out of 5 (good)
Independent Reviewer for Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
For the most part, I enjoyed this book. It is a step out of my comfort zone, not being any sort of romance, and I do like stepping out from time to time.
Everyone gets a say, and I enjoyed hearing how the police dealt with the missing Abbot and how they went going about finding him. I enjoyed the twists and turns the story took, and the way Asbjorn Krag's mind worked.
I did find it quite heavy going though, and I had to limit myself to a couple of chapters a day, so I was able to process everything properly.
The thing that I MOST struggled with, was, unfortunately, the translation. Elvestad was Norwegian, and wrote in his native language. As a UK native, English is my first language. Some of the translations from Norwegian to English don't quite work, though, here, and it takes a bit of extra time to actually be able to process how some things SHOULD read, rather than how they are written on the page. But then again, this book was written before his death in 1934, and it may well be just the way people spoke in Norway around that time. I can't find a date when the book was written though (published date I can find is August 2018)
Still, it makes a change to step out, and I did finish it, so...
3 good stars
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Sven Elvestad (1884 – 1934) was a Norwegian journalist and author. He is best known for his detective stories, which were published under the pen name Stein Riverton. This pseudonym of Sven Elvestad (who changed his birth name of Kristoffer Elvestad Svendsen in order to start fresh after being caught embezzling from his employer) was used as the name of Norway's most prestigious crime ficton prize, the Riverton Prize. Born in 1884, he started his writing career as a journalist, turning later to stories about a detective based on police officers he had met, Asbjørn Krag. He also wrote crime stories about detective Knut Gribb under the name Kristian F. Biller, a series character who was later carried on by other authors. He died in 1934. One of his novels, Jernvognen (The Iron Chariot) was adapted by Jason as a graphic novel in 2003.