Hakan Nesser Books

Description /Buy link takes you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.

Hakan Nesser is a well known Swedish author who writes mainly in the crime fiction, thriller and mystery genres. He was born on February 21, 1950 in Kumla and grew up in the same place. However, he has lived most of his adult life in Uppsala. He worked as a secondary school teacher in Uppsala till 1998 when he began writing full time. In 2006, he and his wife Elke (a psychiatrist) moved to live in Greenwich Village, New York. However, after some years, the couple decided to move to London because it was easier for Elke to find employment there. Currently, Nesser and his family divide their time between the island of Gotland (Sweden) and Stockholm.

Print:

Hakan Nesser has written several crime novels which have been extremely successful both in Sweden and internationally. His debut romantic novel, Koreografen (The Choreographer) was released in 1988. However, his first book, in the popular Inspector Van Veeteren crime series, was published much later in 1993. The series has 10 books, including the award-winning Borkmanns punkt (Borkmann’s Point) and the Carambole (Hour of the Wolf). The main character in the series is Van Veeteren, a detective and later, the owner of an antique bookshop, who is based in a fictional European city called Maardam.

Other than Inspector Van Veeteren crime series, Hakan has also written The Barbarotti crime series, which has a total of 5 books. The series began in 2006. In addition, the author has also written several stand-alone novels including, Eleven days in Berlin and The Living and the Dead in Winsford. Hakan’s books have been translated into more than 25 languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide.

HAKAN NESSER AWARDS:

Hakan Nesser has had a long and successful writing career, with several of his books receiving notable awards over the years. Some of the awards he has received include:

1993 – The Best Swedish Debut Award for Det grovmaskiga nätet (Mind’s Eye).
1994 – The Best Swedish Crime Novel Award for Borkmanns punkt (Borkmann’s Point).
1996 – The Best Swedish Crime Novel Award for Kvinna med födelsemärke (Woman With A Birthmark).
1998 – The Literature Prize for The Summer of Kim NovaK.
2000 – The Glass Key award for Carambole (Hour of the Wolf).
2007 – The Best Swedish Crime Novel Award for The Shadows and the Rain.
2010 – The European Crime Fiction Star Award (“The Ripper Award”) for outstanding detective fiction.
2014 – The Best Crime Novel in Danish for The Living and The Dead.

HAKAN NESSER BOOKS INTO MOVIES:

Here are some of Hakan Nesser’s books which have been adapted into film:

a) From the popular Van Veeteren crime series – The Return (2001), The Mind’s Eye (2000), The G File (2006), Borkmann’s Point (2005), Hour of the Wolf (2005) and The Strangler’s Honeymoon (2006).

b) Kim Novak Never Swam in Genesaret’s Lake (2005).

BEST HAKAN NESSER BOOKS:

Here are 2 of Hakan Nesser’s best books in The Inspector Van Veeteren crime series:

Mind’s Eye (1993) – This is the debut novel in the series. It is set in both Sweden and Iceland, with Van Veeteren being portrayed as a cunning and dedicated Chief inspector who loves solving criminal cases. In the novel, a man by the name of Janek Mitter wakes up in the morning with a deadly hangover, only to find his wife of three months lying dead in the bathtub. He becomes the first suspect in the murder case and is arrested and incarcerated in a mental asylum.

However, a few months later, Mitter is also killed by the same person who murdered his wife. This forces inspector Veeteren to believe that someone else is behind these two murders. From his investigation into the murders, he finds out numerous secrets from the letter that was written by Mitter prior to his death. With the help of this letter, Veeteren is able to get closer to the real killer and arrest him before claiming more innocent lives.

Borkmann’s Point (1994) – This is the second novel in the series. It begins with Inspector Van Veeteren being called to help the local police in investigating a couple of recent murders in the sleepy coastal town of Kalbringen. Things soon take a turn for the worse when another dead body is found, and a female detective and a colleague of the inspector disappears without a trace. Though the mysterious happenings give Veeteren goose bumps, he must find the person behind the killings and find his colleague before something worse happens to her.

When Does The Next Hakan Nesser book come out?

Hakan Nesser doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is The Axe Woman and was released on August, 30th 2022. It is the newest book in the Gunnar Barbarotti Series.

Home » Author » Hakan Nesser