NORDIC crime fiction in gloomy northern Europe is increasingly popular and some of the appeal lies in the contrast between violent crime and what seems to be a placid, well-ordered society. Yao Minji turns the page.

A body turns up in a cold and quiet small town in a Nordic country. In a small place with little population, the case stirs up the community and a colorful detective investigates and reveals more than the facts of the case and who's done it.

The intriguing dynamic between a violent murder and the tranquil, beautiful region known for an orderly society, a good social welfare system, gender equality and relatively little crime is one of the reasons Nordic crime novels have become best-sellers. They are especially popular in the English book market, where translated books are not traditionally winning popularity.

"I think Americans love Swedish crime novels because it fits with their images about Sweden, which is like those in the movies of Ingmar Bergman - depressing, dark and suicidal, just as in the crime novels," says H?kan Nesser, author of the chief inspector Van Veeteren series.

"And British like reading it because they enjoy seeing Sweden as a society going down," jokes Nesser who has lived in London and New York.

Tension and darkness

Nesser and Finnish crime writer Leena Lehtolainen were in Shanghai last weekend for the conclusion of the Shanghai International Literary Festival. Most of the Van Veeteren series have been translated into English since 2008, although Nesser wrote the series 15 years ago. None is available in Chinese yet.

Lehtolainen's first book of the series featuring female detective Maria Kallio, titled "My First Murder," was originally published in 1993 and translated into English last year. A later book from the series can be found in Chinese.

The tension and darkness under a seemingly well-organized society creates the suspense and Nordic crime novels have become a popular sub-genre of the suspense, mystery and detective novels, led by best-selling writers like legends such as Americans Dashiell Hammett, Elmore Leonard, Patricia Highsmith, Michael Connelly and many others.

The Nordic list includes Henning Mankell, Steig Larsson and others.

In 2001 Mankell received the Golden Dagger Award from the Crime Writers' Association, followed by Icelandic author Arnaldur Indrieason in 2006. Many critics consider Mankell, who created Swedish inspector Kurt Wallander, an important introduction of Nordic crime novels to the English-language world. His success inspired publishers to find more best-sellers in the region to be translated.

A new annual award, the Petrona Award, was established this year in the UK and just announced its first shortlist and judges. It is to select the best Scandinavian crime novel of the year.

The Millennium Trilogy (including "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo") by Larsson, a former journalist, has further extended the genre's run. Larsson died before he knew he had written a publishing sensation.

The trilogy was published in China in 2010 by Shanghai 99 Readers' Culture Co Ltd, who tells Shanghai Daily that it wasn't as big a hit as in other countries, but has maintained good sales numbers.

The Detective Martin Beck series, about a Stockholm sleuth, was written by husband and wife writers Sj?wall and Wahl??,

But Nordic crime novels haven't caught on with Chinese publishers and readers. Traditionally, Chinese suspense fans differentiate contemporary mystery stories only by Japanese and Western, meaning American and European. Publishers say it's mainly a problem with language; Chinese is often translated from an English or German translation, instead of the original. This makes the work more difficult.

Van Veeteran

Chief inspector and antique books shop owner

Nesser, a Swedish writer and former teacher, has written 25 novels, including many crime novels. Only the Van Veeteran series has been translated into English. He started in the early 1990s, around the same time Mankell and many other Swedish crime writers, began their careers.

"In 1986, we lost Prime Minister Olof Palme to assassination, and many say that changed the Swedish society forever. In the early 1990s, Swedish crime novels started to turn up and many say it was related," says author Nesser.

"But I don't agree with that. It's Germany. German readers started reading Swedish crime novels so crime fiction started selling, and more writers began writing about it," he adds.

He says that the popularity soon spread to other Nordic regions, and 10 years later, to the English-speaking world.

The 63-year-old author has won the Best Swedish Crime Novel Award three times; in 2000 he won and won the annual Glass Key Award, given to a Nordic crime novelist.

He doesn't like generalization of Nordic crime novelists and doesn't consider himself typical.

Rather than setting the stories in real cities, Nesser sets his crime thrillers in fictitious places. For the Van Veeteran series, they are set in the fictitious city Maardam, which is clearly somewhere in northern Europe. For his other series featuring inspector Barbarotti, all the stories are set in the fictitious Swedish town of Kymlinge.

"Some people think since they already make up the plot, they need a real place to make it realistic," Nesser says. "I don't need that. I'm more keen on the psychological realism, on the mentality of my characters."

He adds that the vague place, the fact that readers don't know exactly where they are, can enhance the drama of the stories, like the stage of a Shakespeare play.

"The crime novel is the best way to deal with philosophical issues, because it often involves the subject of death, and sometimes religion. If a crime novel is all about murder, then it's boring," he adds.

His novels certainly deal with more than murder. The protagonist sleuth Van Veeteren is a curious, quiet and cynical chief inspector who is talented at reading minds and unraveling complicated relationships. He enjoys dark beer and chess.

Over time he has evolved, become more disillusioned and finally retired. In the last five books he became an antique books shop owner, occasionally returning to help out in a particularly difficult investigation.

Nesser stopped the series at book 10 and decided he would never start another series, until inspector Barbarotti turned up. A Swedish inspector of Italian descent, he is younger and more upbeat than Van Veeteren, and Nesser has decided also to stop at book 10.

"It's difficult to part with the character, but it's always better to do so at the right time," he adds.

Maria Kallio

A short, red-haired female inspector who marries, has children and investigates

When Lehtolainen published "My First Murder" in 1993, there were only a few crime writers in the male-dominated genre in Finland and no female detective fiction. At the time, in real life, only about five percent of the police force was female.

She created Maria Kallio, an ordinary woman who works in the all-male police force as second-in-command. It isn't easy.

Her first murder involved a student chorister killed during a rehearsal at a summer house in Helsinki. The victim was found floating in the water and he wasn't a stranger to Kallio.

Written in first person, "My First Murder" is told entirely from the detective's perspective, including the pressure she feels from the males around her.

"It is very important to me that she is an ordinary person, a normal woman, not a colorful heroine," says the author. "Later in the story, she gets married, has children and still investigates her cases."

She has written 11 books for the series with the 12th to be published soon in Finland. Today, the rate of policewomen in Finland is about 20 percent.

In 2000, when Finland elected the first female president, Lehtolainen was inspired to create a female body guard character, which was later turned into her second series.