Ruumiin kulttuuri 4/2008: English Summary For some years now (also) Finland has witnessed a massive boom in crime fiction: crime and suspense novels are written, translated and read like never before. In this last issue of the year 2008 we take a look at many aspects of this boom. We start with Professor Mikko Lehtonen’s article ”Crime Novel – The Old New Mainstream of Literature?” where he presents ”eight enlightened guesses as to why crime fiction is so popular” and then ponders on each in more detail. The guesses: 1) The crime novel is doing well, because the book is doing well; 2) The crime novel is doing well, because the genre is doing well in the media; 3) The crime novel is doing well, because people are not frightened of reading; 4) Increased leisure time increases reading of crime novels; 5) Crime novels have taken over the role of the epic we-narrative; 6) Women write and read crime fiction; 7) Sweeping death under the carpet results in growing interest in crime fiction; 8) Crime fiction is popular, because melodrama is popular. According to Lehtonen, the crime novel is a melodramatic genre, which, like the Hollywood movies, divides the world into goodies (”us”, the majority of people) and baddies (the murderer, an individual gone astray). On the other hand, the Nordic social crime novel at its best may form an exception to this pattern. ”In its concentration on the everyday that breeds crime it doesn’t strive to demonize the criminal; instead, it offers the reader an autopsy of modern society”, Lehtonen observes. What about the authors then – now that the genre has turned respectable? Does popularity breed pressure? We put the question to four well-known crime writers, and it appears their experiences are mostly positive. ”The change in attitude gives my writing space and security”, says Outi Pakkanen. Leena Lehtolainen lists the plusses: ”I have permission to write – I can be a full time writer. The team spirit among crime writers is good, we spar each other on. And when so much is written in the genre, it’s easy to find many kinds of great books to read.” (”Popularity Gives Crime Writers a Push”). Many publishers, however, currently seem to feel that the crime fiction boom has largely passed away: these days, e.g. marketing crime and thrillers needs more effort. Ulla Ekman-Salokangas, director of the small high-quality Blue Moon publishing house, wonders at how little interest both readers and publishers have in experimenting with anything new. ”No such boom exists which would help give a break to previously unknown crime authors,” she says (”Crime Boom Over – What Now, Publishers?”). Director of the Academic Bookstore in Helsinki, Stig-Björn Nyberg, partly shares this view. There’s a demand for crime novels, and a great number are published, but the highest crest of the wave has receded. ”The sales figures no longer rise vertically,” says Nyberg, himself a keen reader of crime fiction (”Bookstore Director Likes Crime”). Under the boom theme, there’s also a look at the abundance of mystery and crime series on television (”Crime Likes It on the Small Screen”), a review of bestseller lists and library loans (”Crime Novels Roll Along in Statistics”), plus an attempt to figure out what the boom has meant for the publisher of this quarterly, the Finnish Whodunnit Society (”Membership Boom?”). And a researcher specializing in horror films finds that ”the attraction of fear” also explains why crime fiction is so popular (”Attraction of Fear”). Apart from the boom theme, we have interviewed three Swedish crime writers. Arne Dahl originally intended to write ten suspense novels about an elite force within the Swedish police, the A team. He didn’t have the heart to stop, though, and went on to write a novel titled Elva (Eleven) – and a twelfth is to come. End of October, Dahl popped in at the Helsinki Book Fair and ended up being interviewed by his Swedish-speaking Finnish colleague Marianne Peltomaa (”After Ten Came Eleven”). Criminal defense lawyer Jens Lapidus is the new star of Swedish crime fiction whose Snabba cash (Easy Money), a dark and brutal account of the Stockholm underworld, has sold half a million copies in Sweden. A second novel has already come out, but he’s not sure about the one after that. ”Could be that two books are enough on this subject, or maybe it’ll be a trilogy or even four books –all is still open,” Lapidus said on his visit to Helsinki (”Jens Lapidus in the Stockholm Underworld”). Policemen, private eyes and journalists are all well represented in the gallery of crime novel heroes, but Helena von Zweigbergk has chosen an unusual profession for her protagonist: Ingrid Carlberg is a prison priest. Kerttu Jokela met with the sympathetic journalist-author in Söder, Stockholm, where she lives (”A Little Bit of Reality, a Big Bit of Imagination”). Other items The centenary of Finnish author Mika Waltari (1908–79) is almost over, but we didn’t have the heart to stop: in this issue Kirsi Luukkanen reviews two new Waltari studies (”A Wealth of Waltari”). Author Thomas Wulff, longtime chairman of the Union of Swedish Writers in Finland and member of the Finnish Glass Key jury, presents ten of his favourite crime novels and crime writers (”My Top Ten”). ”A Dish to Die For” had our cook tearing at her hair, having problems not only with the recipe, but she did manage to create a traditional steak and kidney pie à la Hercule Poirot (”Gnashing of Teeth in the Kitchen”). Our Movie and DVD maniacs have viewed and reviewed the latest 007 hullabaloo Quantum of Solace, the Finnish horror film Sauna set in the dark age of the 16th century, et al. Capital Sentences: 52 crime books released towards the end of 2008 get what’s coming to them. Translated by Liisa Koskinen

Ruumiin kulttuuri 4/2008