1. Vertigo 1958
John “Scottie” Ferguson (James Stewart) plays an ex-cop who was forced to  quit the force after a trauma. An old friend of him comes to him and asks for his help – his wife behaves strangely, and he fears for her life.  Scotties job is to follow the wife and keep an eye on her. He does this and discovers that the wife seems to be obsessed with a woman who died years ago…. The rest  you have to see.

2. North By Northwest 1959
This is one of my absolute favourites!
Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) is mistaken for an agent and is kidnapped by a criminal organisation. They want information he of course can not give them. After barely escaping the organisation he becomes the prime suspect when an important UN delegate is murdered. Now he is wanted by the police as well as the criminal organisation and a cat and mouse chase begins….The plot may seem a bit messy but it will all be clear when you see it.

Watch and enjoy!

See also Criminal Pictures – the 1940´s

Freelance journalist Konrad Jonsson returns to his hometown Tomelilla in Sweden for the first time since his teenage years when he finds out that his adoptive parents, Herman and Signe, have been murdered. Their son Klas and Konrad are the only heirs and become the main suspects. At the same time the little town is battling xenophobia and prejudices, and Konrad suspects that something is wrong when two immigrant boys are tied to the crime.

Back in his hometown Konrad is also confronted with his past. His real mother, Agnes, was a Polish immigrant and she disappeared without a trace when Konrad was seven years old. The police concluded that she must have abandoned her son. Konrad decides to find out what really happened.

That which shall be atoned for (original title: Det som ska sonas) is the first novel by Swedish author Olle Lönnaeus. (The novel has not been released in English yet, and may have a different title once it is published. Release date is unknown.) Like many other criminal novels he uses events from WWII to explain present events. It is a good novel no doubt, but not quite my style. At times I think he twists the language without a good reason. I also would have wished he would have given us a little more insight into Konrad’s professional life in the past, even though I realize that it does not really impact this story.

I have finally read the first two novels by Johan Theorin: Echoes from the Dead (original title: Skumtimmen) and The Darkest Room (original title: Nattfåk). I had heard so many good things about the novels, so I was a little worried that they would not live up to my expectations. There was no need to worry as I absolutely loved these novels, and the second one was even better than the first. Grief is the central theme in both novels, and the author mixes the present with the past and turns the criminal novel into part ghost story with a phenomenal result.

A little boy disappears without a trace in the early seventies. In Echoes from the Dead the boy’s mother Julia starts investigating the disappearance with her father Captain Gerlof Davidsson twenty years later. Nils Kant, once the town’s bad boy, also plays a central part in the novel despite the fact that he died before the boy disappeared. He is rumored to still wander the fields of southern Öland at dusk.   

In The Darkest Room the Westin family moves from Stockholm to an old lighthouse keeper’s building at northern Öland. The legend says that the house was built from old shipwrecks, and it does not take long before the family hears other scary legends about the place. When strange things start to happen they wonder if there is any truth behind the stories.

Johan Theorin has won prestigious awards in Sweden for both novels. He plans on writing two more novels, which will take place in the spring and summer to finish his Öland-foursome, where each novel represents a season. I will definitely read those novels too.

Shutter Island is a suspense/thriller that takes place on said Alcatraz-like island, which houses an institution for the criminally insane, complete with intimidating cliffs, rocky beaches, and chilly water preventing escape. Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) arrive via ferry as US Marshals investigating a recent escape. They become increasingly suspicious when they realize that the witnesses have been coached, and that the doctors are hiding something. All hell breaks loose (pun intended) when a hurricane hits this small Massachusetts island, further complicating their investigation as prisoners/patients escape from the damaged buildings.

There are several hurdles to get past when deciding whether to see this movie. First, there is the suspicious timing. A February release puts it after all the last minute Oscar contenders, and also before both the March Oscar show and the start of the real box office season in May. The timing might be because of another hurdle, its genre—a mystery/suspense/thriller involving a (borderline cliché) insane asylum. Despite these hurdles, I saw this movie opening weekend and highly recommend it.

The horrible movie Righteous Kill had the tagline, “De Niro…Pacino…Need I say more?” Unfortunately, these legendary actors have become notorious for mailing in performances to these dime-a-dozen thrillers and thus just listing the names of these past-their-prime actors no longer carries any credibility as a tagline, so for me it fell on deaf ears. But if I were to come up with a cheesy tagline to try to get you to watch this movie, it would be, “Scorsese…DiCaprio…Need I say more?” Even at 67, Martin Scorsese still hits home runs, with an Oscar win only about four years ago with Departed. Like his other movies, this movie is violent and disturbing at times, but he uses the violent imagery to masterfully narrate a complex story and weave in mesmerizing dream sequences and flashbacks. And the once teen-heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio, now 35, is in his prime as a leading actor. He finally won an Oscar with Blood Diamond, but had strong performances in Departed, Aviator, and Gangs of New York–three movies also directed by Scorsese. I would argue that they have teamed up successfully a fourth time with Shutter Island, and that Leo gives a powerful performance as the tormented lead character.

To complement DiCaprio, Scorsese and the producers assembled a stellar supporting cast, which includes Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, and Michelle Williams among others. Fans of Swedish cinema will recognize Max von Sydow who brings gravitas to his role as Dr. Naehring, whose “German” accent rubs Leo’s character the wrong way (we learn through flashbacks that he is a WWII veteran and liberator of a concentration camp). And I may be biased (I am fan of Bill Simmons’ columns/podcasts and Bill Hader’s SNL sketches), but I thought Ted Levine had a great, small performance as the warden—you may recognize him as Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs or more recently from the show Monk.

With these arguments and observations about its cast and direction, I hope I have given you enough reasons to go see this movie and form your own opinion without my giving too much away about the plot.

John Arterberry

Mrs Pollifax is, just as the title says, unexpected. She is a retired lady who despite her flowers, womens´group and grown up children still feels like something is missing so she walks to the CIA and offers her services. By mistake she is sent on an assignment…

It really is quite silly and unbelievable and there are probably a lot of you who will think this is rubbish but I find Mrs Pollifax absolutely wonderful!  The serie (there are 14 Mrs Pollifax books) have humour, warmth and is more exiting then you would think.  During the series she is sent to Mexico, Albania (when it was communist country), Sicily, Italy, Zambia, Switzerland and Turkey, Hong Kong, China and other countries. My favourite is A Palm for Mrs Pollifax

This year Dorothy Gilman Mystery Writers of America gave her the Grand Master, Raven and Ellery Queen award. You can read about that here

I should have been suspicious from the beginning since I usually do not like novels that start with a map and a list of the main characters. This novel was no exception. It should have been called “How to waste a Sunday.” 

The reason I bought this novel was a review that described it as “an exciting and cheerful novel you’ll cuddle up with in your favorite chair, with a blanket over your feet.” I completely disagree. However, I realize that I probably do not belong to the novel’s target market. If you on the other hand have turned eighty, use words that young people would not understand, and do not mind an excessive use of aristocratic names like Severin Brattenskiöld then you may want to consider reading this novel.

It does not help that the main character Erik Gyllenberg is a retired Bank Manager, who cannot even boil an egg when his housekeeper is gone, uses galoshes, and that he describes the grocery store with the following words: “Today’s grocery stores do not resemble the ones from my youth. An electronic gate opened when I entered this grocery temple. I did the same as the man in front of me and grabbed a plastic basket from a stack.” If at least the plot and ending had been decent it may have saved the novel, but the author does not succeed here either.

The novel ends with an interesting cliffhanger, but there is still no chance that I will read the sequel.

This is the first Sister Fidelma book I´ve ever read but apparently they are quite popular. In this book Sister Fidelma travels to Rome to meet the Pope to get her convent blessed. There she also meets the saxon brother Eadulf. Together whom they solved the case Absolution By Murder (The first book).

Also in Rome is the Archbishop of Canterbury who recently has been appointed Archbishop after a long conflict between the Irish and the Saxons. When the Archbishop is murdered there could be a political crisis between the Irish and the Saxon, especially if the  murderer is Irish. To soften both sides the Irish sister Fidelma and the Saxon Eadulf  are given the task to find the murderer.  They soon have a suspect but Fidelma wants clear evidence before they jump to any conclusions.

This is a puzzle mystery and Fidelma and Eadulf walks around Rome to to investigate and talk to suspects. While they are solving the mystery we are getting plenty of history lessons and descriptions of Rome from this period of time and there is no doubt that the author knows his history.

A big problem for all writers who writes historical novels is to make the characters credible and at the same time make them interesting for a modern reader. This is really a hard task since people behaved differently and lived in a very different type of society in the 7th century. I´m buying that there were strong, outspoken and educated women in Ireland during this period but it seems unlikely to me that the Romans who lived in a very patriarchal society would accept Sister Fidelmas behaviour so easy. Eadulf is a completely modernized which makes him totally unbelievable as a character. I also wish Tremayne would have toned down Fidelmas moral which makes her character too perfect, add her fighting skills and she is really a super hero woman. Despite this Sister Fidelma has a lot of charm and I can´t help but like her.

I think the criminal story had a lot of potential in the beginning but I don´t like the typical puzzle mystery ending with the line up. It would have worked so much better without the puzzle form.

If you like Puzzle mysteries and historical novels you should give this a try. If you like Sister Fidelma you have a whole series of books to look forward to. What you definitely should read is Umberto EcosName of the Rose who really is a great historical criminal novel with religion as a key ingredient. (There is also a movie starring Sean Connery and Christian Slater)

The main character Hannah Swenson returns to her hometown Lake Eden, Minnesota after her father’s death. She opens the coffee shop “The Cookie Jar” where gossip travels as fast as can be expected in a town of 3,000 residents. One morning she finds a delivery driver killed in the alley behind her bakery with one of her cookies in his hand. To save her cookies’ reputation she starts investigating the murder. Bill, her police brother-in-law, appreciates her assistance.

Surprisingly Bill leaves most of the investigation to Hannah and she is the one who discovers a second murder victim at the company where the first victim was employed. Bill does not even argue when she refuses to reveal the identity of a woman who was with the first victim shortly before his murder. I find this a bit too unbelievable.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder is the first book in a series. Each book also contains cookie and/or dessert recipes. It is a cozy mystery, buy I doubt that I will read another Hannah Swensen novel. However, I will definitely try some of the recipes found in the book.

The 13th Hannah Swensen mystery Apple Turnover Murder will be released on February 23, 2010.

Our Lady of Pain, written by Elena Forbes 2008, is an English police procedural that takes place in London (Southwest in London) This is Forbes second novel with police detective Mark Tartaglia and his Side Kick Sam.  

Police procedurals can be more or less realistic when it comes to how the detectives solve their cases but you can tell that Forbes really tries and succeeds (at least I´m fooled) She speaks about this in this interview withCurled up with a good book.

Forbes also has the good taste to let the character be realistic. They all have both good and bad sides  which makes them feel like real persons and not “heroes”  which made me take in the characters better.

The case in this book is macabre and there is a gloomy mood in this book but not too much so it gets depressing.  I´m still not sure what I think of the end but I really enjoyed reading this book. Maybe it´s because she writes about London in a way that it almost becomes a character.  I so wanted to move to London (or at least visit it)  after reading this book. I actually used google map to find out where the victim was murdered, where the police station is and so on.   

The first book in the serie is “Die with me” In the Summer her third novel about Mark Tartaglia, ”Evil in Return” will be released and I´m looking forward to it!

It should be working again now