Deckarboomen under lupp: Statistiska perspektiv på svensk kriminallitteratur 1977–2010 by Karl Berglund (review)

The boom in Scandinavian crime fiction is a commonplace of the contemporary literary marketplace, and many readers of Scandinavian Studies have probably felt the impact in one way or another. Such readers may want to familiarize themselves with this book since scholars in all Scandinavian studies fields (in the USA, at least), no matter how remote from contemporary popular culture, are liable to be asked by others on their campuses about contemporary crime fiction. There is widespread awareness of the boom; here is a serious, quantitatively-grounded analysis of it. Berglund’s book is a vital contribution for those working in the fields of crime fiction, contemporary literature, and book history. It is particularly welcome as the rapid growth of interest in crime fiction draws scholars from other fields, who may lack the requisite background knowledge of the genre, its literary history, and its place in popular culture studies. Berglund’s valuable study offers a current knowledge base of the scope of the field’s primary material over the past several decades in Sweden.

Reviewers of crime fiction often try to avoid “spoiler alerts” by not giving away the ending or other vital pieces of information, and this book inspires some of that feeling. How does the crime-fiction genre relate to literary fiction in Swedish publishing as proportion of titles published, as total sales, as percentage of bestsellers? How valid is the anecdotal perception that women writers dominate the genre? How does a quantitative analysis of crime fiction’s place in the Swedish literary marketplace contribute to our understanding of blurring boundaries between literary fiction and genre fiction? To what extent is the boom a result of younger writers’ choosing the genre? How many of the best-selling authors launched their detective series after 2000? These are only a few of the questions that Berglund’s sweeping data collection and analysis allow him—and thus his readers—to approach. One of the strengths of the book is that while Berglund offers his own findings, he provides data in multiple accessible ways so that readers may extract information pertinent to their own inquiries.

After a brief description of the study’s methodology, the main text is divided into three sections: “Utgivningen av kriminallitteratur 1977–2010” [Crime Fiction Publication, 1977–2010], “De mest framgångsrika kriminalförfattarna” [The Most Successful Crime Writers], and “Bästsäljare och biblioteksutlåning” [Bestsellers and Library Circulation]. In these chapters, Berglund draws on his data to present a clearly-organized discussion of the main trends he discerns. His discussion of women writers is particularly interesting, linked as it is to the decade of the writer’s debut and illustrated by a bar graph and an area chart; his data provides perspective for current perceptions of the place of women writers in contemporary Swedish crime fiction. Readily-understood color charts are plentiful throughout the main text, and these are well-integrated into Berglund’s narrative analysis. No review would be complete without mentioning that although the book is a paperback, Uppsala University has not skimped on its production: it is well-designed, both attractive and functional. The quality paper with many color diagrams, the flexible binding, even the French flaps make the volume pleasant to read, and easy to use as a source of information.

Nearly half of the book is devoted to back matter, including appendices, notes, bibliography, and index. Appendix B provides, in tabular form, the categories that the forty-eight best-selling authors fulfill: film/tv versions, translations, lending figures, sales figures, and prizes. (Berglund has explained the reasoning supporting the use of these categories to measure success in the preceding appendix.) This deceptively simple information exemplifies how much can be extracted from Berglund’s presentation of data, and the mesmerizing lure of “fun facts” about the Swedish crime-fiction genre. Of the forty-eight authors included, only seven fulfill all categories; curiously, four writers who meet only...