Hakan Nesser Books In Order

Publication Order of Inspector Van Veeteren Books

Chronological Order of Inspector Van Veeteren Books

Publication Order of Gunnar Barbarotti Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Anthologies

Hakan Nesser is a well known Swedish author and a teacher by profession, who has written a number of successful novels in the Mystery and Thriller genres. His novels, mostly depict crime fiction plots and have been quite popular all over the world. The successful writing career of Nesser can be understood from the fact that he has won the Best Swedish Crime Novel Award for 3 times in his career. Also, in the year 2000, he won the Glass Key award for one of his novels. Nesser has written a total of around 20 crime novels under three different series’, all of which have been very popular. He is particularly famous for characterizing the two main protagonists, Inspector Van Veeteren and Inspector Barbarotti. The novels written by Nesser have been translated from Swedish to a number of other languages of the world and have also sold millions of copies all over the world. Nesser was on February 21, 1950 in Kumla, Sweden. He was raised in Kumla and has lived mostly in Uppsala. Nesser began his writing career in the year 1988, however, he did not take it seriously until the year 1998 when he started writing as a full-time writer. He used to work as a teacher before becoming a full-time author.

Hakan Nesser is married to Elke, a psychiatrist, and the couple moved to Greenwich Village in New York in the year 2006. Nesser has also lived in London for a short span in his career, but has now permanently moved there along with his wife on account of her work. Most of the writings of Nesser are in Swedish language and it was not before 2006 when his novels began getting translated into English as well as a number of other languages of the world. Nesser’s writings depict the character of Inspector Van Veeteren in a recurring fashion. Van Veeteren is described by Nesser as a detective and the owner of a book shop in a small country in Europe. Another character that frequently features in his novels is Inspector Gunnar Barbarotti, who is described by Nesser as a Swedish police inspector. He is of Italian descent. Inspector Barbarotti’s character feels more upbeat to the readers than the character of Van Veeteren. Almost all the novels written by Hakan Nesser are set in Sweden in a fictitious town named Kymlinge. In an interview in the year 2009, Nesser stated that he has just 2 books left in the Inspector Barbarotti series, which will be set in London. The Inspector Van Veeteren series consists of a total of 10 novels published between the years 1993 and 2003.

The first novel of the Inspector Van Veeteren series was published in the year 1993 and was later translated by the Pantheon Books in the year 2008. The novel was titled ‘Mind’s Eye’. The translation of the novel has been done Laurie Thompson. Before its translation, the novel was highly anticipated by the American readers as well as the other English readers all over the world. The novel had already become the most beloved and bestselling novel in Europe and was destined to see the same fate in the western countries as well. In the opening plot of the novel set in Iceland and Sweden, Inspector Veeteren is depicted as a dedicated and cunning inspector, who likes to solve criminal cases. He believes that the murder cases are never as open-and-shut type and always have some or the other twists in them. However, in the first novel, he is forced to believe the opposite way. A man named Janek Mitter wakes up one morning, having a deadly hangover and finds out that his newly wedded wife for three months is lying dead with her face down in the bathtub. He is suspected to have committed the crime and is found guilty of drunken crime and gets imprisoned in a mental asylum. However, things take a different turn when Mitter himself becomes the victim of the real murderer. Inspector Veeteren is forced to believe that he had not killed his wife and that there is someone else who is related to both the murders. He launches a detailed investigation of the two murders and finds out several revealing secrets in a letter written by Mitter just before his death. The mysterious letter helps Van Veeteren to get closer to the killer and catch him before he claims the lives of others. Inspector Veeteren unmasks the killer and exposes the terrifying roots of the sordid violence that had taken place to Janek Mitter and his wife.

The second novel of the Inspector Van Veeteren series was published in the year 1994 and was translated into English language by Laurie Thompson for the vintage publishing house in the year 2007. The novel was titled ‘Borkmann’s Point’. The unique characterization and the mysterious plot allowed the novel to become successful as an International Best-seller. The plot of the novel shows the riveting tale of suspense and murder, which reveals the humanity of the characters of the novels, even though the plot of the novel causes chills up the spine. In the coastal town of Kalbringen, Inspector Van Veeteren is called to help the local police to carry out the investigation related to a couple of recent murders. The matter begins to worsen further when another dead body turns up as well as a female detective working as one of the colleagues of Inspector Veeteren goes missing. She could not be traced anywhere and this gives goose bumps to Van Veeteren, who realizes about the deadly dangers present in the sleepy coastal town. Inspector Veeteren faces the tough job of finding the killer as well as his colleague, who seems to be alive, before the matters worsen even more. The readers found the novel to be riveting and intellectually satisfying as the plot of the novel unfolds like a game of chess which proceeds with the deadly moves at every step. The success of the novel can be understood from the fact that it went on to be nominated for the Glass Key Award in the year 1995. This motivated Hakan Nesser to write a few more novels in the series as well as for other series’.

One Response to “Hakan Nesser”

1. Ellie Love: 12 months ago

   I am hanging for the next Nesser novel – when might that be available please. Loved all the previous ones.

   Reply