German weekly Die Zeit polls critics for their top ten works of crime fiction monthly (see, for example, the January, 2013 list) and have now tallied the top ten of 2012.
Stretching the category so that, for example, Helon Habila's Oil on Water places second, it is noteworthy how the list is dominated by books originally written in English (though a French title came out tops) -- and by the complete absence of any title by a Scandinavian author. The Germans are a few years ahead of the Americans/British as far as the whole Nordic-wave has been going -- does this mean that it's coming to an end ? (It'll take a while to wind down, one way or another, but that not a one found the German critics' favor suggests more dregs and less stand-outs .....)
Stretching the category so that, for example, Helon Habila's Oil on Water places second, it is noteworthy how the list is dominated by books originally written in English (though a French title came out tops) -- and by the complete absence of any title by a Scandinavian author. The Germans are a few years ahead of the Americans/British as far as the whole Nordic-wave has been going -- does this mean that it's coming to an end ? (It'll take a while to wind down, one way or another, but that not a one found the German critics' favor suggests more dregs and less stand-outs .....)