Why had a region best known for Volvos, Abba and Ikea begun producing dark and violent thrillers filled with brooding detectives and avenging cyberpunks?

The bleak Scandinavian landscapes have inspired a series of hit books about dour detectives, and more writers are now lining up to claim the Nordic crime crown

Join and meet other Scandinavian crime lovers in London, authors, translators and specialists in Scandinavian languages, literature, history and cultures. January to April 2011

Originally shown at the ScreenLit Festival in Nottingham, Edinburgh Filmhouse’s Nordic Noir season (7 – 13 May) is a chance to watch two very different takes on Wallander on the big screen alongside a host of his contemporaries. ScreenLit Festival Director Linda Pariser explains the project’s genesis.

The plotlines are bleak, the locations are forbidding and the main characters are usually angst-ridden alcoholics. So why is Scandinavian crime writing suddenly the hottest genre in town?