Sun 23 Jan 2011
TORBEN NIELSEN – An Unsuccessful Man. Harper & Row, US, 1976; published in Denmark in 1973 under the title Galgesangen, translated by Marianne Helweg.
A young man hangs himself, on the face of it the result of unrequited love. Detective Superintendent Ancher has a suspicious mind, however, and digs up the remarkable facts that the dead man was singing as his head, went into the noose, and that his fiancee was expecting his quick return to her apartment.
The story is Danish modern in tone and attitude, polished and uncluttered. Ancher is another Maigret, with the same unmistakable traits of patience and unyielding tenacity. A sex killer, crazed and despicable, confuses matters slightly but not yet nearly so much as an ending that needs much more explanation to be wholly satisfactory.
[UPDATE] 01-23-11. Nielsen had one other mystery translated into English: 19 Red Roses (Collins, UK, 1978), a translation of Nitten Rode Roser, (Denmark, 1973; no US edition).
I’ve been omitting my old reviews as short as this one is, especially when they’re of books as unknown as I suspect this one to be. I decided to include An Unsuccessful Man to demonstrate that publishing Scandinavian mysteries is nothing new. What’s new is that they’re popular and publishers are making money with them.
January 23rd, 2011 at 11:22 pm
Steve, please keep posting reviews of old and obscure books. These are the reviews, and the books, I like best, and they make your site unique on the internet.
January 24th, 2011 at 1:27 am
David A.
It’s good to know that someone’s reading these reviews!
But old and obscure, in terms of either an author or title, isn’t really an issue. If find an review interesting, old or new, whether by me or by someone I know and have permission or I feel comfortable in reprinting, then you’ll probably see it here.
But it’s always gratifying to learn that other people find them interesting too! (And no, in terms of uniqueness, I’m sure you won’t find any other blog running a review of Torben Nielsen. Which in a way is too bad.)
— Steve
PS. Torben Nielsen the author I mean.
January 24th, 2011 at 8:40 am
I know there was a British pb edition of 19 RED ROSES because at one time I had a copy. I didn’t read it of course, but I had it.
It was in a larger than mass market paperback format published by “Heron” and each had a nice drawing of the author on the frontispiece. Some of the other titles:
Christianna Brand, Suddenly at His Residence
Jonathan Gash, The Judas Pair
John Buxton Hilton, SOme Run Crooked
Roderic Jeffries, Two-Faced Death
Derek Lambert, The Memory Man
Peter Lovesey, Wobble to Death
Ellis Peters, City of Gold and Shadows
“Ellery Queen”, The Fourth Side of the Triangle
Hillary Waugh, Last Seen Wearing
William Weigand, At Last, Mr. Tolliver
P. B. Yuill, Hazell Plays Solomon
January 24th, 2011 at 8:51 am
While not speaking of the books themselves, most of which I haven’t read, that’s an interesting selection of authors. Only half of them, or less, maybe even way less, have names that would be recognized in this country. And unfortunately, even Ellery Queen would have to be put in the “iffy” category today.
January 24th, 2011 at 10:05 am
According to Hubin the Jeffries and Lambert titles, like the Nielsen, had no US edition.