Landsortsdeckare - den nya hembygdslitteraturen?
Analys av tre deckarserier från Sandhamn, Kiruna och Öland
During the last years the number of Swedish detective stories which take place in the province outside the big cities has increased enormously. In this study I have analysed the novels by the three authors Viveca Sten, Åsa Larsson and Johan Theorin to investigate the connection between the milieu and the story and in what way it is involved in the crime riddle.They all keep to the formula of the classical detective story but represent different variations within this formula. In spite of the differences in their stories the basic pattern is the same. As their protagonists the authors are emotionally connected to the place in the novels. This connection it strengthen by the authors themselves as well as the publishing companies when introducing them on the market. The protagonists have lived elsewhere and are getting back into the place. They return to houses where an older generation has lived, take over the furniture and the tools. The history of the place and the living there in old days are referred to in separate parts or by an elderly person who has lived in the place all the time and know everything about it. How people lived long ago is also often told in backlashes which in the end are connected to the murder in which the protagonist is engaged. The motives of the crimes are timeless in these novels.The three authors describe a nostalgic longing back to the place as it once was. It is a sort of new romanticism in a timeless world.