New Swedish Books, Autumn 2018 1
New Swedish Books 70 Magnus Nordin (b. 1963) The
Midsummer Murder Publisher Bonnier Carlsen www.bonniercarlsen.se Rights Bonnier Rights Mathilde Coffy mathilde.coffy@ bonnierrights.se Selected Works Varelserna, Elias bok 2013 Årstamördaren 2007 Prinsessan och mördaren 2003 Selected Literary Prizes Spårhunden 2003 “ During the course of his work Ossian discovers irregularities in the investigation. Was the right person convicted?” The Midsummer Murder Ossian is in his last year of high school in the small community of Bergfors, studying media and communication. For his final project he decides to make a documentary about the notorious Midsummer Murders, committed in the area at the beginning of the 1990s. In many ways the events still seem raw in the minds of the local people. Many of those involved – witnesses and relatives, as well as police investigators and suspects – still live there. No one speaks of it. During the course of his work Ossian discovers irregularities in the investigation. Was the right person convicted? Nordin employs a number of different literary techniques with flair – the diary form, the fictional documentary, reportage and interviews – in order to create a dense cross-disciplinary text that highlights a sense of impending doom through the gaps between the different types of storytelling. It’s spine-chilling and scary. At the same time the documentary form, especially topical in today’s media landscape, lends the account an unsettling intimacy. Photo: Stefan Tell