First thoughts on a controversial remake: Ali Karim talks The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Later this month, the English-language Hollywood remake of the outstanding Swedish film adaptation of Stieg Larsson's juggernaut bestseller THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO opens in cinemas.

Crime fiction fans around the world seem to have very mixed feelings about this latest Hollywood effort to cash in on foreign creativity, and make it more accessible/palatable for a wider (ie American) audience who perhaps aren't too keen on subtitled films, no matter how good.

Will Rooney Mara be able to provide a performance as Lisbeth Salander in the same league as Noomi Rapace, who set the bar so very high and seemed to embody Larsson's creation? Does the fact that terrific director David Fincher is involved give sceptics more hope than if other Hollywood heavyweights had been involved? Ditto for screenwriter Steve Zaillian? We'll all just have to wait and see.

Unless, that is, we were lucky enough to attend the world premiere in London this week. Like renowned crime fiction afficianado and commentator Ali Karim, who has written and edited for the likes of The Rap Sheet, Shots! ezine, January magazine, Crimespree magazine, and many other specialist crime fiction publications. People think I've interviewed a tonne of crime writers, but I've got nothing on Mr Karim, who has been at the forefront of crime fiction commentating for many years.

Now, Karim has shared his thoughts on the English-language remake on The Rap Sheet:

"Let me say that I enjoyed the original Swedish version directed by Niels Arden Oplev, so I was intrigued to see what the Americans might accomplish with the same material. I was not disappointed, as this new version is, in a word, mesmerizing."

Karim has much more to say about the film, and you can read his full review here.

So, are you looking forward to seeing a new version of Larrson's blockbuster? Comments welcome.

Beyond Stieg: two of the world's best crime commentators discuss Scandinavian crime fiction

Back in mid 2009 I wrote a large feature on the rise of Swedish crime writing for Good Reading, a great books-focused magazine in Australia. Entitled "Hot Crime Writing in a Cold Land" (first two pages pictured right), it looked at the history and evolution of Swedish crime fiction, beyond the Stieg Larsson phenomena that was sweeping the world at the time (and has continued to do so, seemingly unabated since).

In the article I noted that while Larsson had topped the the 2008/2009 Wischenbart survey (which analysed bestselling authors of all types across seven major European markets), beating out the likes of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series, he was only the tip of the Swedish crime iceberg; six other Swedish crime writers were in the Top 40, and many others were hovering. The surveyors, who conduct various analyses for the global publishing industry, even specifically noted the “predominance of Swedish (crime) fiction which has been out competing any other flavour or origin of fictional writing”. Not just out-competing any other type of crime writing - out competing any other type of fiction altogether.

It's funny - at the time I thought that I was a bit late on the piece, but since then more and more and more and more publications around the world have jumped on the Swedish crime bandwagon, and the train shows no real signs of slowing - although there are some signs of Scandinavian crime fatigue (or Larsson fatigue, at least) in some quarters.

 Now acclaimed British reviewer and crime fiction commentator Barry Forshaw is working on a book, Death in a Cold Climate: Scandinavian Crime Fiction, due for release next year. For those who don't know, Forshaw is one of the UK's best known crime critics, editor of Crime Time magazine and former Vice-Chair of the Crime Writers' Association, and has penned several crime fiction-related books, including British Crime Writing: An Encyclopaedia, and The Rough Guide to Crime Fiction. I for one am curious at to what such an esteemed researcher, critic and commentator has to say about the rise of Scandinavian crime - apparently it will be quite the authoritative survey of the sub-genre.

But you don't have to wait until next year to get some taste of what Forshaw thinks - in a recent Kirkus Reviews interview with US crime critic Jeff K. Pierce, editor of January Magazine and The Rap Sheet, Forshaw shares some of his thoughts on crime fiction's insights into Scandinavian society, the history of Nordic crime writing, the Swedish dominance, and more.

You can read Forshaw's Kirkus Reviews interview with Jeff Pierce here, and also some further discussion between the pair on the topic at The Rap Sheet, here. In relation to the social commentary often threaded throughout Nordic crime, Forshaw says: "The analysis of society freighted into the novels is more forensic and detailed than in the crime fiction of virtually any other country, even within the orbit of such mordant social critics as the writers James Lee Burke [in America] and Val McDermid [in Britain]."

Do you agree? Have you read any Nordic crime fiction? Who are your favourite Scandinavian crime writers? Is there something special about the sub-genre, or has it become merely a marketing/popularity snowball?

Ngaio Marsh Award judge Mike Ripley interviewed at The Rap Sheet

On Tuesday I wrote about how I've received plenty of credit for the creation of the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, including in a few media stories about the rise and growing recognition of Kiwi crime fiction (read Herald on Sunday article here, Listener article here, Fairfax magazines article here), but the truth of the matter was that it was very much a team effort to bring New Zealand's first-ever crime fiction award to fruition late last year.

Another of the terrific international judges who generously gave histime to read, rate and comment on New Zealand crime novels that (in some cases) weren't even available in his home country, was the irrepressible Mike 'the Ripster' Ripley. Along with being the author of the award-winning ‘Angel’ comic thrillers (see fansite here), Ripley is a renowned crime fiction commentator, and has helped Ostara Publishing resurrect some thriller titles that "have unjustifiably become unavailable either through the ravages of time or the forces of publishing economics". Read more about that project here.

Ripley is also the co-editor of three Fresh Blood anthologies promoting new British crime writing (with Maxim Jakubowski), for ten years was the crime fiction critic of the Daily Telegraph, and is now well known for his great “Getting Away with Murder column” in Shots Ezine.

Author, editor, publisher, commentator - Mike Ripley has been an integral part of the British crime writing scene for decades, and we were absolutely delighted to have someone of his calibre and expertise on board as a judge for the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel.

Ripley was interviewed by Michael Gregorio of The Rap Sheet earlier this week. It's an interesting interview, and well worth a read. Gregorio and Ripley traverse a variety of interesting subjects, with plenty of dashes of the famous Ripley humour, including his own novels, his crime fiction commentary, his recovery from a stroke (and the book he wrote about it), and more. I recommend you go and have a read of the interview here.

I read and enjoyed Ripley's ANGELS IN ARMS last year, and am looking forward to reading FAMILY OF ANGELS and ANGEL CONFIDENTIAL, which I also recently acquired. Ripley has a caper-esque style that might give you a belly laugh or two while you are flipping through the pages of an interesting story filled with quirky and memorable characters.

Have you read any of Mike Ripley's 'Angel' novels? Do you like satirical or humorous crime fiction? Do you read Getting Away with Murder? Thoughts welcome.

Tick, tick, tick... Bouchercon!

Well, it's almost upon us. This week the 2010 edition of the fantastic (I've heard) Bouchercon crime writing festival will kick off. From a look at the lineup and the building excitement on blogs and elsewhere amongst the crime fiction community, Bouchercon by the Bay is going to be absolutely huge.

I've got to say, I'm pretty envious of everyone heading along. Scratch that, really envious. Incredible Hulk green with envy. I was quite tempted to hop on a plane from New Zealand, especially as San Francisco, the location of this year's 'Con is one of my favourite US cities, and also a fairly accessible/affordable flight from New Zealand (one of the most geographically isolated countries in the world, apparently). Unfortunately finances and timing hampered my Bouchercon 2010 dreams. But maybe next time.

For all of you heading along this year, I hope you have a magnificent time. For those, like me, who can only look on, our faces pressed up against a faraway window, hopefully there will be all sorts of fantastic articles and blog posts coming out about the events, from those lucky enought to be on the ground there in San Francisco. I'm talking to you Peter Rozovsky (Detectives Beyond Borders), Jon and Ruth Jordan (Crimespree magazine), Janet Rudolph (Mystery Readers International), J. Kingston Pierce (The Rap Sheet), and others... make sure you share it all with us.

Lee Child, who I was fortunate enough to interview and meet in New Zealand earlier this year (read NZLawyer feature, read 9mm interview) is 'Distinguished Contribution to the Genre' in 2010, and Scottish author Denise Mina, who's Gold Dagger-shortlisted novel STILL MIDNIGHT I recently read, is the International Guest of Honour, at Bouchercon by the Bay.

Skimming the programme, there are so many cool events on offer. I'd certainly have some pretty full days there. Watching the San Francisco-set crime movies The Maltese Falcon, Bullitt, and Murder by Death on Wednesday night (6pm onwards) would be a great start to what is going to be a really terrific few days. In amongst all the authors events, there is also the announcement/presentation of several prestigious crime/mystery writing awards, ie the Macavitys, the Barrys, and the Anthonys. And the Dashiell Hammett-inspired walking tours also sound great - San Francisco is such a great strolling city.

You can check out the line-up of events here:

• Thursday
• Friday
• Saturday
• Sunday

I hope that everyone heading to the festival has a truly terrific time, and I look forward to reading about all the festivities.

What do you think about the Bouchercon by the Bay lineup? Are you heading along? What events/authors would you most like to attend, if you were going? Who should win some of the awards? Do you enjoy author events and mystery writing festivals? Thoughts and comments welcome.