Murder of Halland

Pia Juul, born 1962, claims her place as one of Denmark's foremost literary authors. She has published five books of poetry, two short story collections and two novels. The Murder of Halland was published in Danish in 2009 and has won Denmark's most important literary prize, Den Danske Banks litteraturpris.

'Bess sticks in the mind as a brilliantly drawn character.' Christina Petrie, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT ------- 'Anything but a standard crime novel. The mystery at its heart is the mystery we are to each other; it is written in succinct, sometimes surreal prose.' ECONOMIST ------- 'A disturbing and painful account of a woman whose world has been knocked off its axis.' Laura Wilson, GUARDIAN ------- 'A masterclass in literary sleight of hand.' Pam Norfolk, LANCASHIRE EVENING POST ------- 'Just as Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose made crime fiction appear intellectual, so Pia Juul's The Murder of Halland dismantles the rules of an entire genre.' DAGENS NYHETER ------- 'Pia Juul is a dazzling writer with natural, biting dialogue. And the descriptions of the sun's play on the fiord are so beautiful that they could have been lifted from Albert Camus' The Stranger.' EXTRA BLADET