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Pia Juul
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The Murder of Halland Kindle Edition

by Pia Juul (Author), Martin Aitken (Translator) Format: Kindle Edition
3.1 3.1 out of 5 stars 50 ratings
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When Halland is found murdered almost right outside his door, his widow, Bess, is of course the prime suspect. She isn't worried about that, though, but about the daughter she abandoned years ago. As the police investigate, the slightly cantankerous Bess instead follows a trail of her own regrets and misapprehensions.

Atmospheric and haunted by the uncanny, The Murder of Halland is anything but your typical whodunnit. It won Denmark's most important literary prize, Den Danske Banks Litteraturpris, and its English translation was longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Prize.

Pia Juul has published five books of poetry, two short story collections and two novels.

Martin Aitken is a translator living in rural Denmark.

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  1. Print length
    153 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Coach House Books
  5. Publication date
    October 12, 2015
  6. File size
    2278 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Pia Juul: Pia Juul has published five books of poetry, two short story collections and two novels. The Murder of Halland won Denmark’s most important literary prize, Den Danske Banks litteraturpris. She has translated Ali Smith and Alain de Botton into Danish.

Martin Aitken: Martin Aitken has translated a score of books into English and Danish, including Janne Teller’s Nothing (Simon & Schuster/Atheneum and Strident Publishing) which received both a Printz Honor and a Batchelder Honor, the most prestigious awards for young adult fiction in the US. In 2012 he was awarded the American-Scandinavian Foundation’s Nadia Christensen Translation Prize. His translation of Pia Juul's The Murder of Halland was longlisted for The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2012 and for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2014. Recent translations are The Elephant Keepers' Children by Peter Høeg (Harvill & Secker/Other Press), likewise longlisted for the IMPAC award in 2014, and Dorthe Nors' Karate Chop (Graywolf Press/A Public Space). He has also recently translated three crime thrillers by Nordic noir phenomenon Jussi Adler-Olsen for Penguin (Dutton in the US). Forthcoming work includes novels by Helle Helle (to be published in November 2014 by Harvill Secker) and Kim Leine (2015 by Atlantic Books). Martin Aitken lives in rural Denmark.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B016HBZDHK
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Coach House Books (October 12, 2015)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 12, 2015
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2278 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 153 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.1 3.1 out of 5 stars 50 ratings

About the author

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Pia Juul

Pia Juul

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PIA JUUL has published five books of poetry, two short story collections and two novels. The Murder of Halland won Denmark’s most important literary prize, Den Danske Banks Litteraturpris. She lives in Frederiksberg, Denmark.

Customer reviews

3.1 out of 5 stars
3.1 out of 5
50 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Mothram
2.0 out of 5 stars TRAGICOMEDY?
Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2013
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It's one thing to turn the mystery genre on its head but inside out?

This psycho drama has a murder (maybe) and a bereaving girlfriend (wife?) who runs around the neighborhood going through the stages of grief when no one's sure what's going on. She's dazed and confused, and as the reader sees through her eyes, so is he. Maybe it's a comedy.
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W. Korson
3.0 out of 5 stars OK
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2013
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Another wimpy women unable to examine her life. Very little self awareness, her reactions to things are odd, narcisstic, sociopathic. Writing and pacing are very good, but I'm tired of reading about women like this. That's a personal reflection, not meant to detract from the book. I've been reading a lot of this genre lately and should have taken a bread before picking it up.
One person found this helpful
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Vera R. J. Fonseca
4.0 out of 5 stars original but disturbing
Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2012
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Juul is an original writer; this novel is not an usual police or mistery plot, even if there is mistery and a murder at the center of the story.
I found myself somehow uneasy by the end of the book,perhaps because of the protagonist being so self-centered and so different from what is expected concerning empathy and social behavior.
Anyway, it is very well written, it is original and it is worth reading for those who are not looking for cliché thrillers.
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Acorn
5.0 out of 5 stars Much more than just a crime story
Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2012
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In a rural town in Denmark, Bess stays up one night to work on a story while her partner Halland Roe goes to bed. At daybreak she falls asleep on the sofa and is later abruptly woken to be told that Halland has been shot dead in the square nearby. Halland and Bess, both writers, had been living together for over ten years. She had left her husband, but her daughter Abby decided to remain with the father. As Bess goes over to look at Halland's body, she realises it is the loss of Abby that affects her more.

So begins a complex tale told by Bess. It is clear that she is distraught - everyone around her sees that - but she is blind to the fact. Bess's ties to her own family are not good and she senses that she has been a failure in that regard. The attraction to Halland was tinged with uncertainty but they had made a comfortable existence together. Now her world is beginning to come undone.

There is a detective story, but it is almost all in the background. The police follow various leads and construct theories about Halland's killing as each new bit of evidence comes to light, but Bess's interaction with them is sporadic and she does not follow accounts of the investigation in the newspapers.

Halland was well known so there is press coverage of his death. Following this, a pregnant woman, Pernille, arrives to say she is Halland's niece and that he has been supporting her. Bess was completely unaware of this and cannot believe it is true, but later visits Pernille's apartment in Copenhagen and finds a room that Halland had been using there. Is this woman a relative at all? Bess also meets Stine, a local woman who seems to know a lot about Halland's state of mind, especially his views on his relationship with Bess. These women, previously strangers, deepen Bess's anxiety.

Abby visits and their relationship is rekindled to some degree, but meanwhile a neighbour goes missing and no one is sure if this is linked to Halland's death. It turns out that Halland has taken a number of steps that could be read as a premonition of his death, or perhaps plans for a completely new life.

Pia Juul has written a story with all the twists and turns you would expect from a murder mystery, but the ending doesn't follow the usual script and you sense that solving the crime might not be what Bess really wants or needs. Much more important for Bess is how she can deal with her own sense of loss - of Halland, of Abby and of her family relationships. Her sometimes erratic and unsympathetic behaviour is driven by grief and by a self-reflection in which she finds herself wanting.

There are 35 short chapters and the pace is well managed. All but the first chapter begin with a literary quote that highlights a theme in the chapter, but I found this a little old fashioned and affected. The complexity of the plot will please crime fiction fans, but there is much more to this story. The death of Halland - was it a murder? - sparks an incisive examination of loss and grief, and how these can remain buried beneath the surface of our daily lives until a crisis exhumes them. Bess might not always be a likeable character, but she recounts a tale of great depth and elegance.
4 people found this helpful
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merrill pinsky
1.0 out of 5 stars off the wall
Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2015
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off the wall
did not enjoy it
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Ann E. Showers
2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed to not have a definitive ending
Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2015
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I felt the book jumped around too much and introduced new characters without explaining any relationship. Disappointed to not have a definitive ending.
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Kathryn Pokalo
4.0 out of 5 stars A gem of a read
Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2013
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The narrative voice is instantly enticing and befuddling. Can we trust the narrator or her perceptions? I felt the narrator's sense of dislocation as I was reading. I was captivated by the sense of place--the isolation and claustrophobia of the small world of the novel. I am so pleased to have discovered both this writer and the Peirene Press. The physical book is as delightful to hold as the content is engaging to read.
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Yvonne
5.0 out of 5 stars A murder mystery from a different perspective - quiet and a bit gloomy
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2013
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The book is about the murder of Halland, the questions are obvious: who did it, why? But it is not about the answers. It is about Halland's wife, her dealing with the his murder and her mourning, not only of him, but another life past.

And just as her main character, the author doesn't like obvious endings.
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Top reviews from other countries

Michelle C.
4.0 out of 5 stars Danish murder mystery delivers
Reviewed in Canada on December 14, 2015
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A short, sharply written mystery that probes the aftermath of a murder from the widow's point of view. Is she innocent or isn't she? I quick but satisfying read and not as dark as some Scandinavian murder mysteries.
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Carl Sorensen
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent! Strange - but excellent
Reviewed in Canada on November 9, 2015
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Excellent! Strange - but excellent!
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Karen
3.0 out of 5 stars I just didn't like Bess.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 9, 2013
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I want to say I like this book despite Bess. She irritated me and it distracted me from everything going on around her. No it's not a thriller and no, not really a mystery. Though there are many unanswered questions. Mostly, why didn't someone put Bess in a hospital? She was obviously having some kind of breakdown? That's the only way I can forgive her!
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Amazon Customer
1.0 out of 5 stars One Star
Reviewed in Canada on November 6, 2015
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disappointing
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C.Johnson
4.0 out of 5 stars wonderful
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 7, 2013
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I read this in a day - beautifully written and translated I could not put it down. Funny, touching, and totally gripping I was utterly immersed. Loved it.
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