by Johannes Held茅n, translated from the Swedish by Kirkwood Adams, Elizabeth Clark Wessel, and Johannes Held茅n (Sweden, Argos Books)

Johannes Held茅n糖心传媒檚 Astroecology is an art object, and merely describing it won糖心传媒檛 do justice to the weighty beauty of it you feel when holding the book in your hands. A compromise: Some of the images and accompanying text can be viewed It糖心传媒檚 a hardcover book of photographs accompanied by short texts that are in turn accompanied by footnotes, translations of images into words and words into other words. The glossary at the end is itself a continuation of the book糖心传媒檚 poetry, with entries like 糖心传媒渉orizon, as far as the human eye could see糖心传媒� and 糖心传媒渓oneliness, standing outside the flock. Walking towards the school building at the end of summer. Darkness in the storage room. The sound of footsteps. Laughter.糖心传媒�

Held茅n describes nature and the world around us, but there糖心传媒檚 something sinister lurking in these pages. Flipping through the book, it might seem like a collection of beautiful photographs of plants, animals, landscapes in nature, but the accompanying text subtly explores nature糖心传媒檚 brutal confrontation with us. Humankind糖心传媒檚 negative influence on the world seeps into the pages. A picture of a tree stump is captioned 糖心传媒淥ctober 10, 2011, a 24-hour long clip of the engine sound from the fictional starship U.S.S. Enterprise was uploaded to YouTube.糖心传媒� An aerial photograph of trees is accompanied by a description of the roar of engines and drones crowding out the sound of the wind, crowding out even the sound of breathing. We encounter a dead dormouse, there糖心传媒檚 an apocalyptic atmosphere: The only light: the emergency generator of the hospital.

Held茅n糖心传媒檚 glossary plants us firmly in the future: 糖心传媒渂adger, Meles meles, four-legged animate object (last confirmed sighting in 2027).糖心传媒� 糖心传媒渂lue whale, the last blue whale was hunted into a shallow bay in the Arctic in 2026, where she beached and expired after several hours struggle to return to deep waters.糖心传媒� Every animal mentioned is now extinct. And often their former actions and movements are described as though the glossary were someone糖心传媒檚 diary, keeping record of the specific habits of various insects and animals around his or her property. What kind of future is this?

Is it the end of the world? Are we the end of the world? The layers of Held茅n糖心传媒檚 text are so all-encompassing and in such intense juxtaposition that sometimes we forget this is not a simple documenting of someone糖心传媒檚 garden and their pleasant discoveries captured in photographs. Soot from burnt-out stars falling slowly to the ground. I tried to write their existence, their consciousness, like code into the interspace.

The text is also woven with Held茅n糖心传媒檚 sporadic philosophical musings, inner thoughts inextricably bound up in the outside world. A question: what would a secret language be called interspersed between raindrops. These are Held茅n糖心传媒檚 photographs, and through them he brings us into his construction of a future universe. For Astroecology is, essentially, a work of science fiction shattered into images, text, intertext, the pieces coming together to expand the genre, both of science fiction and of poetry.

I once heard a theory that the American South (where I live) has such a higher crime rate than the rest of the country because of the weather. That because it糖心传媒檚 so hot and muggy and disgusting here for so much of the year, people are extra on-edge, extra cranky, extra mean and prone to lashing out. There糖心传媒檚 so much that糖心传媒檚 nonsensical and completely not based in fact about the idea, of course, but it stuck with me. Maybe that糖心传媒檚 why I糖心传媒檓 so obsessed with cold weather whodunits. What would make someone commit a violent crime in a place with such soothing, cool, dark weather? Where you could, instead of hurting someone, sit in a cozy sweater and drink a beer?

When the books started rolling in for the BTBA judging, I snatched up the Northern European murder mysteries first. It糖心传媒檚 hard to write a noteworthy one after the success of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, but that isn糖心传媒檛 stopping anyone from trying. And while cold weather murder mysteries have a reputation for being very Which Pretty Young Girl Is Going To Be Murdered Next (hello, Dragon Tattoo influence), that hasn糖心传媒檛 really been the case with this year糖心传媒檚 crop:

by Nele Neuhaus, translated by Steven T. Murray

The body of a 92 year old Holocaust survivor is found in his home after he糖心传媒檚 been shot, execution style. When his autopsy is performed, a blood marker tattoo for Hitler糖心传媒檚 SS is found on his arm. Soon after, two similar murders of elderly people occur, and investigators realize all the victims are friends of one wealthy baroness who fled the second World War. Now she糖心传媒檚 an elderly philanthropist and matriarch of her old family. The investigators follow the murderer糖心传媒檚 trail back to the end of WWII and into Poland. The sleight-of-hand here is pretty heavy: you糖心传媒檙e so focused on the obvious choice for the murderer that you don糖心传媒檛 see the real one coming at all . . . to the point that you might feel a little cheated. But still an interesting read, especially for history buffs.

by Arnaldur Indridason, translated by Victoria Cribb

The Inspector Erlendur series is famous already, and this prequel takes us back to a look at Erlendur as a newbie detective. This one also has a victim who isn糖心传媒檛 a pretty dead girl (yay, let糖心传媒檚 stop doing that altogether!) and is instead a homeless, alcoholic middle-aged man. Erlendur comes to recognize the man after he runs into him a few times while patrolling the city at night, and when he糖心传媒檚 found dead, Erlendur is the only person who cares enough to find out if it was foul play. He chases his leads into the underbelly of Reykjavik to find out the truth. This one is a slow build: there糖心传媒檚 no big car chases to speak of, no real glamour or ultra-violence. But that糖心传媒檚 what I appreciated about it—it糖心传媒檚 a good lazy Sunday book.

by Joakim Zander, translated by Elizabeth Clark Wessel

A political aide raised in the middle of nowhere in the Swedish archipelago by her grandparents (she糖心传媒檚 an orphan) discovers a secret via an old lover. An aging, worn out spy who abandoned his newborn baby after watching her mother die in order to keep his cover wrestles with his past by doing laps all day in the swimming pool. When the political aide has to go on the run and the old spy finds out who she is (you can guess, surely), the two of them run for their lives across Europe. It糖心传媒檚 a Bourne-style adventure without the amnesia, but with the thrills and political intrigue. This one is a dash of WHOdunit, with a sprinkling of whichCOUNTRYdunit, or whichCORPORATIONdunit. Thrillers are so often about what a spy糖心传媒檚 life is like in the thick of it, it was refreshing to encounter one nearing the end of his tenure.