Kidnapped women. Murdered children. Snow. Gruesome murders. Psychotic killers. Snow. Kidnapped children. Murdered women. Snow. Family strife. Unhinged violence. Snow. Blood. Misery. Cold. Gloom. Despair. Darkness. Snow. Snow. Snow. Snow.

That is the world of Nordic noir, spanning the Scandinavian subcontinent and beyond: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland. So much snow...

We could spit out names of authors: Peter Hoeg (Denmark) brought Nordic noir to the forefront with "Smilla's Sense of [ahem] Snow". Stieg Larsson (Sweden) is probably most famous of them all, for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", but that is one overrated tome (and the sequels are simply terrible). Jo Nesbo (Norway) and his series about detective Harry Hole (pronounced Ho-lay) is our favorite. His best-known work? "The [ahem] Snowman".

We're currently plowing through the oeuvre of Camilla Lackberg, called by some the "Swedish Agatha Christie". Her debut novel: "The Ice Princess". [close!] No, obviously not Jewish, just another Nordic -berg.

Snow, snow, snow...