Sven ElvestadRezensionen

I received a complementary copy of Through Three Rooms through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program; my review is voluntary.

Through Three Rooms is a quick and easy read, yet I feel a bit conflicted about how to assess it. The introduction, while lengthy (especially in comparison to the book itself), provides solid historical context for the book. It only becomes clear later why that’s important. Protagonist detective Asbørn Krag and the structure of his mystery story bear uncanny similarities to those of Miss Marple and Sherlock Holmes—but Krag came first by decades, so it’s not at all derivative. This in itself I found intriguing.

The setup of the story was equally intriguing—a troubled old man in a living situation that seems downright chilling. Then a crime occurs that must be solved, new characters emerge, and our hero detective knows immediately what happened and why.

This is where the story lost me, and I don’t know if something was lost in translation or if it was written vaguely on purpose. Krag solves the crime based on such a random assumption of a back story that I found myself going back in the book to see if I had missed something when I had been struggling to stay awake during parts of it. But no, it came out of nowhere. And the reason for the strange setup of the aforementioned old man’s living quarters is a massive letdown. (I’m being vague so as to avoid spoilers.)

The book feels like an unfulfilled promise. It’s not poorly written but the story builds up just to flop at the end. Kind of frustrating.

"Through Three Rooms" is a short, but interesting tale. It's a good puzzle. You sort of know who the bad guy is, but don't be fooled. You do, but you don't. I wish I could read this story in its original language. I found this story hard to rate on a 5 point scale because of its brevity and being a translation to English. I found it interesting but I wasn't totally absorbed and I didn't find a connection to any of the characters. But as a short story, it was OK 4 stars.

I'd never heard of this Norwegian detective novelist or his somewhat Holmesian hero prior to seeing this book listed in Early Reviewers, so I wasn't sure what to expect. The introduction to the Kabaty Press edition helpfully clarifies the place of the author in Norwegian fiction of the time, and the translation reads clearly enough, no more awkward than some English-language detective stories of its era. I can't say that I found the characters or plot especially compelling, but the story was adequate for its brevity and, while not exactly "fair," didn't seem wholly implausible. Though I wouldn't consider it a must-read, I'd recommend the story as an option for readers interested in early detective fiction, particularly beyond the Anglophone context.

Agile, entertaining story, easy to read, although in some sections it rushes a bit, it does not allow a conclusion to mature.

I quite enjoyed this book. Although a fan of more modern Scandinavian fiction, I had not heard of Sven Elvestad and now I want to dive deeper into the Norwegian mysteries. It read like Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie and I enjoyed the reprieve from some of the more graphic mysteries I've read lately.

This is a vintage mystery novella, featuring Norwegian police detective extraordinaire, Asbjørn Krag. Written in 1907, but the prolific Sven Elvestad, it definitely has the mannered style of the Sherlock Holmes era. Krag is a bit more active and less cerebral than Holmes, but still definitely in the "Great Man" mold with the admiring Doctor sidekick who is amazed at his deductions.

If you are in the mood for old-fashioned good fun, or a historic perspective on the development of Scandinavian crime fiction, look no further than "Through Three Doors".

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I found this an engaging read. It is translated into English from Norwegian. I could be 'picky' as a few conversations do not quite scan as you might expect (as a native English speaker). It's apparently a simple plot but keeps the final twist and turn to the very end. Very much in the style of Agatha Christie's Poirot to the point that the story visualises very well. It is a cliche, but quite a page-turner. It will be good to see more of Sven Elvestad's work available in English, so credit to Lucy Moffat the translator.

I went into this book knowing next to nothing about it, and I'm glad I did. This is a quick read both because it's a short book, and because it's fast paced. Once I started reading I couldn't stop. The translation was done beautifully, and if it hadn't been stated on the book, I wouldn't have been able to tell. The only reason I'm not giving this book 5 stars is because while it's a fun read I didn't find it to be particularly unique. It's a difficult thing to describe. The characters were written well, and the descriptions were lovely. I felt like I could very clearly picture everything that was happening. The writing was concise, and never made me feel like I had to drag my feet through walls of text. I just wish there had been something to separate it from other novels of it's ilk. I absolutely would still recommend it, especially to someone looking for a book to get them back into reading, or someone who wanted to have the satisfaction of reading a good book without having to make a huge commitment to a lengthy novel.

Through Three Rooms is a mystery novel written by the Norwegian writer/journalist Sven Elvestad first published in 1907 as a newspaper serial. Nils Nordberg introduces the novel with an interesting biography of the author. Nils Nordberg is a Norwegian crime writer, editor, and radio play director. He is very knowledgeable about the history of Norway’s crime fiction.

The novel is translated by Lucy Moffatt an award winning translator. She works mostly from Norwegian to English.

Sven Elvestad (1884-1934) was a prolific writer in Norway and one of the important North European writers of mystery stories and novels in the first half of the 20th century.

In this novel, Elvestad’s novel takes place in the milieu of the glory days of short mysteries written by authors like Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Simenon. Like Doyle with his Sherlock Holmes, Christie with her Hercule Poirot, and Simenon with his Maigrit, Elvestad has his own detective, Asbjorn Krag. Krag is no Holms, Poirot or, Maigrit, but he is a character as uniquely interesting as the 3 fictional detectives. He is very energetic like Holmes, but Not as Coldly analytic as the great fictional British detective. He can be taunting and physically threatening to scoundrels unlike the polite and proper as demeanor of Poirot. Krag is not suave and sophisticated as Maigrit, but rather is spontaneous and has a greater Joie de vivre than the French detective.

Krag and the other three detectives have some characteristics in common: a dogged determination to track down the evil doers, outsmart them, and arrest them.

In this case, a murder has occurred at a mansion and the case involves suspicious contents of a room, a mysterious wealthy elderly man with a secret, his beautiful young fiancée, a wayward uncooperative son, a stranger, and several pistols. The story proceeds with many distractors and much withholding of information and many surprise details that are characteristic of the early 20th century mystery genre.

The translation is very readable and captures the tones of the dialogue of the characters. The translation is good at describing the action and tension of the story. I look forward to reading more of Sven Elvestad’s translated stories and novels.

A quick and interesting mystery, more Conan Doyle like than Christie-ish. Has all the right pieces for the period; trains, carriages, manors, doctors, pub, young messenger, disguises, guns, damsel, omniscient detective (with less brilliant friend), likely culprit, and red haired brute.

Simplicity is the key to early solution of the three rooms.
I recommend you give it a try.

This e-book was received for free via the LibraryThing Early Reviewer Program.

Sven Elvestads "Through Three Rooms" is a lively and entertaining read written in the classic mystery style. Detective Asbjørn has all the physical prowess of Sherlock Holmes while retaining the affable, mild mannered nature of Inspector Richard Queen. Enthusiasts of traditional whodunit mysteries will not doubt be scrambling for more Asbjørn Krag after learning the secret of the three rooms!

Detective Asbjorn Krag is invited by Old friend Dr Karl Rasch as he us concerned for the mental well being of a patient. that of John Aakerholm. Krag agrees to accompany him back to Kvamberg Manor to investigate. It seems Aakeholm is terrified of something or someone, into the scenario is a widow he wishes to marry and an adopted son. An interesting quick-paced historical mystery with its varied characters. I received a complimentary copy of the novella from the publisher via Library Thing and am voluntarily leaving a review Originally published in 1907

“Through Three Rooms” is a novella published by Norwegian Sven Elvestad in 1915, after having been serialized in 1907 and 1908. The story involves a country estate, a rich old man planning to marry a much younger woman, an adopted son and a variety of mysterious occurrences designed, apparently, to drive the old man mad. The story itself is fairly straightforward; it is the author’s powers of description that make this a fun read. A quick read, too; only 122 pages in the e-book version, of which about 8 pages are an introduction (by the person who has voiced some of the author’s book in audiobook form). Kabaty Press has been reissuing early 20th Century books from Northern Europe in recent years, and this is another in that fine tradition; recommended! I received a copy of this book through Library Thing's Early Reviewer program.½

Somehow they got the author wrong - it's by Georg Engel

En mann blir myrdet, og Kristiania-detektiven Asbjøn Krag står overfor ei av sine vanskeligste oppgaver. Det finnes ikke spor etter morderen, men så høres jernvogna igjen, den som er ute og kjører når noen skal dø. I hovedrollene: Erik Hivju, Ole Jørgen Nilsen og Sverre Anker Ousdal. Dramatisert av Sven Lange. Regi: Nils Nordberg. Musikk: Rain. © DnBB AS

"...This is a classic Norwegian crime story. It was written over 100 years ago. Riverton is regarded as the founder of the modern Norwegian crime novel and he is a great writer. Somebody might think he is a bit slow and old-fashioned but I really like his style of writing. As a character himself he was very colourful and really lived the life that you would expect an author to live – sex, drugs and rock’n’roll, that kind of thing...." (reviewed by Jo Nesbø in FiveBooks).



The full interview is available here: http://fivebooks.com/interviews/jo-nesb%C3%B8-on-norwegian-crime-writing