5 Book Series to Read If You Like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

There are 10 books so far in Norwegian Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole Series, beginning with The Bat. The gripping series follows an alcoholic police officer with the Oslo Crime Squad whose personal (and professional) life is usually a total mess, but despite his faults — or maybe because of it? — he's a protagonist you continue to root for. My personal favorite (so far) is Nemesis, which is about a murder during a bank robbery, as some of the fascinating elements of the plot have stayed with me to this day. The Snowman is another especially spine-chilling novel from the series that even has a film adaptation in the works. Nesbo cleverly weaves in the perspectives of different characters and time frames throughout the chapters, something you see in other Scandinavian crimes series. He never fails to pull you from the very first sentence.

The first novel in Camilla Läckberg's eight-book Fjallbacka series is The Ice Princess, and it's also my favorite. The Swedish writer is incredibly talented at character development, and, like Nesbo, alternates perspectives by chapter in her books. Writer Erica Falck is the protagonist in this initial book, about a young woman found frozen in a bathtub, dead from an apparent suicide, but detective Patrik Hedstrom takes the lead for most of the other books in the series. Family secrets, religion, and creepy relationships often play a role in the series, although for the most part it's not as dark as some of the other series.

I'm Traveling Alone just came out in the US this year, and it's the first novel in Norwegian Samuel Bjork's Holger Munch and Mia Kruger series. The novel follows a veteran police investigator who must convince one of his favorite investigators, a young woman with a troubled past, to return to the force to help him solve the disturbing death of a 6-year-old girl. The story is definitely creepy, but the plot's twists and turns paired with the relationship between the two detectives hooked me.

The 11-book Inspector Erlendur series, by Icelandic author Arnaldur Indrioason, was first introduced to US readers with the English translation of the third book, Jar City. This first novel — which was also adapted into a movie — has some disturbingly creepy and fascinating elements to it about forensic evidence, unsolved crimes, and family secrets. It's a thrilling read.

Christine Falls is the first in Irish author Benjamin Black's seven-book Quirke series, and its dark story will stick with you. Set in 1950s Dublin, the series, like many others, follows a hardened and grumpy male protagonist with his own personal demons; in this case, it's a pathologist named Quirke. In the inaugural novel a murder of a young woman leads to the discovery of a coverup that involves the Catholic church and Dublin's high society.