Inspector Huss Books In Order

Publication Order of Detective Inspector Huss Books

Chronological Order of Detective Inspector Huss Books

Writing her Inspector Huss series for some time now, Swedish crime author Helene Tursten has been building her detective franchise series for a number of years, gaining a respectably sized audience in the process. With over ten in the series so far and counting, she’s managed to expand upon the series to much critical acclaim as well, gaining readers from all across the world thanks to her many translations. This has led to her taking the series to a number of different places throughout its many successful years, all whilst remaining true to the original which is to tell the story of one Inspector Irene Huss. Inspector Huss herself is a strong character who is both intelligent and astute, being able to get to the bottom of any case through hard-work and diligence. Now within her forties, she has a wealth of experience with an almost world-weary approach to her work, as she manages to crack any mystery that’s given to her. It is these characteristics that her readers find most appealing, as they manage to relate to her on a far more personable and in-depth level, something which builds as the series progresses.

The series has also been made into a collection of films featuring the eponymous detective set around the works of Tursten, themselves made in Sweden. Many of these have also been given English subtitles and exported worldwide achieving the same level of success that her books have gained over the years. This critical and commercial success appears to be something that’s set to continue in the years to come as Helene Tursten’s career grows from strength-to-strength.

Detective Inspector Huss

Originally written and published in 1998, this was the one that was to start it all, commencing both Tursten and Huss’s careers for the many years that were to follow. In it the protagonist of Inspector Huss is set-up and established in the Swedish town of Goteborg, as the overall driving force behind who she is is fully implicated. Creating the initial ambiance for the novels as well, it manages to provide all this to the reader by depicting the first case of hers through a murder mystery.

Her character is established as being that of a woman ‘up against the odds’, this time in the form of an old boy’s network, something which she finds herself in direct conflict with. Fighting against this particular system, she is a woman to be reckoned with that will not leave any stone unturned in order to find whatever it is that she’s looking for. This is something that makes her just as many friends as it does enemies, but she remains on the side of truth and justice despite the odds being stacked against her. Whilst this may seem to be a fairly standard set of conventions for the genre, Tursten manages to shed a new light on them with this series, by making her protagonist a fully realized human being with her own distinctive problems and issues. The supporting cast manage to compliment this as they all work around her, each with their own traits that color her own, establishing and pronouncing who she is as a person. In Goteborg this is something that’s essential, as she’ll need everything she can get her hands on if she’s to get to the bottom of things and do her job effectively.

Her first case sees her investigating the apparent suicide of a wealthy financier who is found having apparently plunged to his death on the street below. It seems that the ‘Suicide Club’ have something to do with this though, an elite society of highly privileged individuals whose ties run back through their families for generations. This leaves it up to her to get to the bottom of the case and find out who was responsible for the killing, a journey which takes her through the less than savory underworld as well. Will she be able to find the killer in time before they strike again? Can she herself remain alive in the process? What will become of her as she goes up against some of the most powerful elements of society in this first case for Detective Inspector Huss?

Night Rounds

In this sequel to the first, initially published in 1999, it continues the investigations of Detective Inspector Huss as she’s given her next case to deal with. Giving her a whole new series of events to contend with, it works upon building upon her personality as it takes the narrative in a somewhat different direction. It also manages to work upon the overall tone and ambiance of the novels, creating the general style of the series that was to follow in the years to come.

After a blackout occurs in a hospital, a nurse is discovered dead and another one disappears, and nobody saw anything, all apart from one recurring detail; a ghost. The ghost of Nurse Tekla who died sixty years ago was apparently seen wandering the halls, something which is getting in the way of Irena Huss’s investigation as she must sort the facts from the fiction. What really happened during that blackout? Where are these stories of ghosts actually coming from? Can she learn the truth before it’s too late as to who made the night rounds?

The Inspector Huss Series

With her films being produced by ‘Illusion Films’ along with ‘Yellow Bird Films’ as well, this looks like it’s a series that’s set to continue in the many years to come. There are many reasons as to why this series will continue for years to come, and that’s largely due to its vast amount of potential that it offers to its many readers. Totaling twelve altogether, they each last over ninety minutes and the first set were released between 2007 and 2008, followed by the second lot which came out in 2011. With this series Helene Tursten has manage to capture and encapsulate some deep and introspective themes, moving the genre in a completely different direction to what has come before. This isn’t to say she hasn’t forgotten her roots though, as she continues to entertain readers to this day with her relatable characters and plausible situations. Setting up the premise, she still has a lot of mileage available yet as the series has a lot of potential to continue working on its many characterizations, something which Tursten looks set to carry on into the foreseeable future.

2 Responses to “Inspector Huss”

1. Sean: 1 year ago

   I am reading the inspector Huss series ebook in the order they were translated into English. Unfortunately number 4 in the English series.. Night Rounds is actually the 2nd in the series as originally written in Swedish and the historical references to previous story lines are out of sequence which did cause some confusion until I realised what had occured

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   • Graeme: 1 year ago

     Hi Sean – yep that’s why we list the chronological order of the series up here. It’s based on the way they were originally released. I know how frustrating that can be with translated novels.

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