New generation of Nordic Noir novels are 'girls' books', Maj Sjöwall says Sjöwall, who was interviewed by fellow crime novelist Ian Rankin in front of an audience, said the approach was "not allowed" in her time, when her books were more concerned with social critique and solid police work. The so-called Nordic Noir genre has become increasingly popular in recent years, with authors Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell read widely in English, and television programmes including The Bridge, The Killing and Borgen being unexpected hits in Britain. There's something happening in that its not about police work and crime, its very much about love, relationships... It's like they're girls books, some of them. Love stories. They talk about problems and families, problems of being a woman policeman and having your children. Everyday problems. This was not at all allowed at our time. We would even get critiqued if we described the naked woman. Rankin, himself the writer of the bestselling Rebus crime series, joked Sjöwall's work had meant "all us sad British crime writers going anywhere in the world have to walk past tables and tables of Scandinavian crime novels." "When we arrived, people weren't interested in us at all as writers," Sjöwall said. Now the writers are almost like film stars. It's nice.