Dagmar Maria Lange (31 March 1914 – 9 October 1991,

Nora Nora, NORA, or Norah may refer to: * Nora (name), a feminine given name People with the surname * Arlind Nora (born 1980), Albanian footballer * Pierre Nora (1931–2025), French historian * Simon Nora (1921–2006), French politician Place ...

) was a Swedish author of

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

under the pen name Maria Lang. She was one of the first detective novelists in the Swedish language, and her books helped make the genre popular in Sweden.

Early life and academic career

Lange was born in

Västerås Västerås () is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Mälaren, Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 158,653, over 100,000 mo ...

to journalist Clas Lange and Elsa Kejser. The family moved to

Lindesberg Lindesberg () is a locality and the seat of Lindesberg Municipality, Örebro County, Sweden with 9,672 inhabitants in 2017. History Lindesberg has centuries old history, being the center of an old mining district. The earliest known trace ...

in 1915, when her father was appointed editor and publisher of the newspaper ''Bergslagernas Tidning''. In 1917 her father died from

appendicitis Appendicitis is inflammation of the Appendix (anatomy), appendix. Symptoms commonly include right lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fever and anorexia (symptom), decreased appetite. However, approximately 40% of people do not have these t ...

, when Dagmar Lange was just two years old. In 1919 her mother married merchant Carl Ivar Olson, and they settled in

. Lange enrolled as a student of Scandinavian languages in

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

in 1933, and from 1934 at

Stockholms högskola Stockholm University (SU) () is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social sciences, and natu ...

. The subject for her

PhD thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

in 1946 was Pontus Wikner. From 1946 to 1968 she worked at (''Nya Elementarskolan för flickor''), a private gymnasium in Stockholm, first as a teacher and eventually as the principal.

Literary career

Her first novel, ''Mördaren ljuger inte ensam'' (''The Murderer is Not the Only Liar''), was published in 1949 and caused some controversy because two of the main characters lived in a homosexual relationship. The book was given a positive review by Barbro Alving in ''

Dagens Nyheter (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major nationa ...

''. Lange wrote more than 40 detective novels, as well as crime fiction for young adults. Most of her books are set in the fictional Swedish town Skoga, which is based on Lange's home town

. She was one of the original 13 members of the

Swedish Crime Writers' Academy The Swedish Crime Fiction Academy (Swedish: ''Svenska Deckarakademin''), is a Sweden, Swedish organization set up in 1971 to promote quality in Swedish detective fiction and crime fiction.

when it was founded in 1971.

Books in Swedish

*''Mördaren ljuger inte ensam'' (1949), film 2013 *''Farligt att förtära'' (1950) *''Inte flera mord'' (1951), film 2013 *''En skugga blott'' (1952) *''Rosor, kyssar och döden'' (1953) Film 2013 *''Tragedi på en lantkyrkogård'' (1954), film 1961 2013'' *''Se döden på dig väntar'' (1955) *''Mörkögda augustinatt'' (1956) *''Kung Liljekonvalje av dungen'' (1957), film 1961 & 2013 *''Farliga drömmar'' (1958) Film 2013 *''Ofärd i huset bor'' (1959) *''Vår sång blir stum'' (1960) *''Att vara kvinna'' (1961) *''En främmande man'' (1962) *''Tre små gummor'' (1963) *''Ögonen'' (1964), *''Siden sammet'' (1964) *''De röda kattorna'' (1965) *''Svart sommar'' (1966) *''Vitklädd med ljus i hår'' (1967) *''Ingen returbiljett'' (1968) *''Intrigernas hus'' (1969) *''Staden sover'' (1970) *''Mördarens bok'' (1971) *''Vem väntar på värdshuset?'' (1972) *''Vi var tretton i klassen'' (1973) *''Det är ugglor i mossen'' (1974) *''Dubbelsäng i Danmark'' (1975) *''Körsbär i november'' (1976) *''Arvet efter Alberta'' (1977) *''Camilla vid skiljevägen'' (1978) *''Svar till Ensam Eva'' (1979) *''Inga pengar till Vendela'' (1980) *''Gullregn i oktober'' (1981) *''Docka vit, Docka röd'' (1982) *''Fyra fönster mot gården'' (1983) *''Använd aldrig arsenik'' (1984) *''Klappa inte katten'' (1985) *''Dödligt drama på Dramaten'' (1986) *''Ånglok 16 på fel spår'' (1987) *''Tvillingen i spegeln'' (1988) *''Flyttbil försvunnen'' (1989) *''Se Skoga och sedan...'' (1990)

References

External links

* 1914 births 1991 deaths People from Västerås Writers from Västmanland County Swedish crime fiction writers Swedish women novelists 20th-century Swedish novelists 20th-century Swedish women writers Women crime fiction writers Swedish women mystery writers Swedish mystery writers {{Sweden-writer-stub

Early life and academic career

Literary career

Books in Swedish

See also

References

Further reading

External links