Karen Pirie
crime fiction
Series · Scandinavian crime
Fällbacka (Erica Falck and Patrik Hedström)
The Fällbacka (Erica Falck and Patrik Hedström) series by Camilla Läckberg has 11 known books (11 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with The Ice Princess (2003). Camilla Läckberg wrote the series; books 1-4 were translated by Steven T. Murray; books 5-10 were translated by Tiina Nunnally; book 11 were translated by Ian Giles.
- Books
- 11 known books (11 novels)
- Published
- 11
- First published
- 2003
- Status
- ongoing
- Shelved under
- Mystery & Crime
- Last checked
Start here: The Ice Princess (2003) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
The Ice Princess
The Ice Princess (2003) opens the series with true-crime writer Erica Falck returning to her childhood home of Fällbacka and colliding with a murder investigation run by local detective Patrik Hedström -- a partnership that becomes a marriage across the books that follow. It runs 465 pages.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Ice Princess - Book 2:
The Preacher
The Preacher (2004) sends Erica Falck and Patrik Hedström after a crime rooted in Fällbacka's own past, the pattern Camilla Läckberg builds every mystery in the series around. It runs 432 pages.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Preacher - Book 3:
The Stonecutter
The Stonecutter (2005) continues Erica and Patrik's unofficial investigative partnership in Fällbacka, digging into old town secrets that surface to violent effect in the present.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Stonecutter - Book 4:
The Gallows Bird
The Gallows Bird (2006) keeps Erica Falck's research instincts paired against Patrik Hedström's police work, the small-town Fällbacka mystery formula Läckberg builds each book around.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Gallows Bird - Book 5:
The Hidden Child
The Hidden Child (2007) follows Erica and Patrik into another crime rooted in Fällbacka's buried history, the small-town social texture that anchors Läckberg's Scandinavian crime fiction.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Hidden Child - Book 6:
The Drowning
The Drowning (2008) continues Erica and Patrik's investigative partnership as their own marriage and family keep developing alongside Fällbacka's slowly surfacing secrets.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Drowning - Book 7:
The Lost Boy
The Lost Boy (2009) sends Erica and Patrik after another crime buried in Fällbacka's past, part of a series that leans on small-town social texture and long memory over pure procedure.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Lost Boy - Book 8:
Buried Angels
Buried Angels (2011), translated by Tiina Nunnally, continues Erica and Patrik's investigative partnership in Fällbacka, digging into a secret the town has collectively agreed not to discuss.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Buried Angels - Book 9:
The Ice Child
The Ice Child sits between Buried Angels and The Girl in the Woods in the publication order of the Fällbacka series, arriving in 2014. At 377 pages, it is the shortest of the books covered here.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Ice Child - Book 10:
The Girl in the Woods
The Girl in the Woods reached English-language readers through Tiina Nunnally's translation of Camilla Läckberg's original text, published 2017. At 688 pages, it is the longest book in the collection covered here.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Girl in the Woods - Book 11:
The Cuckoo
The Cuckoo (2022) is the eleventh entry in the Fällbacka series, continuing Erica Falck and Patrik Hedström's partnership two decades after The Ice Princess first paired them.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Cuckoo
About the Fällbacka (Erica Falck and Patrik Hedström) series
Erica Falck is a true-crime writer who returns to her childhood home of Fällbacka, a small fishing village on Sweden's west coast, and finds herself drawn into a murder investigation being run by local police detective Patrik Hedström. What starts in The Ice Princess (2003) as a one-off collision of Erica's research instincts and Patrik's police work becomes a marriage and a family, with the two of them falling into an unofficial, sometimes strained investigative partnership -- Erica digging into old town secrets and family histories, Patrik running the official case -- that recurs across every subsequent book. Läckberg builds each mystery out of a crime rooted in Fällbacka's own past: a decades-old disappearance, a family's buried history, a secret the town has collectively agreed not to discuss, surfacing to violent effect in the present. The result is Scandinavian crime fiction that leans harder on small-town social texture and long memory than on police procedure alone, with Erica and Patrik's own marriage, children and extended family developing in something close to real time across the series' two-decade span.
Frequently asked questions
Who writes the Fällbacka (Erica Falck and Patrik Hedström) series?
Camilla Läckberg wrote the series; books 1-4 were translated by Steven T. Murray; books 5-10 were translated by Tiina Nunnally; book 11 were translated by Ian Giles.
How many Fällbacka books are there?
This page tracks twelve novels, from The Ice Princess (2003) to The Weeper (2025), following Erica Falck and Patrik Hedström.
What order should I read the Fällbacka series in?
Publication order, starting with The Ice Princess. Erica and Patrik's marriage and family develop continuously across the series.
Why does The Gallows Bird have another title, The Stranger?
It's the same book, book 4 of the series (Swedish: Olycksfågeln, 2006) -- The Gallows Bird was the original UK translation title, later reissued in the US as The Stranger.
Is the Fällbacka series finished?
No, it's ongoing. The twelfth novel, The Weeper (Gråterskan), was published in Swedish in September 2025; an English translation had not yet been announced as of this writing.
Who translates the Fällbacka novels into English?
Steven T. Murray translated the first four books, Tiina Nunnally translated books five through ten, and Ian Giles has translated the two most recent (The Cuckoo, and forthcoming work).
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Reading order last verified .