The world’s first crime-fiction novel was probably the Norwegian book The Murder of Engine Maker Roolfsen by Mauritz Hansen, published in 1839–40, one year before Edgar Allan Poe’s short story ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’. Now, some 175 years later, Norwegian crime fiction is conquering the world!
Norwegian crime fiction has a long tradition of high quality. Among Norway’s foremost crime classics, the psychoanalytical crime novel The Lake of the Dead (1942), written by André Bjerke (under the pseudonym Bernhard Borge), is one that stands out, as does Gerd Nyquist’s The Deceased Did Not Want Flowers (1960).
Modern Norwegian crime fiction is to a large extent inspired by the Swedish writing duo Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, who wrote ten novels from 1965 to 1975 featuring the detective Martin Beck. Typical for this type of crime literature is a socially critical perspective. In Norway there are a number of strong contemporary authors writing within this genre.
Gunnar Staalesen has achieved great international recognition for his crime-fiction novels featuring the private investigator Varg Veum, a Raymond Chandler-inspired hero with a social democratic heart. Another internationally recognised crime-fiction author is Karin Fossum, who writes literary, psychological crime fiction, with detective Konrad Sejer as the protagonist. Fourteen books have been published in the series so far, and her work has been translated into a number of languages. Anne Holt has achieved huge international success with her series, one of them being a realistic police novel series about the dysfunctional, lesbian police officer Hanne Wilhelmsen, and the other about the happy couple Vik and Stubø. Holt’s books have sold more than seven million copies worldwide.
Norway’s hands-down bestselling author globally is Jo Nesbø, who has become world-famous for his crime-fiction novels about the anti-hero police detective Harry Hole. His novels have been translated into no fewer than 50 languages. He has been praised for having expanded the genre with his strong literary qualities, his psychological insight and his depictions of life in a modern, globalised world. Other authors who have had great success with police crime fiction are Jørn Lier Horst and Unni Lindell. Horst’s books excel through the extreme realism of the plots and with his descriptions of police work; unsurprisingly so, since he has a background as a policeman. Lindell also puts a strong emphasis on realism in her successful books about the policeman Cato Isachsen.
Norwegian crime fiction is characterised by its great breadth. Author and journalist Tom Egeland is best known for his books about the archaeologist Bjørn Beltø, the main character in a series of action- and adventure-oriented books with stories often connected to mysteries from the past. Egeland is frequently compared to the American author Dan Brown.