Jo Nesbø and Jørn Lier Horst are the indisputable kings of crime fiction in Norway: on the just published official list of the twenty most sold Norwegian crime titles of the past decade (2008-2017), Jo Nesbø claims a staggering eight positions and Jørn Lier Horst six.

Jo Nesbø also succeeds in the feat of placing in the top ten with all eight novels, starting with Police at No. 1. Police is then followed by Phantom (No.2), The Leopard (No. 3), The Son (No. 4), Thirst (No. 5), Headhunters (No. 6), The Snowman (No. 8), and Blood on Snow (No. 9).

Jørn Lier Horst, the author with the most titles on the list after Nesbø, features at No. 10 with his The Hunting Dogs. The Wisting novel is closely followed by The Caveman (No. 11), Ordeal (No. 12), Closed for Winter (No. 14), When It Grows Dark (No. 15), and The Katharina Code (No. 16).

Offline, a.k.a. Odd Numbers, by Anne Holt has been nominated for a Lambda Literary Award in the category for Best Lesbian Mystery of 2017. The Lambda prize is regarded as the most prestigious LGBTQ book prize in the world. The winner will be announced in June. For more information, click “Read more” below.

Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix, Jessica Jones) is heading to Scandinavia after signing up to star in the Norwegian crime drama Wisting, based on Jørn Lier Horst’s international bestsellers The Hunting Dogs and The Caveman. The Wisting series will be the biggest budget Norwegian drama to date.

In the series, Moss will play an FBI agent working alongside the Norwegian homicide detective Wisting, played by Sven Nordin (Lilyhammer), who is chasing an American serial killer. To make matters worse, Wisting’s young journalist daughter is chasing headlines that lead her into the killer’s path. Richie Campbell (The Frankenstein Chronicles) also joins the cast as an FBI agent.

“To be a part of something with this kind of caliber is exciting for me. Characters and stories created through the lens of Scandinavia’s expert perspective, alongside working with actors such as Sven Nordin, make this a thrilling project for me. Plus, it made watching the Winter Olympics even more fun – go team Norway,” said Moss.

“We are delighted that Moss has joined the cast of Wisting. She captivated us with her superb and iconic portrayal of Trinity in The Matrix, and her stellar work on the small screen recently in Jessica Jones. We are convinced that she will bring the same fierceness, intensity and intelligence to the role of FBI agent Maggie Griffin. We look forward to working with her,” added Wisting directors Trygve Allister Diesen and Katarina Launing.

To read the Deadline Hollywood article, click “Read more” below.

The haunted former interrogation leader Thorkild Aske reluctantly agrees to take on the job of consulting detective for Milla Lind, a renowned Norwegian crime fiction writer. Lind’s previous consultant, also a former policeman, was killed on the job as they were working on Lind’s latest novel, a story based on the real-life case of two girls mysteriously disappearing from an orphanage. It isn’t long till Aske begins to suspect that there’s more to the case, Milla Lind, and his predecessor’s death, than he first thought.

Meet Me in Paradise is the second novel in Heine Bakkeid’s chilling series about Thorkild Aske.

U-July 22, directed by Erik Poppe and written by Siv Rajendram Eliassen together with Anna Bache-Wiig, has won the 2018 Berlin Ecumenical Prize.

The Ecumenical Jury said: “In a single take, with a hand held camera, the filmmaker creates a claustrophobic engagement with tragedy of the shocking attack that took the 69 lives of young people outside Oslo. The film plunges the audience into the anxiety and despair of the participants, and suggests the possibility of compassion and hope in the face of tragedy”.

U-July 22 has also received fantastic reviews both in Norway and internationally. NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation) described it as “Nothing short of a masterpiece.”

Saturday, October 14th. The coronary care unit at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen. A nurse fills a syringe with an overdose of heart medicine and enters the room of an older male patient.

Monday, six days earlier. A deliveryman is doing his rounds in central Copenhagen when he makes a macabre find: the naked body of a dead woman in a fountain on the main pedestrian street. Bizarre, symmetrical cuts cover her skin. The cause of death appears to be exsanguination.

Police Sergeant Jeppe Kørner is assigned to the case, but this time he doesn’t have his partner Anette Werner by his side. Werner is on maternity leave – or should be, rather. The investigation takes Kørner, his new partner, and Werner into the heart of the healthcare system. It’s a world where great empathy and care is shown, but ambitions fester under the surface.

Meanwhile, Esther de Laurenti ought to be writing on her novel but is suffering from a case of writer’s block. And what could be depression, as well. As her friend is suddenly admitted to Rigshospitalet’s coronary care unit, Esther seeks help from a psychiatrist who unbeknownst to her has ties to the ongoing murder case. Esther and her friend are now both at the mercy of a system in decay that’s hiding a killer, and the hours till the next death have started ticking.

The noose tightens, but around whose throat will it close?

Katrine Engberg’s The Butterfly House is the third novel about the Police Sergeants Jeppe Kørner and Anette Werner.