A murder committed on paper, safely within the confines of a novel, is one thing. To see that same crime in the real world, is something else entirely. . . Frank Fons is a very successful crime writer. His novels, famed for their visceral descriptions of violent death, have made him a household name. But now someone is copying his crimes. For Frank what once seemed a clever, intriguing plot twist, has suddenly become a terrifying, blood-spattered reality. In the novel, a redhead who was scared of water is drowned. In the mirror-image of the real world, she has become an ex-girlfriend chained and left to die at the bottom of the harbour. A corrupt police-officer tortured to death becomes a contact who dies with fear in his eyes. Someone is taking Franks' fiction and using it to destroy his life. The writer must become the detective. In fiction, the bad guy always gets caught, but in real life there is no such guarantee. Fear becomes real. The knife cut hurts like hell. Our narrator may not survive. No-one is promising you a happy ending. For Frank what had once been a game is now a matter of life and death.

**Longlisted for The International Booker Prize 2023** 'To mother is to murder, or close enough', thinks Johanna, as she looks at the spelling of the two words in Norwegian. She's recently widowed and back in Oslo after a long absence as she prepares for a retrospective of her art. The subject of her work is motherhood and some of her more controversial paintings have brought about a dramatic rift between parent and child. This new proximity, after decades of acrimonious absence, set both women on edge, and before too long Johanna finds her mother stalking her thoughts, and Johanna starts stalking her mother's house.

*JO NESBO HAS SOLD OVER 50 MILLION BOOKS WORLDWIDE* 'A tense, violent and hugely absorbing walk on the murky side of Oslo' Sunday Mirror Sonny's on the run. Sonny is a model prisoner. He listens to the confessions of other inmates and absolves them of their sins. But then one prisoner's confession changes everything. He's been lied to his whole life. After learning the truth about his disgraced father, Sonny needs to break out of prison and make those responsible pay for their crimes. Sonny wants revenge, whatever the cost. 'Excellent...an intricate, disturbing picture of rampant corruption' The Times Watch out for The Jealousy Man, the new Jo Nesbo book, out now

'Gives Jo Nesbo a run for his money' Sunday Express From the author of the bestselling Richard and Judy bookclub pick I'm Travelling Alone No one is safe in the dark... When a young woman is found dead, the police are quick to respond. But what they find at the murder site is unexpected. The body is posed, the scene meticulously set. And there is almost no forensic evidence to be found. Detective Mia Kruger is a woman on the edge - she has been signed off work pending psychological assessment. But her boss has less regard for the rules than he should. Desperate to get Mia back in the office, Holger Munch offers her an unofficial deal. But the usually brilliant Mia is struggling and the team are unable to close the case. Until a young hacker uncovers something that forces the team to confront the scope of the murderer's plans and face the possibility that he may already be on the hunt for a second victim. Samuel Bjork's latest novel The Boy in the Headlights is out now

A Convicted Killer: Despite always maintaining his innocence, Tori Pulli, once a powerful player on Oslo's underground crime scene, has been found guilty of murder. A Loose End: Scarred reporter, Henning Juul, is contacted by Pulli, who claims that if Henning can help clear his name he can give him details of who was responsible for the fire which killed his six-year-old son, Jonas. A Double Threat: Desperate to continue his own search for justice, Henning realises that the information Pulli promises is life threatening, to both of them and to others. As events take a deadly turn, Henning finds himself on the trail of two killers for whom the stakes have never been higher...

The bestselling series, a former Richard and Judy bookclub pick, returns with another chilling case.

‘Gives Jo Nesbo a run for his money’ Sunday Express

Munch and Krüger. An unexpected pairing. A brilliant team.

Winter 1996. An old man is driving home when his headlights catch an animal on the empty road up ahead. He stamps hard on the brakes. But it is not an animal at all. It is a young boy, frightened and alone, with a set of deer antlers strapped firmly to his head.

Fourteen years later, a body is found in a mountain lake. Within weeks, three people have died. Each time, the killer has left a clue, inviting Special Investigations Detectives Munch and Krüger to play a deadly game – a game they cannot possibly win. Against the most dangerous and terrifying kind of serial killer. One who chooses their victims completely at random.

To find the killer they must look deep within their own dark pasts, but how can you stop a murderer when you cannot begin to predict their next move?

A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER A RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK FOR SPRING 2017 When the body of a young girl is found hanging from a tree, the only clue the police have is an airline tag around her neck. It reads 'I'm travelling alone'. In response, police investigator Holger Munch is immediately charged with assembling a special homicide unit. But to complete the team, he must track down his former partner, Mia Kruger - a brilliant but troubled detective - who has retreated to a solitary island with plans to kill herself. Reviewing the file, Mia finds something new - a thin line carved into the dead girl's fingernail: the number 1. She knows that this is only the beginning. To save other children from the same fate, she must find a way to cast aside her own demons and stop this murderer from becoming a serial killer. PRAISE FOR I'M TRAVELLING ALONE: 'Terrific . . . Intelligent and gripping . . . May well propel [Bjork] to deserved international fame.' The Times 'This is a simply terrific debut. The characters are completely believable, the plot is scalpel sharp and, as the hunt escalates, it will frighten the wits out of you in an utterly brilliant way.' Sunday Mirror 'Tense, thrilling and genuinely scary.' Heat 'Perfect for fans of Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series and Danish crime drama The Bridge.' Crime Scene Magazine 'Samuel Bjork's formidable I'm Travelling Alone is despatched with real elan . . . Mia's confrontation with both her own demons and a very human one is mesmerising fare.' Independent 'The latest Norwegian crime-writing sensation.' Sunday Times Samuel Bjork's latest novel The Boy in the Headlights is out now

When the body of a young girl is found hanging from a tree, the only clue the police have is an airline tag around her neck. It reads 'I'm travelling alone'. In response, police investigator Holger Munch is immediately charged with assembling a special homicide unit. But to complete the team, he must track down his former partner, Mia Kruger - a brilliant but troubled detective - who has retreated to a solitary island with plans to kill herself. Reviewing the file, Mia finds something new - a thin line carved into the dead girl's fingernail: the number 1. She knows that this is only the beginning. To save other children from the same fate, she must find a way to cast aside her own demons and stop this murderer from becoming a serial killer.

Uncovering class divisions, racial conflicts, and tangled emotions, this gritty, shocking

novel of suspense heralds the arrival of a major new talent.

Henning Juul is a veteran investigative crime reporter in Oslo, Norway. A horrific fire killed his six-year-old son, cut scars across his face, and ended his marriage, and on his first day back at the job after the terrible tragedy a body is discovered in one of the city's public parks. A beautiful female college student has been stoned to death and buried up to her neck, her body left bloody and exposed. The brutality of the crime shakes the whole country, but despite his own recent trauma - and the fact that his ex-wife's new boyfriend is also on the case - Henning is given the assignment. When the victim's boyfriend, a Pakistani native, is arrested, Henning feels certain the man is innocent. This was not simply a Middle Eastern-style honor killing in the face of adultery - it was a far more complicated gesture, and one that will drag Henning into a darkness he's never dreamed of.

1977. Poised between the secular values of socialism and the conservatism of a tenuously balanced government, Istanbul is a fractured city haunted by demons of its own making. Along with thousands of other left-wing activists, Oak's interest in politics leads him to join the annual May Day rallies. There he encounters Zuhal, a fearless girl with a gun. As battles rage between nationalists and socialists, Oak witnesses the violent suppression of dissident minorities by his fellow citizens. The bewitching Zuhal begins to shape his ideals, bringing him face to face with disillusionment, and death.

AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
A THRILLING EPIC TALE OF THE SEA
""We, the Drowned" sets sail beyond the narrow channels of the seafaring genre and approaches Tolstoy in its evocation of war's confusion, its power to stun victors and vanquished alike . . . A gorgeous, unsparing novel." -- "Washington Post"
"A generational saga, a swashbuckling sailor's tale, and the account of a small town coming into modernity--both Melville and Steinbeck might have been pleased to read it." -- "New Republic"
Hailed in Europe as an instant classic, "We, the Drowned "is the story of the port town of Marstal, Denmark, whose inhabitants sailed the world from the mid-nineteenth century to the end of the Second World War. The novel tells of ships wrecked and blown up in wars, of places of terror and violence that continue to lure each generation; there are cannibals here, shrunken heads, prophetic dreams, and miraculous survivals. The result is a brilliant seafaring novel, a gripping saga encompassing industrial growth, the years of expansion and exploration, the crucible of the first half of the twentieth century, and most of all, the sea.
Called "one of the most exciting authors in Nordic literature" by Henning Mankell, Carsten Jensen has worked as a literary critic and a journalist, reporting from China, Cambodia, Latin America, the Pacific Islands, and Afghanistan. He lives in Copenhagen and Marstal.

Everything comes with a price The chilling next instalment in the Konrad Simonsen series, perfect for fans of Johan Theorin and Yrsa Sigurdardottir The skeleton of a young woman is discovered, tied to a stone, in a lake deep in the Danish countryside. The woman's identity is a mystery; no one matching her description has been reported missing... After months of fruitless investigation by the local police force, a media scandal brings the case to nationwide attention and is quickly handed over to Konrad Simonsen and his team from the Copenhagen Police force. It soon becomes clear that this unknown woman is the key to a sinister world of human trafficking, prostitution and violence. A world where everything comes with a price and no mistake goes unpunished.

"A fast-paced and skilfully plotted thriller" BARRY FORSHAW When a picture of two Danish girls who disappeared on a boat bound for England in 1985 emerges many years later in an old suitcase from a British second-hand dealer, the journalist Nora Sand's professional curiosity is immediately awakened. Before she knows it, she is mixed up in the case of a serial killer serving a life sentence in a notorious prison. The quest to discover the truth about the missing girls may be more dangerous that she had ever imagined... Fatal Crossing is inspired by a real incident, in some photos of unknown girls, taken at Copenhagen Central Station, appeared in the possession of an American serial killer. Journalist and author Lone Theils was fascinated by the case, and set to work on her debut novel. Translated from the Danish from Charlotte Barslund

For fans of Borgen, The Killing and the Wallander series, a thrilling novel of murder and political scandal in Oslo. An elderly woman is found dead in a nursing home. Bjarne Brogeland, who heads up the investigation, soon realises that they are on the trail of a meticulous killer who has developed a keen taste for revenge. A killer who has only just begun... Trine Juul-Osmundsen, Norway's Secretary of State and Henning Juul's sister, is accused of sexually harassing a young male politician. As the allegations cause a media frenzy, Trine receives an anonymous threat telling her to resign. If she doesn't, the truth about what she really did that night will be revealed. Scarred reporter Henning Juul, finds himself torn between the two high profile cases. He wants to help his estranged sister, but as he digs into their past, he discovers memories that haunt them both. Memories of a broken home. Memories of a dead father. As the two cases collide, both their worlds threaten to fall apart. Scarred is the third novel in the acclaimed Henning Juul series, following Burned and Pierced, which was shortlisted for the 2013 Petrona Award.

As Clara turns thirteen she must complete a daunting challenge in order to become a fully-fledged wildwitch, but a series of frightening attacks on her family are distracting her from the crucial task ahead of her. Clara searches for the source of the danger and finds herself drawn further and further into the mystery, towards a deadly battle with Bravita Bloodling that will leave her changed for ever.

Herman Bang (1857-1912) was a sharp-witted observer of the society and manners of his age; with an eye for telling details, he could at one moment mercilessly puncture hypocrisy and arrogance, at the next invoke indignant sympathy for the outcasts and failures of a ruthlessly competitive world. In his novels and especially in his short stories he often takes as his protagonist an unremarkable character who might be dismissed by a casual observer as uninteresting: a failed ballet dancer who scrapes a living as a peripatetic dance teacher in outlying villages ('Irene Holm'), or a lodging-house-keeper's daughter who toils from dawn to dusk to make ends meet ('Froken Caja'). He can also make wicked fun of pretensions and plots, as in 'The Ravens', where the family of the aging Froken Sejer are scheming to have her declared incapable, whilst she is selling off her valuables behind their backs to cheat them of their inheritance. His wide-ranging journalism has many targets, alerting readers to the wretched poverty hidden just a few steps from the thriving city shops or the ineptitude of Europe's ruling houses - as well as celebrating the innovations of the modern age, such as the automobile or the department store. Bang was well known throughout Europe in his lifetime, especially in Germany, where his works were translated early. In the English-speaking world he has had little impact, partly no doubt because of his homosexuality. Even now, only a couple of his novels have been translated. This volume is an attempt to remedy this lack by introducing a broad selection of his short stories and journalism to a new public.

Professor Kristian Storm worked tirelessly on vaccination programmes protecting children in West Africa. But shortly after his research hit upon a shocking discovery, Storm is found hanged in his office. His protege Marie Skov refuses to believes it was suicide. But Storm's theories were controversial, and his critics powerful. Her only ally is Detective Soren Marhauge. Behind the scenes of the cut-throat pharmaceutical industry, Marie and Soren hunt for the truth. As they themselves come under threat, ever darker revelations await.

On a warm Autumn afternoon, Tivoli Gardens - Denmark's largest amusement park - is devastated by a terrorist attack. 1,241 people are killed. The unknown bomber is blown to bits; the security forces have no leads. One year later, the nation is still reeling, and those behind the attack are still at large. Amidst the increasingly frustrated police force, Superintendent Lene Jensen is suffering the effects of tragedy closer to home. Everyone is aware the terrorists may soon strike again. Then Lene receives a strange call. A young desperate Muslim woman needs her help, but by the time Lene reaches her she's already dead - supposedly suicide. Already suspicious, Lene's initial investigations suggest that the woman was unknowingly part of a secret services research project. Silenced by her superiors, Lene turns to her old ally Michael Sander to dig deeper. But with even her allies increasingly adamant her actions are a risk to national security, Lene begins to understand that finding the truth might be the most dangerous thing of all.

Biology graduate Anna Bella Nor is just two weeks away from defending her thesis on the origin of birds when her supervisor Lars Helland is found dead in his office, his severed tongue lying on his bloodied shirtfront, a copy of her thesis in his lap.

Police Superintendent Soren Marhauge is assigned to unravel what appears to be a multitude of intrigues in the Biology Department of Copenhagen University. Helland had been deliberately infected with a rare parasite that only an expert in the field would have access to. But when Anna Bella's fellow graduate and close friend is also killed, the murders seem to be linked not only to the university but also to Anna herself.

As Marhauge investigates he comes up against the vicious competition for academic success, dark secrets from the past - all against the fabulous backdrop of palaeontology's age-old mysteries.

Suspenseful, compelling, richly detailed and stunningly researched, The Dinosaur Feather unveils a sparkling mosaic of related destinies as well as a sinister web of lies.

A woman wakes up in the middle of the night. A strange man is in her bedroom. She lies there in silence, paralyzed with fear. The woman is an author and the man one of her characters, one in a long line that waits in her driveway for the time when she'll tell their stories. He is so desperate that he has resorted to breaking into her house and demanding that she begin. He, the author decides, is named Alvar Eide, forty-two years old, single, works in a gallery. He lives a quiet, orderly life and likes it that way--no demands, no unpleasantness. Until the icy winter morning when a young drug addict, skinny and fragile, walks into the gallery. Alvar gives her a cup of coffee to warm her up. And then one day she appears on his doorstep. "Broken" is an unconventional, subtle, and disturbing mystery from a master of the form.

An outstanding psychological crime novel from Karin Fossum: when a body surfaces in a lake Inspector Sejer must uncover a dark secret of betrayal and paranoia.
Early one September three friends spend the weekend at a remote cabin by Dead Water Lake. With only a pale moon to light their way, they row across the water in the middle of the night. But only two of them return.
When the body of the third friend is discovered, Inspector Sejer is put in charge of the investigation. He is troubled by the apparent suicide and has an overwhelming sense that the surviving pair has something to hide. Weeks pass without further clues and then, in a nearby lake, the body of another teenage boy floats to the surface.

""How impossible it was to grasp that in the end something as fine as this could be ground into dust" (p. 213). "
I Curse the River of Time, the new novel from the winner of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for Out Stealing Horses, is a mesmerizingly beautiful book about love, regret, family secrets and failed revolution.
The novel takes us through thirty-seven-year-old Arvid's life and its descent towards a moment of terrible crisis. It traces his parents' hesitant support when he gives up his place at college to work in a paper mill, like his father; his experiences as a fervent young Maoist in Norway in the 1960s; the death of his younger brother; the passionate, enveloping romance that led to marriage and children and, for a time, happiness; the failure of that relationship, and its transformation into a source of harrowing pain.
By 1989, everything that gave Arvid's life meaning has melted into air. The collapse of the Berlin Wall mirrors the collapse of his marriage and his self-punishing alcoholism. When his mother is diagnosed with stomach cancer, Arvid sets off to their summer house in Denmark to be with her, meeting men and women from their past along the way. His despairing journey is also a quest for some kind of order in his life, perhaps even a new foundation. When Arvid finds his mother, and accompanies her in her illness, the novel turns to exploring the secrets that explain the distance between them - a distance that perhaps can never be crossed.
I Curse the River of Time" "describes the ways that the present and the past are always intertwined, and shows how the personal and political are one and the same. Written in a subdued and elegiac style, with flashes of devastating poetic beauty, it is an utterly absorbing experience, a book that displays wisdom of the kind that only profound loss can bring. Above all, it is a reminder of the power of great art to console us for life's burdens, an example of the way our dreams may brighten our bleakest moments.

Gunder Jomann, a quiet, middle-aged man from a peaceful Norwegian community, thinks his life has been made complete when he returns from a trip to India a married man. But on the day his Indian bride is due to join him, he is called to the hospital to his sister's bedside. The local taxi driver sent instead to meet the bride at the airport returns without her. Then the town is shocked by the news of an Indian woman found bludgeoned to death in a nearby meadow. Inspector Sejer and his colleague Skarre head the murder inquiry, cross-examining the townsfolk and planting seeds of suspicion in a community which has always believed itself to be simple, safe and trusting. For what can only have been an unpremeditated and motiveless act of violence, everyone is guilty until proven innocent.

Nine-year-old Ida Joner gets on her brand-new bike and sets off to buy sweets. Thirty-five minutes after Ida should have come home, her mother, Helga, starts to worry. She phones the shop and various friends, but no one has seen her daughter. As the family being to search for Ida, Helga's worst nightmare becomes reality. As the police are called in, hundreds of volunteers comb the neighbourhood, but there are no traces of the little girl, or her bike. As the relatives reach breaking point and the media frenzy begins, Inspector Sejer struggles to remains calm and reassuring. But usually missing children are found within forty-eight hours. Ida seems to have vanished without a trace.