Crime mystery set in Stavern, Norway (Norway’s best Summer City called “the dimple”), plus Jørn talks to us about locale
- Book: Ordeal
- Location: Kristiansand, Stavern
- Author: Jørn Lier Horst
Another good read to add the Nordic Noir stable.
Ordeal is the 10th title (the 5th translated into English) in the Chief Inspector William Wisting series. He is now 55 and father to twins Thomas and Line, having lost his wife and their mother on a NORAD project in a previous book. He does not have some of the quirks of other detectives and for that seems a relatively gentle soul who takes his time to think through the processes of crime detection.
Daughter Line lives within spitting distance of her father and has a good eye for detail, as she has worked as a reporter but is now on maternity leave. She and her father are spending time doing up her house in preparation for the imminent birth of her first child. Her relatively new friend Sofie Lund is the granddaughter of eminent criminal Frank Mandt, whose house she has inherited.
In the basement of Sofie’s house is a safe, bolted to the floor, with no apparent key. And when she and Line attend the opening of the safe, what they discover has a crucial influence on two outstanding murders, that of taxi driver Jens Hummel (driver of taxi Z-1086) – a man with a generous heart – and the seemingly random killing of a young woman. Wisting negotiates his way through the evidence, witness statements and the politics of policing in this small town.
This book can be read as a stand-alone.
Jørn’s literary awards include the Norwegian Booksellers’ Prize, the Riverton Prize (Golden Revolver), the Scandinavian Glass Key and the prestigious Martin Beck Award.
This review first appeared on our blog, where we also talk to Jørn about Stavern
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