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Karin Fossum

A missing child mystery drives this “dark, intense . . . impossible-to-put-down investigation. . . . Essential reading for fans of Scandinavian crime fiction” (Booklist, starred review).

Ida Joner gets on her brand-new bike and sets off toward town. A good-natured, happy girl, she is looking forward to her tenth birthday. Thirty-five minutes after Ida should have come home, her mother starts to worry. She phones store owners, Ida’s friends—anyone who could have seen her. But no one has.

Suspicion immediately falls on Emil Mork, a local character who lives alone and hasn’t spoken since childhood. His mother insists on cleaning his house weekly—although she’s sometimes afraid of what she might find there. A mother’s worst nightmare in either case—to lose a child or to think a child capable of murder. As Ida’s relatives reach the breaking point and the media frenzy surrounding the case begins, Inspector Konrad Sejer is his usual calm and reassuring self. But he’s puzzled. And disturbed. This is the strangest case he’s seen in years.

Praise for Karin Fossum:

“A superb writer of psychological suspense.” —New York Times

“Sejer is a beautifully created character, a thoughtful, lonely man with great empathy.” —Publishers Weekly

“With sharp psychological insight and a fine grasp on police procedure, Fossum is easily one of the best new imports the genre has to offer.” —The Baltimore Sun

“No one can thoroughly chill the blood the way Karin Fossum can . . . will put you away, no questions asked.” —Los Angeles Times

“A truly great writer and explorer of the human mind.” —Jo Nesbo, New York Times bestselling author of the Harry Hole series

“Fossum . . . writes like Ruth Rendell with the gloves off.” —Kirkus Reviews

HarperVia

The Inspector Sejer Mysteries

Black Seconds

This novel in the acclaimed Scandinavian mystery series is “an engrossing psychological thriller” about a missing teen being held by a deranged captor. (Sunday Telegraph)

When the theft of a purse from a stroller results in an infant’s death, two teenagers are in trouble. Unaware of the enormity of their crime, Zipp and Andreas are intent on committing still another. They follow an elderly woman home, and Andreas enters her house with his ever-reliable switchblade. Motionless in the dark, Zipp waits for his friend to come out.

Inspector Konrad Sejer and his colleague Jacob Skarre see no connection between the infant’s death and the reported disappearance of a local delinquent. And so while the confusion in the world outside mounts, the chilling, heart-stopping truth unfolds inside the old woman’s home.

Unflappable as ever, Sejer digs below the surface of small-town tranquility to understand how and why violence destroys everyday lives. Another brilliantly observed, precisely rendered psychological mystery from the highly acclaimed Karin Fossum.

Praise for Karin Fossum:

“A superb writer of psychological suspense.” —New York Times

“Sejer is a beautifully created character, a thoughtful, lonely man with great empathy.” —Publishers Weekly

“Essential reading for fans of Scandinavian crime fiction.” —Booklist, starred review

“With sharp psychological insight and a fine grasp on police procedure, Fossum is easily one of the best new imports the genre has to offer.” —The Baltimore Sun

“A truly great writer and explorer of the human mind.” —Jo Nesbo, New York Times–bestselling author of the Harry Hole series

“Fossum . . . writes like Ruth Rendell with the gloves off.” —Kirkus Reviews

When The Devil Holds The Candle

“[A] penetrating tale of a falling-out among conspirators” from the author of The Water’s Edge and winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Kirkus Reviews).

In the wake of Stieg Larsson’s bestselling novels, readers are discovering the rich trove of modern Scandinavian crime fiction. If you’ve devoured the Millennium trilogy and are looking for your next read, Karin Fossum and her bone-chillingly bleak psychological thrillers have won the admiration of the likes of Ruth Rendell and Colin Dexter (of Inspector Morse fame). 

In Bad Intentions, Konrad Sejer must face down his memories and fears as he struggles to determine why the corpses of troubled young men keep surfacing in local lakes. 

The first victim, Jon Moreno, was getting better. His psychiatrist said so, and so did his new friend at the hospital, Molly Gram, with her little-girl-lost looks. He was racked by a mysterious guilt that had driven him to a nervous breakdown one year earlier. But when he drowns in Dead Water Lake, Sejer hesitates to call it a suicide. 

Then another corpse is found in a lake, a Vietnamese immigrant. And Sejer begins to feel his age weigh on him. Does he still have the strength to pursue the elusive explanations for human evil?

This e-book includes a sample chapter of The Murder of Harriet Krohn.

“An intimate study of broken lives that showcases Fossum’s poet past.” —Bloomberg

“Fascinatingly readable and very cleverly done.” —Colin Dexter, author of the Inspector Morse series

“A bracingly pleasurable experience . . . [Fossum] keeps her cut-to-the-bone mystery moving briskly.” —Independent

“A gem.” —The Guardian

Bad Intentions

“Pranks can have lethal consequences, even when they seem harmless to start with. . . . A poison bonbon that ranks with the best of Ruth Rendell.” —Stephen King in Entertainment Weekly

One mild summer evening, a young couple are enjoying dinner while their daughter sleeps peacefully in her stroller under a tree. When her mother steps outside she is stunned: the child is covered in blood.

Inspector Sejer is called to the hospital to meet the family. Mercifully, the child is unharmed, but the parents are deeply shaken, and Sejer spends the evening trying to understand why anyone would carry out such a sinister prank. Then, just before midnight, somebody rings his doorbell.

No one is at the door, but the caller has left a small gray envelope on Sejer’s mat. From his living room window, the inspector watches a figure disappear into the darkness. Inside the envelope Sejer finds a postcard bearing a short message: Hell begins now.

Praise for Karin Fossum:

“A superb writer of psychological suspense.” —New York Times

“Sejer is a beautifully created character, a thoughtful, lonely man with great empathy.” —Publishers Weekly

“With sharp psychological insight and a fine grasp on police procedure, Fossum is easily one of the best new imports the genre has to offer.” —The Baltimore Sun

“No one can thoroughly chill the blood the way Karin Fossum can . . . will put you away, no questions asked.”—Los Angeles Times

“Fossum . . . writes like Ruth Rendell with the gloves off.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A truly great writer and explorer of the human mind.” —Jo Nesbo, New York Times bestselling author of the Harry Hole series

The Caller

An “impressive” and “gripping” Scandinavian mystery from an author who “succeeds in evoking sympathy for all her characters . . . [in a] fair-play whodunit” (Publishers Weekly).

Inspector Sejer is hard at work again, investigating the brutal murder of a woman who lived alone in the middle of the woods. The chief suspect is another loner, a schizophrenic recently escaped from a mental institution. The only witness is a twelve-year-old boy, overweight, obsessed with archery, and a resident at a home for delinquents. When a demented man robs a nearby bank and accidentally takes the suspect hostage, the three misfits are drawn into an uneasy alliance.

Shrewdly, patiently, as is his way, Inspector Sejer confronts a case where the strangeness of the crime is matched only by the strangeness of the criminals, and where small-town prejudices warp every piece of information he tries to collect. Fossum once again provides extraordinary insight into marginalized lives and richly evokes the atmosphere she captured so brilliantly in Don’t Look Back.

Praise for Karin Fossum:

“A superb writer of psychological suspense.” —New York Times

“Sejer is a beautifully created character, a thoughtful, lonely man with great empathy.” —Publishers Weekly

“With sharp psychological insight and a fine grasp on police procedure, Fossum is easily one of the best new imports the genre has to offer.” —The Baltimore Sun

“A truly great writer and explorer of the human mind.” —Jo Nesbo, New York Times bestselling author of the Harry Hole series

“Fossum . . . writes like Ruth Rendell with the gloves off.” —Kirkus Reviews

He Who Fears The Wolf

Murder unsettles a Nordic town in this “heart-stoppingly suspenseful” crime novel from “a master at probing the plague of guilt that infects a community” (Washington Post Book World).

When perpetual bachelor Gunder Jomann goes to India for two weeks and comes home married, the town of Elvestad is stunned. On the day the Indian bride is supposed to arrive, the battered body of a woman is found in a meadow on the outskirts of town. None of the “good people of Elvestad” can believe that anyone among them would be capable of such a brutal murder. But in his quiet, formal way, Inspector Konrad Sejer understands that good people can commit atrocious deeds, and that no one is altogether innocent—including the café owner who knows too much, the girl who wants to be a chief witness, and the bodybuilder with no outlet for his terrible strength.

Another brilliantly conceived, dark novel from one of Europe’s most successful crime writers.

“[It] takes . . . subtle thought to interpret a cafe owner’s surliness or a schoolgirl’s eagerness to be a murder witness. What it takes is a writer like Fossum, able to see into the soul of an entire village.” —Marilyn Stasio, New York Times

“Like a Scandinavian winter, this potent psychological thriller chills right to the bone. —Booklist, starred review

“An irresistible page-turner that’s like a Nordic Sherlock Holmes story, with characters by Bergman and blood by Tarantino.” —Entertainment Weekly

“Outstanding . . . With a skill few can equal, Fossum deftly paints the provincial inhabitants of Elvestad, coupling those poignant word portraits with a whodunit and an insightful but fallible detective.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

The Indian Bride

A Norwegian police detective must unravel a grieving mother’s shifting stories in a novel by “a truly great writer and explorer of the human mind” (Jo Nesbø)

Carmen and Nicolai failed to resuscitate their son after finding him floating in their backyard pond. When Inspector Skarre arrives, Carmen reports that Tommy, a healthy toddler with Down syndrome, wandered into the garden while Nicolai was working in the basement and she was cleaning the house. Skarre senses something is off with Carmen’s story and consults his trusted colleague, the famed Inspector Sejer. An autopsy reveals Tommy’s lungs to be full of soap.

When Sejer and Skarre revisit the couple, Carmen, an epileptic, changes her story, confessing that she’d been knocked unconscious by a seizure while bathing Tommy. When she came to, she found him drowned in the tub and, horrified and frightened, threw him into the pond.

But Skarre and Sejer’s doubt is not appeased. What more could Carmen be hiding? And how far will she go to cover her guilt? 

“Powerful . . . a riveting tale.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Will keep readers guessing. Grade: A.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer

“In the end, the novel isn’t about willful murder or even accidental death, but the psychological aftershocks for the living.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Compelling work from the author who seems to have inherited the late Ruth Rendell’s gift of spinning the darkest complications out of what might seem like nothing at all.” —Kirkus Reviews

The Drowned Boy

“An intelligent thriller . . . [a] slim-but-dense marvel of a mystery” from the award-winning author of The Murder of Harriet Krohn (The Washington Post Book World).

 Reinhardt and Kristine Ris, a married couple, are out for a Sunday walk when they discover the body of a boy and see the figure of a man limping away. They alert the police, but not before Reinhardt, to Kristine’s horror, kneels down and takes photographs of the dead child with his cell phone. Inspectors Konrad Sejer and Jakob Skarre begin to make inquiries in the little town of Huseby. But then another boy disappears, and an explanation seems more remote than ever. Meanwhile, the Rises’ marriage unravels as Reinhardt becomes obsessed with the tragic events and his own part in them.

The Water’s Edge is a riveting portrayal of a community in turmoil from Karin Fossum, Norway’s “Queen of Crime.” 

 This ebook includes a sample chapter of The Murder of Harriet Krohn.

“While this happens to be an exceptionally fine story, Fossum’s real narrative appeal, readily apparent in Charlotte Barslund’s translation, rests on her ability to see the humanity in even the most wretched soul.” —The New York Times

“Fossum’s concise, elegant writing perfectly captures the panic of a small town gripped by a heinous crime.” —Entertainment Weekly

“Splitting the narrative among the police investigation, the Rises’ crumbling marriage and the nameless killer, Fossum sets in motion an inevitable collision that’s as unsettling as it is unexpected.” —Publishers Weekly

“You’ve read this story dozens of times, but Fossum introduces you to characters you’ve never met before.” —Kirkus Reviews