Varg Veum collection

Varg Veum #15-18

by Gunnar Staalesen, Don Bartlett (Translator)

FOUR instalments of the Varg Veum series from the international, bestselling father of Nordic Noir: Gunnar Staalesen, Translated by Don Bartlett

PI Varg Veum returns to solve a series of dark, dangerous cases in his hometown of Bergen, Norway, in a series of chilling, perfectly plotted and thought-provoking thrillers...

BOOK ONE – We Shall Inherit the Wind

1998. Varg Veum sits by the hospital bedside of his long-term girlfriend Karin, whose life-threatening injuries provide a deeply painful reminder of the mistakes he's made.. Investigating the seemingly innocent disappearance of a wind-farm inspector, Varg Veum is thrust into one of the most challenging cases of his career, riddled with conflicts, environmental terrorism, religious fanaticism, unsolved mysteries and dubious business ethics. Then, in one of the most heart-stopping scenes in crime fiction, the first body appears...

BOOK TWO – Where Roses Never Die

WINNER OF THE PETRONA AWARD

September 1977.Mette Misvær, a three-year-old girl disappears without trace from the sandpit outside her home. Her tiny, close middle-class community in the tranquil suburb of Nordas is devastated, but their enquiries and the police produce nothing. Curtains twitch, suspicions are raised, but Mette is never found.

Almost 25 years later, as the expiry date for the statute of limitations draws near, Mette's mother approaches PI Varg Veum, in a last, desperate attempt to find out what happened to her daughter. As Veum starts to dig, he uncovers an intricate web of secrets, lies and shocking events that have been methodically concealed. When another brutal incident takes place, a pattern begins to emerge...

BOOK THREE – Wolves in the Dark

Reeling from the death of his great love, Karin, Varg Veum's life has descended into a self-destructive spiral of alcohol, lust, grief and blackouts. When traces of child pornography are found on his computer, he's accused of being part of a paedophile ring and thrown into a prison cell. There, he struggles to sift through his past to work out who is responsible for planting the material ... and who is seeking the ultimate revenge.

When a chance to escape presents itself, Varg finds himself on the run in his hometown of Bergen. With the clock ticking and the police on his tail, Varg takes on his hardest – and most personal – case yet.

BOOK FOUR – Big Sister

SHORTLISTED FOR THE PETRONA AWARD

Varg Veum receives a surprise visit in his office. A woman introduces herself as his half-sister, and she has a job for him. Her god-daughter, a 19-year-old trainee nurse from Haugesund, moved from her bedsit in Bergen two weeks ago. Since then no one has heard anything from her. She didn't leave an address. She doesn't answer her phone. And the police refuse to take her case seriously.

Veum's investigation uncovers a series of carefully covered-up crimes and pent-up hatreds, and the trail leads to a gang of extreme bikers on the hunt for a group of people whose dark deeds are hidden by the anonymity of the Internet. And then things get personal...

‘A Norwegian Chandler' Jo Nesbø

‘Staalesen is one of my very favourite Scandinavian authors and this is a series with very sharp teeth' Ian Rankin

‘Chilling and perilous results — all told in a pleasingly dry style' The

Genres: Mystery, Thriller

1092 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 7, 2019

About the author

Gunnar Staalesen is a Norwegian writer. Staalesen has a cand.philol degree from Universitetet i Bergen and he has worked at Den Nationale Scene, the main theater in Bergen.

Reviews

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, but 4 to 5 stars is closer to how I feel about the creation of the character Varg as I have really enjoyed the series on MHz as it is so very well acted.
Trond Espen Seim portrays Varg impressively.

[Mrs Susan J Bociek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impressive Nordic writing

I read the collection of four stories and remained close to the book, hardly wanting to take a break to sleep. Varg Veum is a memorable character; very human, with more than his share of character flaws and a deep desire to see justice done. Very often championing the underdog, once he has his teeth into a case, he takes his work as a P.I. to the max, often at cost to his personal safety. Surely retirement must beckon.....but not for a long time, I hope.

[Jeannie]

Four novels in the collection and of the 4, Where Roses Never Die, involving a 25 year old case of a missing girl, appealed the most, although all were very readable. Set in Bergen, Norway, private investigator Varg Veum is not coping well with life. After the death of his wife, he takes to drinking and his business suffers, which means, by necessity, he takes on cases he would rather not and deals with the type of people he would rather avoid.
The other novels were Wolves in the Dark/ We Shall Inherit the Wind / Big Sister.