Cinenord and Good Company Films to produce the new major Norwegian drama series Wisting

Jørn Lier Horst’s wildly popular and award-winning books about homicide detective William Wisting will now become a TV series – with Sven Nordin in the leading role.

Sven Nordin is a beloved and revered character actor in Norway, and has also enjoyed great international success recently with the Norwegian drama series “Valkyrien” (NRK).

In the role of William Wisting, Sven Nordin will portray the hard-working, compassionate investigator who is trying to be a force of good in the world, without losing himself to the darkness. Wisting has dedicated his life to solving the senseless and vicious murders that shock his small coastal town. But trying to make the world a safer place comes at a huge cost – failing your own family.

”Wisting is a complex and intriguing person, and I can’t wait to portray him. I am a great admirer of the author Jørn Lier Horst and it is with great humility and joy that I embark on this task. This will be exciting! I look forward to it!” says actor Sven Nordin.

“I am delighted by the great enthusiasm the project has been met with, and that the Wisting series will become a reality. I’m grateful that Sven Nordin has accepted the leading role of William Wisting. It is an excellent choice. He is stylistically assured and one of our very best character actors”, says author Jørn Lier Horst, a former Senior Investigating Officer in the Norwegian police force.

The first season of the series is based on two of the most popular and prized books in the Wisting literary series, The Hunting Dogs and The Caveman. Shooting commences on January 17th, 2018 on location on south-eastern Norwegian twin towns Larvik and Stavern.  The family Christmas is ruined as homicide detective Wisting wrestles with the most challenging and shocking case of his career: a wanted American serial killer lives among them! Meanwhile, Line – Wisting’s intrepid journalist daughter – is chasing headlines, leading her straight in the path of the serial killer. Suddenly, an old case comes back to haunt Wisting, and a dreadful accusation is hurled at him. How will Wisting save other lives when now he finds himself suspended and fighting for his own reputation, career and life?

Seasoned producer Anni Faurbye Fernandez from Danish Good Company Films was

formerly executive producer and CEO of Swedish production company Yellow Bird, who had phenomenal success with the seminal Nordic Noir crimes series Wallander and Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy.

“The thrilling books of Jørn Lier Horst captivated me from the outset and I am very pleased that we have managed to raise substantial financing, allowing us to realize our vision for this TV series. The project has great international appeal, and we have received overwhelming interest from foreign broadcasters and distributors”, Fernandez says.

”We are immensely proud to greenlight a project we so wholeheartedly believe in. Our ambition is to create a Norwegian drama juggernaut, that will last for many seasons. Jørn Lier Horst’s detective novels featuring William Wisting are incredibly popular, and we look forward to translating them into a tremendous drama series”, says producer Silje Hopland Eik from Cinenord.  GoodCo and Cinenord will produce Wisting for Scandinavian Viaplay, TV3 Norway and German broadcaster ARD Degeto.

Directors
Trygve Allister Diesen is an experienced writer-director of TV-series, such
as Hotel Cæsar (1998 – 2004), The School (NRK, 2004) and Torpedo (TV2,
2007). He was responsible for the TV2-series The Third Eye, and has also directed several episodes of Kommissarie Winter and Arne Dahl. Diesen has also made several movies following his debut with Mørkets øy (2007), and holds a PhD in film directing.

Katarina Launing belongs to the Norwegian Film School’s first graduate litter in film directing. She is currently in post-production with Battle, her third feature film as director. Her directorial debut was Christmas night in Blåfjell (co-directed with Roar Uthaug). Her award-winning 2013 movie Kick It received great reviews and a long festival life.

Screenwriters

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Trygve Allister Diesen and Katrine Valen Zeiner have co-written the series, based on Jørn Lier Horst’s books The Caveman and The Hunting Dogs. Since graduating from the Norwegian Film School, Zeiner has become an established screenwriter, with award-winning and internationally acclaimed credits, including the recent thriller series Valkyrien (NRK) and Emmy-winning Eye Witness (NRK). Kjersti Ugelstad and Anne Elvedal are episode writers.

MWA Announces 2018 Special Edgar Awards – Grand Master, Raven and Ellery Queen

Jane Langton, William Link, and Peter Lovesey have been chosen as the 2018 Grand Masters by Mystery Writers of America (MWA). MWA’s Grand Master Award represents the pinnacle of achievement in mystery writing and was established to acknowledge important contributions to this genre, as well as for a body of work that is both significant and of consistent high quality.  Ms. Langton, Mr. Link, and Mr. Lovesey will receive their awards at the 72nd Annual Edgar Awards Banquet, which will be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City on April 26, 2018.

In a writing career that spanned over four decades, Jane Langton has not only written multiple mystery series, but also illustrated them.  Her first children’s book, The Majesty of Grace, was published by Harper in 1961. The first book of her Hall Family Chronicles series, The Diamond in the Window, was nominated for the Edgar for Best Juvenile.  The Fledgling, fourth in the series, is a Newbery Honor Book. Langton has written 18 books in the Homer (and Mary) Kelly series, published between 1964 and 2005. The fifth in the series, Emily Dickinson Is Dead, was an Edgar nominee and received a Nero Wolfe award.

When told of being named a Grand Master, Langton said, “Oh, what an honor!  I am so very delighted.”

William Link’s love of writing began with the cartoons he drew as a very young boy. When he learned to write, he immediately created stories for them.  The first day of middle school, he would meet a classmate, Richard Levinson. They went home and started writing together that afternoon. The partnership of these two creative minds would change television history and the format of the crime drama forever with shows like Columbo, Ellery Queen, Mannix, And Murder She Wrote to name a few. They even wrote a Broadway musical, Merlin. After the death of his best friend and writing partner he continued on alone.  Bill has received numerous awards for excellence including 2 Emmys, 2 Golden Globes, 4 Edgar Awards, The Ellery Queen, The Marlowe, The Poirot, the George Foster Peabody, and The Paddy Chayefsky Laurel award. He was inducted into The Television Academy Hall of Fame.

Even with all these accomplishments, when the call came in with the news that he is to be named Grand Master for 2018 he said, “I was stunned and moved to tears. In the words of Lt. Columbo, ‘Just one more thing…’ This is the highest honor I could possibly receive and I couldn’t be more proud of the recognition. I am humbled and thrilled to be included in the company of so many of my favorite authors.”

Peter (Harmer) Lovesey, also known by his pen name Peter Lear, is a British writer of historical and contemporary detective novels and short stories. His best-known series characters are Sergeant Cribb, a Victorian-era police detective based in London, and Peter Diamond, a modern-day police detective in Bath. Peter Lovesey has won awards for his fiction, including Gold and Silver Daggers from the British Crime Writers’ Association, the Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement, the French Grand Prix de Littérature Policière and first place in the MWA’s 50th Anniversary Short Story Contest.  When told that he was named a Grand Master, Lovesey said, “’Right now I’m sitting on cloud nine hoping this is true. Thank you, MWA, for giving me the biggest lift of my life. I’m touched, dazed and humbled by the company you’re inviting me to join.”

Previous Grand Masters include Max Allan Collins, Ellen Hart, Walter Mosley, Lois Duncan, James Ellroy, Robert Crais, Carolyn Hart, Ken Follett, Margaret Maron, Martha Grimes, Sara Paretsky, James Lee Burke, Sue Grafton, Bill Pronzini, Stephen King, Marcia Muller, Dick Francis, Mary Higgins Clark, Lawrence Block, P.D. James, Ellery Queen, Daphne du Maurier, Alfred Hitchcock, Graham Greene, and Agatha Christie.

The Raven Award recognises outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing.  The Raven Bookstore and Kristopher Zgorski will receive the 2018 Raven Award.

The Raven Bookstore in Lawrence, Kansas, celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2017. The store was opened in 1987 by co-owners Pat Kehde and Mary Lou Wright. Kehde kept the store for 28 years, weathering the Borders storm with a plan to “stay the same size and cultivate [the] clients.” Heidi Raak took over the store in 2008. Current owner and poet Danny Caine took over in August of 2017; he is a longtime employee of the shop. The Raven has two store cats, Dashiell and Ngiao.  Upon hearing of the Raven Award, Raven Bookstore owner Danny Caine said, “I’m humbled and amazed to receive a Raven Award. Along with the Raven’s staff, past and present, I’m delighted to join the company of such great bookstores, organizations, and people that have won the Raven in years past. Much credit belongs to previous Raven owners Pat Kehde, Mary Lou Wright, and Heidi Raak who did so much to build the store’s mystery community. Thanks so much to the MWA for the award, which, aside from being a huge honor, has a pretty great name.”

When told that he would receive the Raven Award, Zgorski said, “The crime fiction tribe represents my chosen family, so to receive this honor from an esteemed organization like Mystery Writers of America feels as much like encouragement from those closest to my heart as it does acknowledgement from the publishing industry at large. I appreciate MWA’s celebration of myself – and BOLO Books – not only on a personal level, but also as a vote of confidence for the contributions of book bloggers everywhere.”  Kristopher Zgorski is the founder of the crime fiction book review blog, BOLO Books (http://www.bolobooks.com). Kristopher also has a column called Central Booking in Deadly Pleasures Magazine. His reviews have also run in genre-specific publications such as Crimespree Magazine, Mystery Readers Journal, and the UK-based Shots Crime andThriller Ezine. Kristopher is obviously an avid reader and regularly attends industry conventions such as Bouchercon, Malice Domestic, and BEA, in addition to smaller MD/DC/VA area book gatherings and signings.

Previous Raven winners include Dru Ann Love, Sisters in Crime, Margaret Kinsman, Kathryn Kennison, Jon and Ruth Jordan, Aunt Agatha’s Bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Oline Cogdill, Molly Weston, The Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego, Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore in Chicago, Once Upon a Crime Bookstore in Minneapolis, Mystery Lovers Bookstore in Oakmont, PA, Kate’s Mystery Books in Cambridge, MA, and The Poe House in Baltimore, MD.

The Ellery Queen Award was established in 1983 to honor “outstanding writing teams and outstanding people in the mystery-publishing industry.” This year the Board chose to honor Robert Pépin. Mr. Pépin began his literary career in 1964 as a translator of English-language novels. Since then he has been a translator, editor, and publisher of some of the most important authors of the past century including Lawrence Block, Alex Berenson, C.J. Box, Lee Child, Michael Connelly, James Church, Miles Corwin, Martin Cruz Smith, and Robert Crais. 

In 1992, Pépin founded Le Seuil publishing company, which successfully introduced the finest American crime writers to the French public. In 2010, he established his own imprint, the eponymous “Robert Pépin présente…”at the venerable French publishing house Calmann-Levy Paris, a division of Hachette. There, he continues to bring great English language writers to France.  On learning he would receive the Ellery Queen Award, Pépin said, “I still can’t believe I won The Ellery Queen Award, but as it seems to be true, I want to thank all of you, my MWA friends, for conferring such an honor on me. It is indeed very generous of you. Publishing and translating American writers into French has always been a great pleasure for me. Go on writing, my friends!”

Previous Ellery Queen Award winners include Neil Nyren, Janet Rudolph, Charles Ardai, Joe Meyers, Barbara Peters and Robert Rosenwald, Brian Skupin and Kate Stine, Carolyn Marino, Ed Gorman, Janet Hutchings, Cathleen Jordan, Douglas G. Greene, Susanne Kirk, Sara Ann Freed, Hiroshi Hayakawa, Jacques Barzun, Martin Greenburg, Otto Penzler, Richard Levinson, William Link, Ruth Cavin, and Emma Lathen.

The Edgar Awards, or “Edgars,” as they are commonly known, are named after MWA’s patron saint Edgar Allan Poe and are presented to authors of distinguished work in various categories. MWA is the premier organization for mystery writers, professionals allied to the crime-writing field, aspiring crime writers, and those who are devoted to the genre. The organization encompasses some 3,000 members including authors of fiction and non-fiction books, screen and television writers, as well as publishers, editors, and literary agents. For more information on Mystery Writers of America, please visit the website: www.mysterywriters.org

Budapest, my muse. By Adam LeBor

Some writers have a spirit that takes them, firing up their creativity, triggering a torrent of words. Others have a person as a muse, someone physically present or mentally imagined, to inspire them. I have a city. 

I first visited Budapest in the winter of 1990. Hungary, like its neighbours, was transitioning between Communism and capitalism. The political system was changing but the city remained largely untouched. Its grand Austro-Hungarian apartment buildings were shabby and dilapidated, pockmarked by bullet holes and shrapnel scars, the streets and boulevards crowded with Trabants, their engines rattling as they puffed out clouds of exhaust. 

Budapest in 2017 is a modern European capital. The buildings have been renovated, the bullet-holes filled in. The downtown streets and squares are jammed with tourists from around the world. There are no more Trabants. But while a city can have a physical makeover, its history can never be erased.

No matter how lovely the architecture, Budapest is haunted by the ghosts of Nazism and Communism. The number two tram ride is surely one of Europe’s most scenic public transport routes. It snakes along the riverfront on the Pest side of the city giving a lovely view of the Danube. After a few hundred yards it passes a row of black metal shoes by the edge of the riverbank. The memorial marks the spot where Jews were lined up in the winter of 1944 before being shot into the river by Hungarian Nazis. Yet not all the ghosts are morbid: the city still holds the spirit of its golden age, at the start of the 20th century when the Hungarian capital was host to an explosion of creative talent. Writers, poets, artists and architects all found inspiration here. 

All this makes a rich backdrop for fiction. My first novel, The Budapest Protocol, opens in the Astoria Hotel in the winter of 1944 as the Russian army advances, then jumps to the present day. The protagonist, a foreign correspondent called Alex Farkas, goes to visit his grandfather, Miklos, but discovers he has been murdered. Is Miklos’s death connected to a dark secret he learned that terrible winter? Alex starts investigating and begins to unearth a sinister conspiracy that reaches back to the dying days of the Second World War and a Nazi plan to ensure German economic domination of post-war Europe.

District VIII, the first volume of my Budapest new crime noir series, goes even deeper, to parts of the city that tourists and visitors never see. District VIII is home to Budapest’s largest Gypsy quarter – including the family of Balthazar Kovacs, a detective in the murder squad. District VIII is one of the city’s largest and most interesting – its western edge, which reaches downtown almost to the Danube, is now called the Palace Quarter, for its grand nineteenth century aristocratic villas that are now being restored. 

But walk away from the river, into the narrow back streets and alleys and you will find a world of deep poverty, crime and prostitution. In my book much of the prostitution is controlled by Gaspar Kovacs – Balthazar’s brother. When a Syrian refugee is murdered during the migrant crisis of 2015, and the leads point to a connection with Gaspar, Balthazar has to decide where his loyalties lie: to the law or to his family. Through it all, Budapest too is a character, sometimes moving the story along, but always framing it:

Balthazar stepped out of his apartment building. The warm, humid air was heavy with the summer smell of the city: car exhaust, cigarette smoke, the greenery of the park on Klauzal Square. A familiar soundtrack too: a tram trundling by twenty yards away on the Grand Boulevard, raised voices from the faux-Irish pub on the corner across the street, a stream of abuse involving farmyard animals conjoined with various relatives – nobody swore like Hungarians – and a long burst of laughter. Two young women, one blonde, the other brunette, in close-fitting tops and short shorts teetered towards him on high heels, on their way to one of the many nearby rom-kerts, ruin pubs.

Like all the best muses, Budapest can be obstinate, capricious, even volatile. But she’s always there. 

District VIII by Adam LeBor (published by Head of Zeus)

Life's tough for a Gypsy cop in Budapest. The cops don't trust you because you're a Gypsy. Your fellow Gypsies, even your own family, shun you because you're a cop.  The dead, however, don't care. So when Balthazar Kovacs, a detective in the city's murder squad, gets a mysterious message on his phone from a blocked number, he gulps down the rest of his morning coffee, grabs his police ID and goes to work. The message has two parts: a photograph and an address. The photograph shows a man lying on his back with his eyes open, half-covered by a blue plastic sheet. The address is 26, Republic Square, the former Communist Party headquarters and once the most feared building in the country. But when Kovacs arrives at Republic Square, the body has gone...  Kovacs' investigation will take him deep into Budapest's shadows, an underworld visitors never get to see: the gritty back alleys of District VIII; the people smuggling networks around Keleti Station; the endemic corruption of a country still haunted by the ghosts of history. And when the leads point to the involvement of his brother Gaspar, the city's most powerful pimp, Kovacs will be forced to choose between the law and family loyalty.