BLIND GODDESS by Anne Holt

March 2014

PERSONAL INFORMATION:

Born November 16, 1958, in Larvik, Norway; married Tine Kiaer, January 14, 2000; children: one.

CAREER:

Author, c. 1997--. Norwegian minister of justice, 1996-97; also a lawyer and journalist. Guest on television shows, including "Wiese," 1996, "Først & sist," 1998-2004, and "Store klassefesten, Den," 2000.

Anne Holt became a published author in 1993 with the novel Blind Goddess. She has also published a few standalone titles that have yet to be translated into English

As a former Minister of Justice, mystery writer Anne Holt has a solid background for creating suspenseful, enigmatic, and atmospheric crime stories set in her native Norway. Her intricately plotted, leisurely paced, and character-driven stories frequently feature a well-developed, complex, and intelligent female protagonists balancing their personal troubles with their quest to foil serial killers and solve vicious crimes. Through evocative and psychologically intimate portraits of her nuanced, colorful, and sometimes seriously disturbed characters, Holt fashions haunting mysteries with a chilliness that befits their icy setting. Start with: What is mine.

WRITINGS:

• Mea culpa: En historie om kjarlighet (novel), Cappelen (Oslo, Norway), 1997.

"HANNE WILHELMSEN" SERIES

• Blind goddess (Jun 2012) [translated by Tom Geddes]

Series: Hanne Wilhelmsen novels, 1

Small-time drug dealer is found battered to death on the outskirts of Oslo. A young Dutchman, walking aimlessly in Oslo, covered in blood, is taken into custody but refuses to talk.

• Blessed are those who thirst: a Hanne Wilhelmsen novel (Dec 2012)

Series: Hanne Wilhelmsen novels, 2

• Death of the demon (Jun 2013)

Series: Hanne Wilhelmsen novels, 3

• 1222; a Hanne Wilhelmsen novel (Dec 2011) [translated by Marlaine Delargy]

Series: Hanne Wilhelmsen novels, 4

"VIK AND STUBO" SERIES

• What Is Mine (alternate title: Punishment) (novel; originally published as Det som er mitt), translated by Kari Dickson, 2006.  

Series: Vik and Stubo, 1

Norway police commissioner Stubo teams up with troubled FBI profiler Johanne Vik for an investigation into the disappearances and murders of several young children.

• What Never Happens (alternate title: Final Murder), Grand Central (New York, NY), 2008. Series: Vik and Stubo, 2
• Death in Oslo, translated by Kari Dickson, (2009).

Series: Vik and Stubo, 3

• Fear Not, (2011).

Series: Vik and Stubo, 4

 MEDIA ADAPTATIONS:

Salige er de som tørster was filmed for theatrical release in 1997, and Blind gudinne was filmed for television in 1997.

AUTHOR READ A-LIKES

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Karin Fossum made her debut as a novelist in 1995 with In the Darkness. It would not be translated and published in English until 2012. Her first English translation was her second novel, 1996′s Don’t Look Back, which was released in English in 2002.

Camilla Lackberg is a Swedish author of crime fiction. Her books consist of very in-depth characterization, often looking at how horrible her characters can possibly be. She doesn’t spend as much time writing about the scenes, but rather allowing the reader’s imagination to take over. She has often been referred to as the “Swedish Agatha Christie.”

Lackberg’s first published novel was titled Isprinsessan and was released in 2002. It wasn’t until 2008 when it was translated into English by Steven T. Murray and given the English title of Ice Princess.

Jussi Adler-Olsen is a Danish author of Scandinavian crime fiction. He is best known in English-speaking countries for his Department Q series. His novels have been sold in 36 countries around in the world, including the United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Spain, Russia, The Netherlands, Japan, Germany and China. He was the most popular author in Germany in the year 2011, despite not being German.

Jussi Adler-Olsen became a published author in 1985 with a non-fiction book on Groucho Marx. His first foray into fiction was Alfabethuset (The Alphabet House) in 1997. His first novel to be published in English was Mercy (UK)/The Keeper of Lost Causes (US).