The Writing on the Wall

"A Norwegian Chandler" JO NESBO
"In the best tradition of sleuthery" The Times
"One of the finest Nordic novelists in the tradition of Henning Mankell" BARRY FORSHAW, Independent

Bergen, Norway. Teenaged girls, many from privileged backgrounds, are being drawn into drugs and prostitution at an astonishing rate. When the local magistrate is discovered dead in a luxury hotel, clad only in women''s lingerie, the mystery deepens.

Called in by anxious parents to search for a missing girl, private investigator Varg Veum uncovers clues that lead him deep into Bergen''s criminal underworld.

As Veum begins to lift the thin veneer of normality that hides a society on the brink of collapse, it becomes clear that this time he may not escape with his life.

Translated from the Norwegian by Hal Sutcliffe