Copenhagen Noir

where the service was first-class. I ordered a Tuborg Classic and so many Brondums that I finally lost count. A small model railroad ran back and forth under the ceiling. I sat and followed it with my eyes to be sure. But no one threw himself in front of it. Not a single person.

It wasn’t pleasant news I brought back home with me to Bergen. No one put their arms around me when I told them what had happened, though I’m not exactly used to having that happen.

Several weeks later I stumbled onto a Danish paper at a kiosk in the park. A teaser on the front page piqued my curiosity. I flipped through to a spread inside the paper. There was a beautiful photo of Svanhild Mogensen, smiling cooly at the photographer. The short article explained that after the tragic death of her husband at Central Station earlier in the month, she reported that she intended to continue their successful Amager business and would lead it forward as its new director. Nothing was mentioned about any regrets she might have had; no doubt she didn’t have any.

It’s said that crime doesn’t pay. And who said this, I’d like to know? More on target was the man who said that hidden behind every great fortune is a crime.

I sent her a card with my name on it. But I never got an answer. She surely had better things to do. And so did I, for that matter.

About the Contributors

NAJA MARIE AIDT (b. 1963) is one of Denmark’s most acclaimed lyricists and short story writers; her latest collection, Bavian (2006), received the Critics’ Award and the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize. In 2008, Aidt moved from Copenhagen to Brooklyn, New York.

JONAS T. BENGTSSON (b. 1976) published his debut novel Amina’s Letters in 2005, and has since written a novel about brothers, Submarino (a 2010 film by Thomas Vinterberg), which like his story in this volume takes place partly in the Northwest district, Bengtsson’s home ground for many years.

CHRISTIAN DORPH (b. 1966) and SIMON PASTERNAK (b. 1971) have attracted considerable attention in the Danish crime fiction community with their novels In a Moment in Heaven (2005), The Edge of the Abyss (2007), and I’m Not Here (2010), which have been translated into six languages.

AGNETE FRIIS (b. 1975) and LENE KAABERBOL (b. 1960) debuted in Danish crime fiction with The Suitcase Boy (2008)-the first book in a series featuring the Red Cross nurse Nina Borg. Kaaberbol has been for many years an internationally best-selling fantasy writer. Friis is a journalist and also a fantasy writer.

HELLE HELLE (b. 1965) is the author of various short stories and novels, including the acclaimed novels Down to the Dogs (2008) and Rodby-Puttgarden (2005). The latter won the Critics’ Prize. Helle Helle lived in Vanlose from 1988-1993 while employed at Bakken (an amusement park north of Copenhagen) as an information girl clad in a green uniform with shoulder padding; later she attended Copenhagen’s Writer’s School.

BENN Q. HOLM (b. 1962) is a Copenhagen writer best known for the novels Hafnia Punk (1998), Album (2005, adapted into a TV series in 2008), and Copenhagen’s Mysteries (2008).

GRETELISE HOLM (b. 1946), author and national commentator, has in recent years achieved much success as a writer of crime fiction, inside and outside of Denmark.

LENE KAABERBOL (b. 1960) and AGNETE FRIIS (b. 1975) debuted in Danish crime fiction with The Suitcase Boy (2008)-the first book in a series featuring the Red Cross nurse Nina Borg. Kaaberbol has been for many years an internationally best-selling fantasy writer. Friis is a journalist and also a fantasy writer.

MARK KLINE (b. 1952) has translated the fiction and poetry of a number of contemporary Danish writers. He has had many short stories published, and for years he has been a bluegrass musician in Denmark. He and his wife live in the South Harbor section of Copenhagen.

KRISTIAN LUNDBERG (b. 1966) is a lyricist and writer from over there-Sweden-where he has gained notoriety with his crossover and extremely experimental crime series about his hometown, Malmo, a city on the edge of dissolution as an axis for borderless crime in the new Europe. Policeman Nils Forsberg is at the center of the books, which include Eldataren (The Fire-Eater, 2004), Grindvaktaren (The Gatekeeper, 2005) and Malmomannen (The Malmo Man, 2009).

BO TAO MICHAELIS (b. 1948) received his master’s degree in comparative literature and classical culture from the University of Copenhagen, where he now teaches. He is a cultural critic at the Danish newspaper Politiken, and has written books on crime fiction, Raymond Chandler, and Ernest Hemingway; and papers about Dashiell Hammett, Paul Auster, and several other American writers.

SEYIT OZTURK (b. 1980) won second prize in a writing contest for “new Danes,” for his short story “Where I’m Sitting Now,” which appeared in the anthology New Voices (2007). Ozturk is of Turkish descent, and has lived most of his life in Valby, more recently moving to Norrebro.

SIMON PASTERNAK (b. 1971) and CHRISTIAN DORPH (b. 1966) have attracted considerable attention in the Danish crime fiction community with their novels In a Moment in Heaven (2005), The Edge of the Abyss (2007), and I’m Not Here (2010), which have been translated into six languages.

KLAUS RIFBJERG (b. 1931) has been a major fixture in Danish literature over the past fifty years. He was born and raised in Amager, in Eberts Villaby.

GUNNAR STAALESEN (b. 1947), a Norwegian author residing in Bergen, is known and loved for his Bergen trilogy (First Blush of Dawn, High Noon, and Evening Song) and several volumes of crime fiction starring private detective Varg Veum.

SUSANNE STAUN (b. 1957) has made a name for herself in the Danish crime fiction scene with her books about the profiling expert Fanny Fiske, the latest of which is My Girls (2008).

KRISTINA STOLTZ (b. 1975) has written three volumes of poetry, books for children, and the novel The Tourist Hotel (2006). Her second novel, Human Track, will be published in 2011. She has lived in bohemian Norrebro most of her adult life.

GEORG URSIN (b. 1934), a former public servant, had his literary debut at the age of seventy-one with the Kafka-esque crime novel Cherlein and Schmidt (2005). He has since written four more crime novels, the latest of which is Murder at the Museum (2009), all of them highly acclaimed. The Danish Crime Writers Academy honored Ursin in 2008 for The Anonymous Movement.