Jørn Lier Horst (born 27 February 1970) is a Norwegian author of

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

and a former Senior Investigating Officer at

Vestfold Vestfold () is a county and a current electoral district in Norway. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it borders Buskerud and Telemark counties. The county administration is located in Tønsberg, Norway's oldest city, and the larg ...

police district. His books have been published in over 40 countries and have sold more than ten million copies. Horst made his writing debut in 2004 with ''Key Witness'', based on a true murder story. The detective character in his crime novels is William Wisting, and a television series based on the series premiered in 2019. Together with Thomas Enger, he writes the thriller series about policeman Alexander Blix and news blogger Emma Ramm. He has also written children's books, including a series named ''Clue'' and books about Detective Agency No. 2.

Personal life

Horst was born in

Bamble Bamble is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Langesund ...

Telemark Telemark () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway. Telemark borders the counties of Vestfold, Buskerud, Vestland, Rogaland and Agder. In 2020, Telemark merged with the county of Vestfold to form the county o ...

, the younger of two brothers. His parents were Oddvar and Hildur Lier Olsen. In 1995 he married Beate Horst and now uses her surname. They live in

Stavern Stavern is a town in Larvik Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The town is located at the mouth of the Larviksfjorden along the Skagerrak coast, about south of the town of Larvik. Historically, Stavern was a self-governing municipality ...

with their two children.

Bibliography

William Wisting series

# ''Key Witness'' (Org. Nøkkelvitnet, 2004) # ''Disappearance of Felicia'' (Org. Felicia forsvant, 2005) # ''When the Sea Calms'' (Org. Når havet stilner, 2006) # ''The Only One'' (Org. Den eneste ene, 2007) # ''The Night Man'' (Org. Nattmannen, 2009) - translated into English July 2022 # ''Dregs'' (Org. Bunnfall, 2010) - translated into English by Anne Bruce, 2011 # ''Closed for Winter'' (Org. Vinterstengt, 2011) - translated into English 2013 # ''The Hunting Dogs'' (Org. Jakthundene, 2012) - translated into English 2014 # ''The Caveman'' (Org. Hulemannen, 2013) - translated into English 2015 # ''Ordeal'' (Org. Blindgang, 2015) - translated into English 2016 # ''When It Grows Dark'' (Org. Når Det Mørkner, 2016) - translated into English 2016 (A prequel to the series.) # ''The Katharina Code'' (Org. Katharina-koden, 2017) - translated into English 2018 # ''The Cabin'' (Org. Det innerste rommet, 2018) - translated into English 2019 # ''The Inner Darkness'' (Org. Illvilje, 2019)- translated into English 2020 # ''A Question of Guilt'' (Org. Sak 1569, 2020)- translated into English 2021 # ''Snow Fall'' (Org. Grenseløs, 2021) - translated into English 2023 # ''The Traitor'' (Org. Forræderen, 2022) - translated into English 2024

Blix/Ramm series

# ''Death Deserved'' (Org. Nullpunkt, 2018) - translated into English 2019 # ''Smoke Screen'' (Org. Røykteppet, 2019) - translated into English 2020 # ''Unhinged'' (Org. Slagside, 2020) - translated into English 2021 # ''Stigma'' (Org. Arr, 2022) - translated into English 2023 # ''Victim'' (Org. Offer, 2023) - translated into English 2024

Children's books

Detective Agency no. 2 series # ''Operasjon Tordensky'' (2013) # ''Operasjon Mørkemann'' (2013) # ''Operasjon Solnedgang'' (2013) # ''Operasjon Påskelilje'' (2014) # ''Operasjon Sommerøya'' (2014) # ''Operasjon Vindkast'' (2014) # ''Operasjon Bronseplass'' (2015) # ''Jakten på Kaptein Kroghs gull'' (2015) # ''Operasjon Plastpose'' (2015) # ''Operasjon Sirkus'' (2016) # ''Jakten på Jungelens Dronning'' (2016) # ''Operasjon Spøkelse'' (2016) # ''Operasjon Sjørøver'' (2017) # ''Jakten på Tyven-tyven'' (2017) # ''Operasjon Mumie'' (2017) # ''Detektivhåndboken'' (2017) # ''Operasjon Skipsvrak'' (2018) # ''Jakten på slottets hemmelighet'' (2018) # ''Operasjon Skrotnisse'' (2018) # ''Operasjon Svartskog'' (2019) # ''Jakten på Trollmannens bok'' (2019) # ''Operasjon Radius'' (2019) # ''Operasjon Lurifaks'' (2020) # ''Jakten på den siste dinosauren'' (2020) # ''Operasjon Rød sløyfe'' (2020) # ''Dekkoperasjon'' (2021) # ''Jakten på enhjørningen'' (2021) # ''Operasjon Heksegryte'' (2021) # ''Operasjon Ninja'' (2022) # ''Jakten på Campingkongen'' (2022) # ''Operasjon Gulltann'' (2022) # ''Jakten på den magiske julebyen'' (2022) # ''Operasjon Fartsstripe'' (2023) # ''Jakten på Vikingskatten'' (2023) # ''Operasjon Fangejakt'' (2023) ''Clue'' series # ''Salamandergåten'' (2012) (''The Salamander Mystery'') # ''Maltsergåten'' (2012) (''The Maltese Mystery'') # ''Undervannsgåten'' (2013) (''The Underwater Mystery'') # ''Gravrøvergåten'' (2013) (''The Grave Robbing Mystery'') # ''Libertygåten'' (2014) (''The Liberty Mystery'') # ''Esmeraldgåten'' (2014) (''The Emeralda Mystery'') # ''Rivertongåten'' (2014) (''The Riverton Mystery'') # ''Hodeskallegåten'' (2016) (''The Skull Mystery'') # ''Ulvehundgåten'' (2016) (''The Wolfhound Mystery'') # ''Sjøormgåten'' (2017) (''The Sea Serpent Mystery'') # ''Einsteingåten'' (2017) (''The Einstein Mystery'') # ''Triangelgåten'' (2018) (''The Triangle Mystery'') # ''Smuglerhuset'' (2019) (''The Smuggler’s Shack'')

Film, TV, and Stage

The TV series Wisting premiered on

Viaplay Viaplay is a Swedish video streaming service owned by Viaplay Group. History Originally owned by Modern Times Group, it was launched in May 2007 as Viasat On Demand. It was rebranded as Viaplay in 2011. Viaplay released its first origina ...

in 2019, with

Sven Nordin Sven Audun Nordin (born 6 February 1957) is a Norwegian actor. He was hired by Oslo Nye Teater in the autumn of 1981 and had his debut in the play "Vikinger" by Johan Borgen. He is best known for his roles as Nils in the situation comedy '' Mo ...

starring as Chief Inspector William Wisting. The first four books in the CLUE series were adapted into the film CLUE: The Maltese Mystery in 2021 by

Maipo Film Maipo Film is a Norwegian film production company founded in 2000. It created the Oscar-nominated film "Elling" (2001), starring Per Christian Ellefsen (Elling), Sven Nordin (Kjell Bjarne), Marit Pia Jacobsen (Reidun), Jørgen Langhelle (Frank Åsl ...

. The movie was nominated for an Amanda Award in the category of Best Children's Film. Some of the books in the Detective Agency No. 2 series were adapted into films by Filmkameratene. In the fall of 2021, Riksteateret premiered the play Detective Agency No. 2 – Operation Theater, based on an original script by Horst. Horst is also affiliated with the production company Novemberfilm, where he has been involved in several documentary productions, including The Marianne Mystery. Horst frequently appears as an expert commentator on crime cases for outlets such as VG and serves as a regular crime commentator on

Crimewatch ''Crimewatch'' (formerly ''Crimewatch UK'') is a British television programme produced by the BBC, that reconstructs major unsolved crimes in order to gain information from the public which may assist in solving the case. The programme was or ...

on TV2 Norway. In the autumn of 2022, Horst took part in the celebrity version of the reality program

The Traitors ''The Traitors'' is a reality game show franchise created by the All3Media All3Media Limited is a British worldwide independent television, film, and digital production and distribution company based in London. The All3Media group cons ...

. In 2023 Horst participated in the fourth season of '' Masked Singer Norway'', disguised as The Magician (''Magikeren''). As a playwright, Horst has written several family productions for Teater Ibsen and Riksteateret.

Awards and honours

2010 The

Riverton Prize The Riverton Prize () is a literature award given annually to the best work of Norwegian crime fiction (novel, short story, play, original screenplay). The prize is named after the Norwegian journalist and author Sven Elvestad (1884-1934) who pub ...

shortlist for Dregs (no) 2011 The

shortlist for Closed for Winter (no) 2011 The

Norwegian Booksellers' Prize The Norwegian Booksellers' Prize (''Bokhandlerprisen'') is a literature prize awarded annually by the Norwegian Booksellers Association after voting among all who work in Norwegian bookstores. The prize is awarded for one of the year's books in ...

for Closed for Winter (no) 2011 Vestfold Literature Prize (no) 2012 The

for The Hunting Dogs (no) 2012 Ark’s Children's Book award shortlist for The Salamander mystery (no) 2013 The

shortlist for The Hunting dogs (no) 2013 The Glass Key award for The Hunting Dogs (nordic) 2013 The

shortlist for The Caveman (no) 2016 The Petrona Award for The Caveman (uk) 2014 The

Martin Beck Award The Best Crime Novel in Swedish Translation is an award given by the Swedish Crime Writers' Academy (''Svenska Deckarakademin'') for the best crime novel in translation . It is one of the most prestigious international crime-writing awards. It was ...

for The Hunting Dogs (swe) 2015 Ark’s Book of the Year shortlist for Ordeal (no) 2016 The Avid Reader Award shortlist for The Riverton Mystery (no) 2016 Special Award for Excellence in Crime Fiction Writing (PL) 2016 The Petrona Award for The Caveman (uk) 2017 The Avid Reader Award shortlist for The Wolfhound Mystery (no) 2017 BOK365 Book of the Year shortlist for The Katharina code (no) 2017

CWA International Dagger The CWA International Dagger (formerly known as the Duncan Lawrie International Dagger and the Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger) is an award given by the Crime Writers' Association for best translated crime novel of the year. The winning author ...

longlist for When it grows dark (uk) 2018

Grand Prix de Littérature Policière The (or the Police Literature Grand Prize) is a French literary award, literary prize founded in 1948 by author and literary critic Maurice-Bernard Endrèbe. It is the most prestigious award for crime fiction, crime and detective fiction in Franc ...

shortlist for The Hunting dogs (fr) 2018 BOK365 Book of the Year shortlist for The Cabin (no) 2018 The Nordic Noir Thriller of the Year Award for Dregs (nordic) 2019

shortlist for The Caveman (fr) 2019

longlist for The Katharina Code (uk) 2019 The Norwegian Silver Knife award shortlist for The Cabin (no) 2019 BOK365 Book of the Year shortlist for The Inner Darkness (no) 2019 The Petrona Award for The Katharina Code (uk) 2020 The

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards hon ...

shortlist for The Wisting tv-series (us) 2020

longlist for The Cabin (uk) 2020 The Petrona Award shortlist for The Cabin (uk) 2021 Prix du Bureau des Lecteurs shortlist for Ordeal (fr) 2021 Vrij Nederland’s Thriller of the Year shortlist for The Katharina Code (nl) 2021 The Petrona Award shortlist for Death Deserved (uk) 2021 The Beech Book Award shortlist for A Question of Guilt (no) 2023 The Beech Book Award shortlist for The Traitor (no) 2023 The Alf Prøysen's honorary award for the bestselling series The Detective Agency No. 2 (no) 2023 Chosen as writer of the year by Aftenposten Junior (no) 2024 Winner of The Finnish Whodunnit Society's honorary award for Excellence in Foreign Crime Writing (fi) 2024 The

shortlist for Victim (no) 2024 The Petrona Award shortlist for Snow Fall(uk) 2025 The Norwegian Silver Knife award shortlist for The Lake (no)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Horst, Jorn Lier 1970 births Living people People from Bamble Norwegian crime fiction writers Nordic detective fiction writers Nordic Noir writers