The Ninth Principle

You’re offered the fourth book in the series about Fredrik Drume: a foodie, a bon vivant, a lover of delicious food and beautiful women—and, by the way, a talented detective. This time fate takes Drume to Egypt, where a host of adventures awaits him: attempts on his life, an escape, and completely inexplicable mysteries against the backdrop of mummies and pyramids. As if that weren’t enough, it seems that even back home in Oslo, things are far from calm…

Detective stories about Fredrik Drume by Norwegian writer Gert Nygaardshaug are something of an alternative to the harsh Scandinavian noir. There’s no existential gloom and pools of blood—instead, there’s a light adventure-and-detective story that, in terms of mood, is closer to novels about Nero Wolfe than to, say, a series about Harry Hole.