Mortifer

This time, the steadfast hero Nyugårdshauga Fredrik Drum—a lover of wine, good cuisine, and antiquities—goes to Italy at the invitation of the University of Rome to decipher one mysterious ancient Greek text. But instead of that, he’s waiting for a real drama: ancient philosophy, a dark Medieval world, and an elusive killer who leaves no traces. Someone is trying to prevent Drüm from penetrating the secret of an ancient scroll—what dangerous secrets does it hide?

The detective stories about Fredrik Drüm by the Norwegian writer Gert Nyugårdshaug are a kind of alternative to harsh Scandinavian noir. There’s no existential gloom and puddles of blood here—instead there’s a light adventure-detective story that, in mood, is closer to the novels about Nero Wolfe than, say, to the TV series about Harry Hole.