AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
When I think of Easter, I think of chocolate and bunnies and colorful eggs - and binging crime novels in a secluded mountain cabin? It's called paskekrim, or Easter crime, and it's a tradition in Norway that's more than 100 years old. Here to explain is Jorn Lier Horst. He's a former police investigator and the author of many thrillers and detective novels, including most recently "The Lake." Welcome, Jorn.
JORN LIER HORST: Thank you.
RASCOE: Part of it is that Norwegians get a lot of time off over Easter. So how was your paskekrim? And what did you do this year?
HORST: I read crime novels all year and watch TV shows all year, but this is a tradition that goes more than 100 years back to the Easter of 1923, when a crime novel titled "The Bergen Train Was Robbed Last Night." It was launched through a dramatic front-page newspaper advertisement that many believed was real. People believed that the train to Bergen was robbed, and it created a lot of buzz. And the book and the campaign was a huge success, and it's often seen as the start of this tradition. And ever since, I think skilled marketers have known how to tap into this tradition and make the most of it.
RASCOE: Is it a marketing stunt or is it more than that?
HORST: Well, it's a marketing thing, and the Nordic crime novels has become some kind of a brand. You know, if you're going to eat salmon, you will choose the Norwegian salmon. If you're going to have a red wine, you might go to the Californian wine, like a brand and tradition.
RASCOE: What fits the bill for paskekrim? Does anything go? Does it have to be murder mysteries? Or does it have to have a secluded cabin, or does that just help?
HORST: (Laughter) I think it's everything Nordic noir, dark crime stories from the Nordic countries. But lately it has been more like what I call cozy crime with, well, this is a murder, but what is quite cozy.
RASCOE: I love a thriller, but I also love, like, a cozy murder mystery, you know, not too heavy, just kind of like "Matlock" or "Murder She Wrote," just very cozy.
HORST: (Laughter) Well, me myself, I've been writing crime novels for 20 years, and I'm writing what we call realistic police procedures using my background as a homicide detective. But, you know, Norway, it's kind of a mystery how we have this tradition in Norway because Norway and the Nordic countries are, like, the most quiet and peaceful corner on the Earth. When I was working as a homicide detective, we had - my police district was like 500,000 inhabitants, and we were kind of lucky if we had a murder each year that we had something to investigate. So maybe that is the answer. We have to invent all these dark happenings to get over part of it.
RASCOE: Today is Easter, and it's never too late to pick up a new book. Do you have any recommendations for us?
HORST: It was you that mentioned my latest in translation, called "The Lake." And I actually got that idea in a bar. If you meet an author in a bar, you should never go up to him and tell him, I got a good story for a novel. Don't do that.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
HORST: Authors not like that, but this guy did. He started the conversation by telling me, I know where a body is hidden. And that is a good way to start a conversation with a crime fiction author. So if you read "The Lake," you will get the whole story.
RASCOE: That was crime fiction author, Jorn Lier Horst. Thank you so much for joining us.
HORST: Thank you for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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