What is Påskekrim?
Påskekrim - Easter crime - is one of the Easter traditions, påsketradisjoner, in Norway and every year the bookstores will advertise their crime novels, krimromaner, for people’s Easter reading.
It’s easy to see that a long Norwegian Easter holiday, påskeferie, and a simple lifestyle at a cabin, ei hytte, or a relaxed city Easter holiday – Bypåske invites for reading books at Easter time.
But why crime? Click on the link below to read more.
Why crime at Easter?
But, why crime stories? The reason behind the popularity of crime as the Easter genre is the two young students, Nordahl Grieg and Nils Lie, who in March 1923 wrote the story “Bergenstoget plyndret i natt” - “Robbery on the night train to Bergen”. The story is about two young students planning a robbery on the train from Oslo to Bergen on the night of the 1st of April in order for the police to think that it’s a joke, an April fool, aprilsnarr, - and therefore getting by with it.
However, the Norwegian newspaper “Aftenposten” printed the heading “Train to Bergen robbed last night” (just meant as an ad for the new book), but the heading created a lot of anxious readers who called both the newspaper and the NSB, the Norwegian rail network at the time, and wanted know what had happened. And - by this, the start of our love for a good crime novel, en bra krimroman, during the Easter break, påskeferien. You can read more about this and see the photo of the newspaper and the book here.
Modern påskekrim
During Easter you will hear crime stories on the radio and crime stories and mysteries on TV, and these days of course there are also special podcasts with Easter crime stories, påskekrim, and streaming services taking an interest in Nordic - noir, Scandi - noir for Easter, especially. You can read more about here on Visit Norway as well. Visit Norway is my favourite site for Norwegian travel advice and culture. This is definitely a good first place to go for information. You can visit their page here.
Jo Nesbø and Harry Hole
On the 26th of March, just a few days ago, Netflix launched the new series: “Jo Nesbo’s Detective Hole”. Jo Nesbø is an international crime author, krimforfatter, and bestseller, bestselger. Nesbø has been translated into 51 languages, and his books is said to have sold 60 million copies worldwide.
So far, Jo Nesbø has written 13 books about detective Harry Hole, and this new Netflix series is based on the fifth book, “The Devil’s Star” (Marekors). For Australian readers; the first book, The Bat (Flaggermusmannen) which came out in 1997, is set in Sydney and Jo Nesbø wrote the book while he was in Australia and on the plane back to Oslo.
The latest book in the Harry Hole series, “Blood Moon”, Blodmåne, came out in 2022 and there is a new book about Harry Hole coming this year.
Series Review - Jo Nesbo’s Detective Hole
Og ja, and yes, - I have watched all of the 9 episodes in “Jo Nesbo’s Detective Hole” already, and I was SO – SÅ - impressed, especially by the actors and the music, skuespillerene og musikken, as well as the filming and the script, filming og manus. It’s just very smart and very cool. You can watch the trailer here.
The series is set in Oslo and it’s all in Norwegian, and there are also two Swedish characters working in the police force, and a Danish psychologist. That’s Scandinavia for you; many Norwegians, nordmenn, have worked with or have friends who are Swedish or Danish.
I have read all the Harry Hole novels, and it is fascinating how Nesbo can write both these grotesque descriptions of violence but also the most poetic lines. You will hear them throughout the series (you can choose if you want the subtitles in, e.g. Norwegian, norsk, or English, engelsk). Did you know that Jo Nesbo is also a great musician, musiker, and he plays in the band De Derre.
I loved the music, musikken, throughout the series. Jo Nesbø got Nick Cave and Warren Ellis to create the original score, Nesbø being a great Nick Cave fan. But there is a great variety of songs and music being played throughout the 9 episodes, and if you read the books you will find that there are many references to music in the Harry Hole books.
In this series, serie, you will see Oslo in summer, not the typical winter Instagram shots and videos you see these days. 
Another highlight for me was the filming in and the use of The Vigeland Park – Vigelandsparken - the sculpture park in Oslo. This is so well done, and that’s why I chose to use my own photo from Frognerparken in this blog.
There are so many other details in the series, so I would like to go back and watch it again, that’s how good quality it was for me. 
Actors and Interviews
Tobias Santalman, the Norwegian actor playing Harry Hole is doing a fabulous job, and so is his nemesis, Swedish Joel Kinnamna as Tom Waaler.
There are so many articles and interviews with these actors and Jo Nesbø which are short and great for practising your Norwegian. Below are just a few of them:
Her er et Netflix intervju
And here is a Norwegian interview, norsk intervju, med Pia Tjelta (Rakel), Tobias Santelmann (Harry Hole) og Joel Kinnamann (Tom Waaler):
PS - (If you are not, ikke, interested in crime, you can jump straight to my Easter blog from last year which is all about cosy, Norwegian outdoorsy traditions. https://norsk.com.au/norwegian-blog/varen-og-paska-i-norge-spring-and-easter-time-in-norway )
God påske - Happy Easter and Happy Reading - Happy Watching.
Lene
