The Consorts of Death, by Gunnar Staalesen

Bibliography, Gunnar Staalesen

Books:

  • Uskyldstider – roman (1969)
  • Fortellingen om Barbara – novel (1971)
  • Rygg i rand, to i spann – crime fiction (1975)
  • Mannen som hatet julenisser – crime fiction (1976)
  • Bukken til havresekken – crime fiction (1977)
  • Den femte passasjeren – crime fiction (1978)
  • Din til døden – crime fiction (1979)
  • Tornerose sov i hundre år – crime fiction (1980)
  • Kvinnen i kjøleskapet – crime fiction (1981)
  • I mørket er alle ulver grå – crime fiction (1983) At Night All Wolves Are Grey (1986)
  • Hekseringen – short stories (1985)
  • Knut Gribb tar Bergenstoget – crime fiction (1986)
  • Vaskerelvens Rose – play (1986)
  • Svarte får – crime fiction (1988)
  • Falne engler – crime fiction (1989)
  • Fredag den trettende, eller Poseidons hevn – play (1990)
  • Vikingskattens hemmelighet – novel (1990)
  • Bitre blomster – crime fiction (1991) Bitter Flowers
  • Regnbyen. Om solen, regnet, byen og bergenserne – (1991)
  • Arven – play (1992)
  • Varg Veums Bergen. – travel guide to Varg Veums Bergen (1992)
  • Vikingskattens forbannelse – novel (1992)
  • Dødelig madonna – crime fiction (1993)
  • Begravde hunder biter ikke – crime fiction (1993)
  • Sivert skuteløs – play (1994)
  • Vikingskattens voktere – novel (1994)
  • Bergens mysterier – crime fiction (1995)
  • Blues for Amalie Jensen – short stories (1995)
  • Skriften på veggen – roman (1995) The Writing on the Wall
  • Amalie Skrams verden – non-fiction (1996)
  • De døde har det godt – short stories (1996)
  • 1900. Morgenrød – novel (1997)
  • 1950. High Noon – novel (1998)
  • 1999. Aftensang – novel (2000)
  • Hundreårsboken – non-fiction (2000)
  • Som i et speil – crime fiction (2002)
  • Duen fra Bergen – novel (2003)
  • Ansikt til ansikt – crime fiction (2004)
  • Mordet på Michelsen – crime fiction (2005)
  • 1900. Christian Molands hemmelige liv – play (2005)
  • Dødens drabanter – crime fiction (2006) The Consorts of Death
  • Kalde hjerter – crime fiction (2008)

In addition, Gunnar Staalesen has published a number of the cartoon books featuring Varg Veum, as well as more than 25 plays and musicals.

Prizes, awards (selected):

  • The Riverton prize 1975
  • Gyldendals legat 1989
  • Bokhandlerprisen 1989
  • Palle Rosenkrantz prize 1990
  • The Riverton prize 2002
(This book has so far only been published in England, not in the US.) At the start of this crime fiction novel by Norwegian writer Gunnar Staalesen, his main character, private eye Varg Veum, receives a phone call from the past. The Consorts of Death, by Gunnar Staalesen To some extent, this book is the same to me. I started reading Gunnar Staalesen’s series about Varg Veum in Norwegian some 20+ years ago. The first book in this series was actually published in Norwegian in 1977! And now I meet him again. And this was actually my second meeting with this old ghost during the last few weeks – a short while ago the second Varg Veum movie suddenly popped up on my TV screen! However, even though the Varg Veum series is getting a bit old, Varg Veum the character is alive and well, and every bit as vital as I remembered him!

The call from the past that Veum receives is actually a phone call from an old girlfriend. She brings up a name from Veum’s past – Johnny Boy. Johnny was a referral case that Varg worked on in his previous life as a social worker. He was a small boy, only two years old, in a violent family who needed protection. Then, a few years later, when Johnny was six, Veum met him again, this time at the scene of a murder. Time after time little Jonny Boy was in trouble, and suspected of killing people. Death and mayhem seems almost to be following in his footsteps. And now the ex-girlfriend informs Veum that Johnny Boy seeks vengeance on all those who failed him. Veum apparently is high on that list. For the severely traumatized Johnny who has been involved in three murders it is now time to fight back.

Varg Veum senses that in order to stop Johnny, it is important to gain a deeper understanding of the murders that have shaped Johnny and placed him in the corner he now is trapped in.

Staalesen in an interesting author. He has been extremely productive, and has written a long list of books (only four have so far been translated into English), crime fiction, other fiction books, several plays, and other works. His crime books are strongly inspired by hardboiled American detective fiction. He cites Raymond Chandler as his prime inspiration. And, indeed, there is much that is Chandler-esque in Staalesen’s books, and much Philip Marlowe in Varg Veum. But Staalesen’s style is still unique, a kind of Chandler-inspired McBain-like crime fiction with a social conscience. The plots are complicated and well composed – in The Consorts of Death we revisit events taking place in 1839, 1970, 1974, 1984 and 1995, and Veum skillfully untangles the ways in which the past has a bearing on the present.

The Consorts of Death (orig. title Dødens drabanter) is somewhat dark – or realist, socially critical and empathic - and raises more questions than it answers. Veum’s world is a world full of shades of grey, and while he solves the mystery in the book, the book does not answer the questions. The Consorts of Death is a fine, relatively noir book, and one of the best in the Varg Veum series, and the translation by Don Bartlett seems to me to be superb. It is a very exciting novel with a surprising ending. An excellent read!

See also our reviews of the Varg Veum movies on DVD!

Links to Gunnar Staalesen's books at amazon US, amazon UK, and amazon CAN.

Teaser - Varg Veum video (in Norwegian)

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