Bitter Flowers: The breathtaking Nordic Noir thriller

Fresh from rehab, Norwegian PI Varg Veum faces his most complex investigation yet, when a man is found drowned, a young woman disappears, and the case of a missing child is revived. The classic Nordic Noir series continues…

‘As searing and gripping as they come’ —New York Times

‘One of my very favourite Scandinavian authors’ —Ian Rankin

‘The Norwegian Chandler’ —Jo Nesbø

***Now a major TV series starring Trond Espen Seim***

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PI Varg Veum has returned to duty following a stint in rehab, but his new composure and resolution are soon threatened when a challenging assignment arrives on his desk.

A man is found dead in an elite swimming pool and a young woman has gone missing. Most chillingly, Varg Veum is asked to investigate the ‘Camilla Case’: an eight-year-old cold case involving the disappearance of a little girl, who was never found.

As the threads of these apparently unrelated crimes come together, against the backdrop of a series of shocking environmental crimes, Varg Veum faces the most challenging, traumatic investigation of his career.

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'Every inch the equal of his Nordic confreres Henning Mankell and Jo Nesbø' —Independent

‘Staalesen continually reminds us he is one of the finest of Nordic novelists’ —Financial Times

‘There are only two other writers that I know of have achieved the depth of insight in detective writing that Staalesen has: Chandler, and Ross MacDonald …’ —Mystery Tribune

‘Employs Chandleresque similes with a Nordic Noir twist … simply superb’ —Wall Street Journal

‘Masterful pacing’ —Publishers Weekly

'The Varg Veum series is more concerned with character and motivation than spectacle, and it’s in the quieter scenes that the real drama lies’ —Herald Scotland

‘Unsettling, moving, sad, hopeful and hopeless … it’s rich and it’s sharp and it’s cynical and sentimental all at once’ —NB Magazine

‘A complex, layered plot in which human tragedy and mystery combine to play out beautifully in a classic Nordic noir with a touch of Christie’ —Live & Deadly