We Shall Inherit the Wind

1998. Varg Veum sits by the hospital bedside of his long-term girlfriend Karin, whose life-threatening injuries provide a deeply painful reminder of the mistakes he’s made. Investigating the seemingly innocent disappearance of a wind-farm inspector, Varg Veum is thrust into one of the most challenging cases of his career, riddled with conflicts, environmental terrorism, religious fanaticism, unsolved mysteries and dubious business ethics. Then, in one of the most heart-stopping scenes in crime fiction, the first body appears…
A chilling, timeless story of love, revenge and desire, We Shall Inherit the Wind deftly weaves contemporary issues with a stunning plot that will leave you gripped to the final page. This is Staalesen at his most thrilling, thought-provoking best.


'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

’Staalesen is one of my very favourite Scandinavian authors and this is a series with very sharp teeth’ Ian Rankin

‘A Norwegian Chandler’ Jo Nesbo

‘Gunnar Staalesen was writing suspenseful and socially conscious Nordic Noir long before any of today's Swedish crime writers had managed to put together a single book page … one of Norway's most skillful storytellers’ Johan Theorin

‘Razor-edged Scandinavian crime fiction at its finest’ Quentin Bates

‘Not many books hook you in the first chapter – this one did, and never let go!’ Mari Hannah

"A Norwegian Chandler."  —Jo Nesbo, author, The Bat

"Gunnar Staalesen is one of my very favourite Scandinavian authors. Operating out of Bergen in Norway, his private eye, Varg Veum, is a complex but engaging anti-hero. Varg means 'wolf' in Norwegian, and this is a series with very sharp teeth."  —Ian Rankin, author, Resurrection Men

"The plot [...] will satisfy fans who enjoy seeing noir themes play out in other countries." --Publishers Weekly, 2/22/2016

"Varg...is an affecting example of the tragic hero outlined by Raymond Chandler's famous essay on hard-boiled fiction."  —International Noir Fiction, 5/12/2016

One of the fathers of the Nordic Noir genre, Gunnar Staalesen was born in Bergen, Norway in 1947. He made his debut at the age of twenty-two with Seasons of Innocence and in 1977 he published the first book in the Varg Veum series. He is the author of over twenty-three titles, which have been published in twenty-six countries and sold over five million copies. Twelve film adaptations of his Varg Veum crime novels have appeared since 2007, starring the popular Norwegian actor Trond Epsen Seim, and a further series is currently being filmed. Staalesen, who has won three Golden Pistols (including the Prize of Honour) and the Petrona Award, and been shortlisted for the CWA Dagger, lives in Bergen with his wife.