When I was in high school in Norway, we had to write a long essay on some literary topic for our Norwegian class. My teacher suggested I write a paper on Gunnar Staalesen, who was a relatively new writer from Bergen (at that time only six of his books had appeared in print). I’d not heard of Staalesen then, and chose an entirely different topic. A decade later, I finally read my first Staalesen novel, and from that point made it a personal quest to read as many of his books as I could find. As I look back, I think it was the right choice, as I’ve enjoyed his books a lot more as a reader, rather than a critic.
On a recent visit to Norway, where I was able to buy his latest novel in hardcover, my brother made an offhand comment about my Gunnar Staalesen “obsession.” He wasn’t far off the mark; the first store I checked, F. Beyer, had three copies of the book (1899: Preludium, published in 2025), but they refused to sell me any of them. Apparently the book was now out in paperback, and they had to return any other copies. I hastened across the street and bought the last hardcover copy from Norli, another bookstore, and the only one that still carried the hardcover (and had no issues selling it to me). I think I was quite lucky, as all other bookstores that I checked while in Norway only carried the paperback edition, which would clash with my existing copies. To say I was disappointed in Beyer is an understatement. This was the bookstore where I met Staalesen in person in 2001, and spent several minutes talking to him, something that remains a highlight in my life. This was the bookstore I spent time and money in while I lived in Bergen. I may never go back to that place now.
In truth, I have many literary obsessions. In some cases, I am fanatical about acquiring and reading books by certain authors: Jack Vance, Tim Powers, F. Paul Wilson, James P. Blaylock, Charles de Lint, Gunnar Staalesen, Alan Furst, Agatha Christie. In other cases, my OCD nature leads me to look for specific publishers: Golden Gryphon, Arkham House, Dark Harvest, Subterranean Press, Soho Crime. I’m sure there are others.
Gunnar Staalesen is known as a crime writer. Most of his books feature the private detective, Varg Veum. Many of the 20 books featuring Veum have been translated to English. I have all of them (I think), in Norwegian. Staalesen’s detective ages almost on part with the author. In 1997, with Veum pretty much a retiree by then, Staalesen turned to a trilogy of novels set in Bergen covering the years 1900 through 1999. Veum does make an appearance toward the end of the third novel, assigned the crime that opens the first book. Staalesen published a sequel in 2021, covering the first two decades in the 21st century. When I visited Norway this year I had no idea he’d written another novel, a prequel, covering the last decade of the 19th century, now the fifth book in this series.
I should have know about this latest novel. For many years my mother, and then brother and sister-in-law, had kept me abreast with Staalesen’s books, as I’d moved to the US a few decades ago. They even were able to get Staalesen to sign some of his books when they bought them for me; some books were signed or even inscribed to me, that distant fan.
Staalsen’s books are set in Bergen, a city that has deep meaning to me. My family is from Bergen, although older generations are from areas outside Bergen. I spent a couple of years after high school living in Bergen. I was too cheap and too poor to pay for public transport, so I spent hours walking throughout the city, crossing from one side to another to visit my grandparents, or just exploring streets and hiking in the mountains surrounding Bergen. And yet, I know only a fraction of that city, unlike Staalesen, who seems to know everything about Bergen.
Why Varg Veum? He introduces himself as a private detective, perhaps the only one in Bergen, maybe in all of Norway. He gets himself into dangerous situations, and mostly escapes these situations without violence. He experiences great personal tragedies, yet never seems to quit. There’s a statue of Varg Veum in Bergen. He’s a national treasure, as is Staalesen. If it’s an obsession to read his books, then so be it.
