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Inspector Sejer books in order: the complete series
Looking for Karin Fossum’s Inspector Sejer books in chronological order? Look no further!
Inspector Konrad Sejer is the creation of author Karin Fossum, one of the best Scandi crime writers around and Norway’s very own ‘queen of crime’.
Twelve books have been published in English so far featuring the calm, quiet Inspector Sejer – a man as enigmatic as the cases he investigates – with a thirteenth on the way this year. Great characterisation and brilliant plots make this a series we return to again and again, so if you’re yet to discover Inspector Sejer you’re in for a treat.
Here are the Inspector Sejer books in order.
Karin Fossum’s Inspector Sejer books in order:
In the Darkness by Karin Fossum
1. In The Darkness (2012)
Eva is walking by the river with her seven-year-old daughter when they catch sight of a man’s body in the water. Eva tells her daughter to wait while she calls the police, but when she reaches the phone box she doesn’t call them. Instead she phones her father, and makes no mention of her discovery.
When the body is eventually found, it soon becomes clear to Inspector Sejer and his team that this was no accidental drowning – the man was the victim of a very violent killer. But the trail has gone cold. Until, one night, Eva receives a phone call…
Don't Look Back by Karin Fossum
2. Don’t Look Back (2002)
Beneath the imposing Kollen Mountain lies a small village where the children run in and out of one another’s houses and play unafraid in the streets. But when a naked body is found by the lake at the top of the mountain, its seeming tranquillity is disturbed forever.
Inspector Sejer, a tough, no-nonsense policeman whose own life is tinged by sadness, is called in to investigate. As the suspense builds, and the list of suspects grows, Sejer’s determination to discover the truth leads him to peel away layer upon layer of distrust and lies in this tiny community where apparently normal family ties hide dark secrets.
He Who Fears the Wolf by Karin Fossum
3. He Who Fears the Wolf (2003)
A twelve-year-old boy runs into his local police station claiming to have seen a brutally dismembered corpse. Errki Johrma, an escaped psychiatric patient and known town misfit, was spotted at the scene before he disappeared into the woods. The next morning the local bank is robbed at gunpoint. Making his escape, the robber takes a hostage and also flees into the woods.
As the search for Halldis Horn’s killer continues all fingers of suspicion point to Errki – except one. Errki’s doctor refuses to believe that he could have committed such an horrific act and, for the first time since his wife’s death, Inspector Sejer finds himself intrigued by another woman.
When the Devil Holds the Candle by Karin Fossum
4. When The Devil Holds the Candle (2004)
Andreas’s disappearance is a mystery to all, including his inseparable friend Zipp. But as much as the police question him, its not easy for Zipp to come forward with details of the last time he saw his friend: following an old woman into her home, brandishing his knife. Zipp waited anxiously outside but Andreas failed to reappear.
Inspector Sejer and his colleague Skarre are baffled but while the confusion in the outside world continues, a chilling and heart-stopping drama is unfolding inside the old woman’s home. In a plot in the tradition of Stephen King, Fossum deploys her trademark skill of looking realistically, terrifyingly, into the minds of criminal and victim. Appearances aren’t always to be believed, and people are not always what they seem.
Calling Out For You by Karin Fossum
5. Calling Out For You (2005)
Gunder Jomann, a quiet, middle-aged man from a peaceful Norwegian community, thinks his life has been made complete when he returns from a trip to India a married man. But on the day his Indian bride is due to join him, he is called to the hospital to his sister’s bedside. The local taxi driver sent instead to meet the bride at the airport returns without her. Then the town is shocked by the news of an Indian woman found bludgeoned to death in a nearby meadow.
Inspector Sejer and his colleague Skarre head the murder inquiry, cross-examining the townsfolk and planting seeds of suspicion in a community which has always believed itself to be simple, safe and trusting. For what can only have been an unpremeditated and motiveless act of violence, everyone is guilty until proven innocent.
Black Seconds by Karin Fossum
6. Black Seconds (2007)
Nine-year-old Ida Joner gets on her brand-new bike and sets off to buy sweets. Thirty-five minutes after Ida should have come home, her mother, Helga, starts to worry. She phones the shop and various friends, but no one has seen her daughter. As the family being to search for Ida, Helga’s worst nightmare becomes reality.
As the police are called in, hundreds of volunteers comb the neighbourhood, but there are no traces of the little girl. As the relatives reach breaking point and the media frenzy begins, Sejer struggles to remains calm and reassuring. But usually missing children are found within forty-eight hours. Ida seems to have vanished without a trace.
The Murder of Harriet Krohn by Karin Fossum
7. The Murder of Harriet Krohn (2014)
Charlo Torp has problems. He’s grieving for his late wife, he’s lost his job, and gambling debts have alienated him from his teenage daughter. Desperate, his solution is to rob an elderly woman of her money and silverware. But Harriet Krohn fights back, and Charlo loses control. Wracked with guilt, Charlo attempts to rebuild his life. But the police are catching up with him, and Inspector Sejer has never lost a case yet.
Told through the eyes of a killer, The Murder of Harriet Krohn asks how far would you go to turn your life around, and could you live with yourself afterwards?
The Water's Edge by Karin Fossum
8. The Water’s Edge (2009)
A couple out walking in the woods discover the dead body of a half-naked boy. To Kristine’s horror her husband begins to take photographs of the corpse on his mobile phone, but this proves only the beginning of his obsession with the case.
Inspector Sejer is called to the scene but he can find no immediate cause of death. And who was the agitated man the couple saw moments before their discovery? Then, a second boy goes missing, and the once peaceful community is left deeply shaken. Is there a killer within their midst?
Bad Intentions by Karin Fossum
9. Bad Intentions (2010)
Early one September three friends spend the weekend at a remote cabin by Dead Water Lake. With only a pale moon to light their way, they row across the water in the middle of the night. But only two of them return.
When the body of the third friend is discovered, Inspector Sejer is put in charge of the investigation. He is troubled by the apparent suicide and has an overwhelming sense that the surviving pair has something to hide. Weeks pass without further clues and then, in a nearby lake, the body of another teenage boy floats to the surface…
The Caller by Karin Fossum
10. The Caller (2011)
One summer evening Lily and her husband are enjoying a meal while their baby daughter sleeps peacefully in her pram in the garden. But then Lily steps outside to find her baby soaked in blood. The distraught parents rush to the hospital where they discover that she is unharmed – the blood isn’t hers. Inspector Sejer is called in and spends the evening trying to comprehend why anyone would carry out such a sinister prank. Then, just before midnight, somebody rings his doorbell.
The corridor is empty, but the caller has left a small grey envelope on the mat. Inside it, Sejer finds a postcard bearing a short message: Hell begins now…
The Drowned Boy by Karin Fossum
11. The Drowned Boy (2015)
‘He’d just learnt to walk,’ she said. ‘He was sitting playing on his blanket, then all of a sudden he was gone.’
A 16-month-old boy is found drowned in a pond right by his home. Chief Inspector Sejer is called to the scene as there is something troubling about the mother’s story. As even her own family turns against her, Sejer is determined to get to the truth. What could Carmen be hiding? And what lengths will she take to cover her guilt?
Hellfire by Karin Fossum
12. Hellfire (2016)
A mother and child are found brutally murdered in an old caravan on a remote piece of land. A bloody footprint is discovered at the scene, and Chief Inspector Sejer is called to investigate. Meanwhile, another mother, dying of cancer, confesses to her 21-year-old son that he is adopted. The man who abandoned them, whom the boy has become obsessed by, is not his real father.
Why do we lie to those closest to us? Hellfire delves deep into the dark heart of family, and what drives people to commit the most horrific of crimes.
The Whisperer by Karin Fossum
13. The Whisperer (2018)
Ragna Riegel works in a supermarket and still lives in her childhood home. She’s alone in the world since her only son moved to Berlin. She longs for a Christmas or birthday card from him.
Ragna lives her life within strict self-imposed limits: she sits in the same seat on the bus every day, on her way to her predictable job. On her way home she always visits the same local shop. She feels safe in her routine, until one day she receives a letter with a threatening message scrawled in capital letters. An unknown enemy has entered her world and she must use all her means to defend herself.
When the worst happens, Inspector Sejer is called in to interrogate Ragna. Is this unassuming woman out of her depth, or is she hiding a dark secret?
There you have it – Karin Fossum’s Inspector Sejer books in order! How many have you read? Let us know in the comments below…
Books like Karin Fossum’s Inspector Sejer
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I just finished The Murder of Harriet Krohn. It was so enthralled I finished in a bit over three hours. I immediately went to get another! I will be reading them all.
I just read my first Karin Fossum book, The Water’s Edge. I couldn’t put it down. After seeing the list of her books and their detail, I know I will be reading them all. Such good stuff!
Have read all of them. She is just a brilliant writer. Edge of your seat stuff. just waiting for the next book.
Rosie. Northants.
Fossum is an xtraordinary crime novelist – her language, details, plots and characters surpass all others in artistic sensibility, detail and character. She is first and foremost an xcllnt writer.