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Anne Holt

Biography

Anne Holt

Anne Holt is Norway’s bestselling female crime writer. She was a journalist and news anchor and spent two years working for the Oslo Police Department before founding her own law firm and serving as Norway’s Minister for Justice in 1996 and 1997. Her first novel was published in 1993, and her books have been translated into over 30 languages and have sold more than seven million copies. Her novel 1222 was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Novel. She lives in Oslo with her family.

Anne Holt

Books by Anne Holt

by Anne Holt - Fiction, Mystery

In 2001, a two-year-old girl was killed by a speeding car. The marriage of her grief-stricken parents dissolved in the wake of the accident, and not long thereafter, her mother died under mysterious circumstances. The girl’s father, Jonas, was convicted of his ex-wife’s murder and sentenced to 12 years in prison. But police investigator Kjell Bonsaksen knew he was innocent. Now it’s 2016, and an uncomfortable chance encounter with Jonas prompts Kjell to dig out Jonas’ case files for Detective Henrik Holme. Henrik doesn’t take long to convince his beloved mentor, Hanne Wilhelmsen, that Jonas was wrongly convicted. As their investigation evolves, Hanne and Henrik uncover eerie connections to the recent suicide of a right-wing extremist blogger whose fanatic ideologies seem incompatible with a desire to die.

by Anne Holt - Fiction, Mystery

Shortly before Christmas, four people are found shot dead at the home of the Stahlbergs, a wealthy family of shipping merchants notorious for their miserliness and infighting. Three of the victims are members of the family, and the fourth is an outsider, seemingly out of place. As Hanne Wilhelmsen investigates the case alongside her longtime police partner, Billy T., motives for the murders emerge in abundance; each surviving member of the Stahlberg family had good reason to want the victims dead. As she searches for the killer, Hanne will once again risk everything to find out the truth. But this time, will she go too far?

by Anne Holt - Fiction, Mystery

On a cold December evening, celebrity chef Brede Ziegler is discovered stabbed to death on the steps of Oslo’s police headquarters. Chef Ziegler had many famous associates and more than a few enemies among them. Was his murder a random act of violence, or did someone want him dead? Police investigator Billy T. is stymied by conflicting information about the kind of man Ziegler was. The case is hopeless until Hanne Wilhelmsen returns to Oslo after a six-month stay in Italy and teams up with Billy T. Working together, they are pulled deep into the nefarious world inhabited by Ziegler. Was he at all the chef he claimed to be? And can those who knew him be trusted?

by Anne Holt - Fiction, Mystery

On an early April afternoon, a bomb goes off in the Islamic Cooperation Council’s offices in Oslo, killing 23 people. The Police and Security Service suspect an extremist organization to be responsible for the attack, a suspicion that grows stronger when threats of yet another, bigger explosion during the planned celebration of the Norwegian constitution reach the authorities. Hanne Wilhelmsen is approached by her long-lost friend, Billy T., whose son Linus has undergone some disturbing changes recently. As the mood of the city darkens, Hanne tries to help Billy T. reach out to Linus and realizes that Oslo is up against forces far more terrible and menacing than ever before.

by Anne Holt - Fiction, Mystery

Chief Public Prosecutor Sigurd Halvorsrud’s wife is found dead, the victim of a brutal decapitation. Her husband, who witnessed the grisly murder, immediately falls under suspicion, though he claims his wife’s killer was Ståle Salvesen, a man he had prosecuted years before. Despite the circumstantial evidence, Detective Inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen is unconvinced of Halvorsrud’s guilt --- that is, until a witness says he saw Ståle Salvesen commit suicide by jumping off a bridge days before the murder took place. Then a journalist at one of Oslo's largest newspapers is found beheaded. What links these two horrifically violent crimes?

by Anne Holt - Fiction, Mystery

Less than six months after taking office, the Norwegian Prime Minister is found dead. Was it a politically motivated assassination or personal revenge? Hanne Wilhelmsen, Chief Inspector of the Norwegian Police, is on leave in California, but when this death shakes the country to its core, she knows she can’t remain on the sidelines of such a crucial investigation. When secrets begin to unravel from the Prime Minister’s past, Hanne and her partner, Billy T., must piece together the crime before a private tragedy becomes a public outcry.

by Anne Holt - Fiction, Mystery

In a foster home outside Oslo, a 12-year-old boy is causing havoc. The institution’s steely director, Agnes Vestavik, sees something chilling in Olav’s eyes: sheer hatred. When Vestavik is found murdered at her desk, stabbed in the back with an Ikea kitchen knife --- with Olav nowhere to be found --- the case goes to maverick investigator Hanne Wilhelmsen, recently promoted to chief inspector in the Oslo Police. Could the child be a murderer?

by Anne Holt - Fiction, Mystery

It is only the beginning of May, but to Norwegians, the unseasonable heat already feels tropical when criminal investigating officer Hanne Wilhelmsen is sent to a macabre crime scene on the outskirts of Oslo: an abandoned shed that is covered in blood. On one wall is an eight-digit number written in blood, and there is no sign of a victim. Is it just a kid’s prank, or foul play?

by Anne Holt - Fiction, Mystery

A dead drug dealer is discovered on the outskirts of the Norwegian capital of Oslo. Within days, Hansa Larsen, a lawyer of the shadiest kind, is found shot to death, and police officers Håkon Sand and Hanne Wilhelmsen establish a link between the two crimes and uncover a massive network of corruption leading to the highest levels of government.

by Anne Holt - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense

From Norway's #1 bestselling crime writer comes a suspenseful locked-room mystery, the U.S. debut of a new series, set in an isolated hotel where guests who are stranded during a monumental snowstorm begin turning up dead.