Jussi Adler-Olsen Books In Order
Book links take you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.Publication Order of Department Q Books
| The Keeper of Lost Causes / Mercy | (2011) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| The Absent One / Disgrace | (2012) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| A Conspiracy of Faith / Redemption / Flaskepost fra P | (2013) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| The Purity of Vengeance / Guilt / Journal 64 | (2013) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| The Marco Effect / Buried / Marco Effekten | (2013) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| The Hanging Girl | (2014) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| The Scarred Woman | (2016) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Victim 2117 | (2020) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| The Shadow Murders | (2021) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Locked In | (2024) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
| The Alphabet House | (1997) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Takeover | (2002) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| The Washington Decree | (2018) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Jussi Adler-Olsen is a Danish published author.
Born August 2, 1950, he started writing novels in the nineties after having worked as an editor, publisher, bookseller, and film composer for a Valhalla cartoon. He first debuted with his 1997 novel Alfabethuset, which quickly hit the top of the charts in Denmark and established bestselling status in Denmark and internationally.
His following novels And She Thanked the Gods and The Washington Decree were also bestsellers. He would also publish his Department Q series, the first book of which came out originally with the title “Kvinden I buret”. The main character in this series is the Deputy Superintendent Carl Mørck, who works in Department Q. The third novel in the series earned him the Readers’ Book Award from readers of Berlingske Tidende. The author then received the Harald Mogensen Prize and the Glass Key Prize from the Scandinavian Crime Society. The fourth novel in the series Journal 64 led to the author being awarded The Golden Laurels.
Jussi was named Favorite author of the Danes for three years a row from 2011 to 2013. This eventually led to the way that the award was given being altered so that the winner cannot be selected more than once in a period of three years.
His novels have earned him awards and recognition abroad, too. He has received awards such as The Sealed Room Award in Japan, the Best Translated Mystery Novel of the Year and The Crime-Blitz Award 2011 in Germany. He received the French reader award Prix de Textrices the Elle and The Barry Award in the United States.
The author was born in Copenhagen, the only boy and the youngest of four. His father was a pyschiatrist and sexologist, and he spent much of his time as a child in official residences at hospitals around Denmark. He was a musician in his teens, playing lead guitarist in various pop groups. He graduated high school in 1970, and studied medicine, sociology, and film making until 1978 and worked until choosing to begin writing on a full time basis in 1995.
His books have done well and have been adapted into over forty languages. He has done particularly well in Germany, Norway, and the Netherlands, and frequently topping the paperback bestseller list on The New York Times.
Many of his works have been adapted. Zentropa made Kvinden I Buref into a Danish film called The Keeper of Lost Causes which was the top film at the box office that year in Denmark. A sequel came out in 2014 titled The Absent One in English. A Conspiracy of Faith was released in 2016 by Zentropa. Journal 64 came out in 2018. Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Fares Fares starred in all four of the films. Nordisk Film produced Marco Effekten, which came out in 2021. Netflix will be adapting the series into a television series of its own which began filming in 2024. It will be titled Department Q.
The Keeper of Lost Causes is the first book in the Department Q series by Jussi Adler-Olsen. If you love a good detective novel, then give this story a try!
Carl Mørck is the main character in this story. Previously he used to be one of the top homicide detectives that Copenhagen ever had. Then a slew of bullets came along and completely wrecked the lives of two of their fellow cops.
Carl never drew his weapon, but he still blames himself. The last thing that he ever anticipated was getting a promotion. But that is precisely what has happened and he has been promoted to Department Q. The department that only contains one person.
He’s got a stack built up high of the coldest cases to ever run through Copenhagen and plenty of work to keep him busy. His coworkers might laugh at him, but he’ll end up having the final laugh. There’s just one file that keeps bothering him, involving a liberal politician who went missing five years ago and is thought to be dead.
But what if she isn’t dead yet? Find out more in this darkly comedic story that has captured the imagination of readers around the globe!
The Absent One is the second book in the Department Q series by Jussi Adler-Olsen. If you loved the first book in this series, check this one out for good measure and follow along with the star detective in question.
Detective Carl Mørck is assigned to run Department Q, which handles the cold cases of Copenhagen. It might not be the most glamorous job, but it is deeply important even if his coworkers would likely do anything to keep from switching places with him.
The detective is now comfortable with his approach to picking up leads that are long cold and seeing if they warm up. When a closed case is dropped on his desk, he is intrigued. The case features siblings, a brother and sister who had been killed two decades previous.
The murder had been brutal, and as it turns out one of the suspects confessed and then went through a conviction. Part of a group of boarding school students who know nothing but privilege, one of them met justice. But was it deserved? Curious, the detective reopens the files of the case to find out more.
Once he starts looking into the case that was supposedly solved, he gets a lead that takes him to a woman named Kimmie. She’s living on the street and taking things in order to survive. She’s always done a great job of avoiding the police, but there are also other people out there who are looking for her too.
It turns out that this woman is keeping secrets, the type that some people would love to keep buried and would kill in order to do that. Kimmie is definitely in danger. Could she or others have information that could break this case wide open, or is Detective Carl going to be left with only dead ends? Read this detective story to find out!
Book Series In Order » Authors »
Any issues with the book list you are seeing? Or is there an author or series we don’t have? Let me know!
I was blown away at the ending of The Shadow Murders and I’m waiting for the next book in the series. To be honest I’m also dreading it as I understand it will be the last Department Q book. I have enjoyed this series very much. The plots are wonderful and the character development between the main members of the series continue to be outstanding. I will miss having a new book to look forward to.
After reading The Shadow Murders it is apparent that there must be a further book to see how Carl beats the made-up charges and his arrest at the end of Shadow Murders. Are you aware if Adler-Olsen is in fact writing this novel?
The Washington Decree is startling during the chaotic times in the U.S. right now. It is sooo American with 2 exceptions. I don’t believe citizens would give up their guns, even with the conclusion of the book, and wonder if an American can be exiled. A SUPER READ!!
This site is my “go to site” for finding the next “series” to read. Thank you for all your hard work.
You’re welcome. Thank you so much for the feedback 🙂
The Washington Decree was a terrible disappointment after reading the entire excellent Dept Q series. That series was breathless and gripping. Washingtin District came across to me as a dumbing down for an American audience. Stooping to the quality of James Patterson, perhaps. Gave it up after 60 or so pages. Will happily try his other books but continue to question what happened at the penning of Washington District to change his quality so.
WD is next on my list. I recently finished Alphabet House. It was a bit of a slog getting into it, but well worth the effort.
Agree, love the dept Q series. Not sure how dumb you may think the American audience is, but this book was really too dumb even for us. A real disappointment.
I just finished listening to The Washington Decree. The first part of the book struck me as more of a shaggy dog story until FEMA became a character. Then, the book seemed to me, an American who lived through Trump I not to mention W, closer to a dcoumentary than fiction. It prompted me to explore FEMA which I had thought to be an agency to help people suffering from natural disasters. Little did I know that FEMA is yet another American law enforcement agency with military trained personnel, part of The Homeland Security agency and well schooled in The Patriot Act excesses. Dumbed down Americans are real.
Not sure if you want to add it because it won’t be available until March 3, 2020, but the next book in the series in Victim 2117
P.S. This site is very useful! Thank you for maintaining it.