William Wisting Books In Order

Publication Order of William Wisting Books

Chronological Order of William Wisting Books

The William Wisting series is a series of crime fiction novels by the former Senior Investigating officer turned author, the Norwegian Jørn Lier Horst. The chief protagonist in all novels of the series is William Wisting, a Chief Inspector and head of CID determined to do his job with integrity to make the world a better place. Wisting is currently based in the Criminal Investigation Department at Larvik Police Station, Norway, where he has served since 1984. He does most of his investigative work in the Larvik Stavern area. His work has him investigate a range of criminal activities, the bulk of which has to do with murder. His daughter Line is an important character in the novels as she helps flesh out of the Wisting character while also being a main character. Line who is a criminal reporter, is a foil to his bold risk taking nature and tries to get him to slacken off, when he seems to take on too much risk. Born and raised in the Larvik, Stavern area of the Norway, William Wisting has a strong attachment to the city. According to the author Jørn Lier Horst, the character and the setting are inseparable, as the city makes the character. While initially published in Norwegian, most of the novels since the sixth novel Dregs have had an English translation.

Given their widespread popularity in Norway, it was only logical that the novels would eventually be translated into English to reach an international audience. All novels since the sixth have English translations showing that there is much demand for the William Wisting series of novels. As expected, the international popularity of the novels have made Jørn Lier Horst a household name in the crime fiction genre. The first English translation of the William Wisting series is Dregs, first published in 2010 as Bunnfall. The novel was a 2010 nominee for the Rovertonprisen Award. The Hunting Dogs published in 2013 has won the most awards, winning the 2013 Glass Key Award, the 2013 Riverton Prize, and the 2014 Martin Beck Award. Closed for Winter won the Norwegian Booksellers Prize in 2011, while The Caveman came away with the 2016 Petrona Award. The Danish production company Cinenord in conjunction with Good Company Films plan to make the five English translations of the William Wisting novels: Ordeal, The Caveman, The Hunting Dogs, Closed for Winter Dregs and the novel preceding it into a six season TV series. Costing about £8 million, the series will be sold internationally with English subtitles.

William Wisting was brought up in Stavern, Norway, is married to Ingrid Grindem with whom he had two children, Thomas and Line Wisting. According to the author William is a good and upright police officer, but most importantly, a sincere and big-hearted person. He is a sympathetic and meticulous investigator, who often acts without much regard for his own safety. He prefers societal engagement rather than the building of personal relationships, which means he has very few friends. However, he has not always been that aloof as Jørn Lier Horst seems to insinuate that his experiences as a police officer has exposed him to the dark side of human nature, making him wary of human connections. He lives in a constantly evolving society in which the Norwegian police force is facing challenges unseen before. Still, he does his best to prevent crime from completely taking over his hometown. He believes that being a police officer means that one must have humanity, integrity, and conscience if he is to improve and keep the society safe from corruption.

The first novel of the William Wisting series that was translated into English was the highly popular Dregs, published in 2011. Chief Inspector William Wisting is described as a police officer with a very good understanding of how dark human nature can get. At the time of the novel, his country, and more specifically his city of Larvik, Norway is facing challenging times. He is a bright spark for the Norwegian police force as despite the hard times, he always strives to do his work with humanity, integrity, and the belief that one man can make a difference in the world. At the beginning of Dregs, a police report is delivered to Wistings desk showing that a training shoe, still containing a severed human foot has been discovered on the beach. The report gives the time and place where the gruesome evidence had been found. It is not long before another shoe; apparently, a left footed one is washed up ashore. Bewildered, Wisting is left with many theories, could the victim have been involved in an accident at sea? Could the two pieces of evidence be from two bodies? Could there be a link between the pieces of limb found and the mysterious disappearances in the Larvik district in the past few months? As usual Wisting gets down to business trying to unravel the mystery assisted by Line his journalist daughter, and his more normal police colleagues.

Another novel that English audiences have taken to is the second in the series is Closed for Winter, published in 2013. The novel casts William Wisting as an extremely disillusioned police officer that is also newly separated from his wife. With the tourist numbers going down, he believes that he will have one quiet weekend before he closes shop for the winter. However, his tranquility is interrupted when burglars ransack his summer home. A little digging around and he unearths the body of a man who had apparently been clobbered to death. While he has seen so many murders in his long career as a police officer, he has never seen such desperation in the eye of a murder victim. His daughter Line advices him to go on holiday, believing that staying in the house may be too dangerous given that he is yet to establish the motive of the killing. Never one to back down, he settles in the summer cottage near the fjord to continue his investigations. As usual, Jørn Lier Horst brings his masterful artistry to the work that will leave any crime fiction fan on the edge of their seat with suspense.