Not necessarily nordic noir

This essay was first published in Mystery Readers Journal Vol. 30 No.4, which was dedicated to the the topic of “Scandinavian Mysteries”

”So, what kind of demons is your main character having to cope with?”

 Being a Norwegian crime writer I often get this question. I guess the thinking is that Nordic crime equals noir.  Which in turn equals a gloomy investigator. If I´m writing crime stories based in Oslo, they´re bound to be filled with noir and despair, right?

Not necessarily. Although I love the dark characters, such as Jo Nesbø´s Harry Hole,  Henning Mankell´s Kurt Wallander and Gunnar Staalesen´s Varg Veum, it really didn´t feel right trying to copy any of that when I decided to make the move from journalism to crime fiction. I remember reading Brenda Ueland´s book “If you want to write” (1938), and her advice to write what you know. And personally, I have little knowledge of alcoholism and drug abuse. What I did know something about, however, was business and financial crime. When I combined this with a hang up on everything that has to do with Italy, Milo Cavalli was born. Half Norwegian, half Italian, and quite the opposite of your traditional Scandinavian investigator. Instead of reeking of alcohol, Milo “reeks” of success, which fits very well when I want to send him off investigating murders and the lack of moral, in both the mafia of Oslo and the “mafia” of Wall Street.  

With a vast family fortune from his Italian side of the family and a background as a financial analyst in Oslo, Milo Cavalli is what has to be the wealthiest police investigator in Norway – if not Scandinavia. And to me the money aspect was essential. Because I believe having money does something to you. Just like not having money also does something to you. After more than a decade as a business journalist, and later on as a corporate executive, I was amazed by encounters with wealthy people. The confidence they radiate, their ability to go their own way and not caring about what anybody else says. What if I linked that kind of personality to an investigator? I thought. A policeman with a I-don´t-give-a-shit-about-your-rules-as-long-as-I-crack-the-case-kind of attitude. Kinda like John McClane (Die Hard) but with money and a suit. Enter Milo Cavalli.

And I have to say that I just love writing about him. While other investigators operate under great constraints, Milo has unlimited resources at his disposal. Which can be useful when he´s following the money trail of the weapons industry to Milan or confronting big pharma executives in New York.

But Milo is different also in another way: He is a Catholic. Unlike most Scandinavians. Norway, Sweden and Denmark are all protestant countries. For example, in my country, Norway, there are only 150.000 Catholics. That is less than 3 % of the population. But to be honest, to call Norway a protestant country doesn´t feel right. In my view Norway and the rest of the Nordic countries are truly non-religious (if you don´t believe me, check out Phil Zuckerman´s “Society without God: What the least religious nations can tell us about contentment”). Hence, Milo is not only part of a minority religion in Norway; he is part of a minority religion in a country where all religious people are seen as a minority. This of course, allows me to create conflicts between Milo and his colleagues and friends. And conflict is always good for a story (I learned that as a journalist…).

The catholic aspect also allows me to do one more thing: To send Milo off to confessions. Ah, how I love writing those chapters! Driven by dialogue only, Milo and the priest, digging into Milo´s most inner thoughts and moral codex. Luckily for me, even the non-religious Norwegian readers also seem to enjoy this part as much as I do.  All in all, my readers seem to appreciate the “differenceness” of Milo. I don’t know how many times I´ve had readers telling me how refreshing they think it is to read about a crime hero without so many depressing traits. While visiting Europe´s biggest crime festival, Mord am Hellweg in Germany, I was positively surprised to learn that this was also something that resonated with my German readers.

So, does this mean that Milo doesn’t have any demons at all? Not even one bit despair hidden behind that perfect face? Of course not. He also has stuff to struggle with. For instance, there is the incomprehensible suicide of his mother, and how he blames his father for not preventing it. And there is his Milan based cousin, Corrado, who has disturbingly strong ties to organized crime. And finally, I´ve equipped Milo with a colleague: Chief investigator Sørensen. In his 50s, divorced, constantly smoking cigarettes or putting a piece of snuff under his lip, he personifies the fatalistic policeman. For instance when he explains his love for nicotine: “The thing with tobacco, my friend, is to pass the time. It gives me something to do, while at the same time shortening my life. Thereby making time pass twice as fast”.

Not sure if I should laugh or cry. But the Norwegian governement is issuing a ban on begging. Apparantly seeing poor people in the streets is more than the wealthiest nation in the world (per capita) can bear.

But the government doesn´t stop there. In addition to a ban on begging, they want to make it illegal for people to help beggars (check out this article in English about it http://www.thelocal.no/20150203/norway-to-ban-aiding-beggars-in-draconian-new-law).

I guess I can still engage in a conversation with a beggar, but if I give him a few coins, I risk having the police after me. If the law is passed, that is. I´m still hoping the politicians will come to their senses.

I was fortunate enough to once again sit in on a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week. The topic was Climate Smart Agriculture and how to tackle the challenge of food security in a sustainable way.

I have been in Davos earlier, the first time in 2010, listening in on similar topics, and have always been a bit depressed about all the talk and the lack of action.

However, this time was different. Seeing people from politics, science, civil society, businesses and the farming community eagerly discuss concrete measures for responding to both climate change and food security, made me realize one thing: We already have the technology and knowledge to make significant improvements.

What we need are ways for the political, corporate and academic sectors to work together, to put the technology and knowledge to work.

For instance like they have done in Vietnam, where coffee growers have managed to increase output while reducing water usage and their carbon footprints.

The discussions around the different tables this week - all unconstrained by the lack of journalists in the room - made me optimistic. Hoping we can move from talk to concrete action.

Sometimes Norway doesn’t feel rich at all. Like when our government and leading politicians have decided not only to allow just a few hundred refugees from Syria, but also have made it clear that we don’t want any refugees with handicaps.

I kid you not. This is also Norway.

One of my favorite blogs about economics is Tim Johnson´s “Magic, maths and money”. Because it´s not just about economics. Instead it links finance and economics to a number of other topics, based on Tim´s impressive knowledge. In this recent blog post he links economics to ecology and ethics. Truly interesting.

As an economist-turned-writer I have a place somewhere between academia and journalism, if you can imagine an academia-media-mass market continuum. Meaning I´m not nearly as thourough as the scientists, but on the other hand I can go into much more detail than a journalist with daily or weekly deadlines.