I was considering making my character Anders Pedersen Strøm gay. And then – just like when I was deciding on a lady detective or not and the world went bonkers about a female 007 – there was a mighty palaver about LGBTQ+ as well, and … Read moreIs he or isn’t he… and would it have mattered?
Sometimes facts and fiction meet up in unexpected ways. I was invited to talk about my books and research in Nysted close to where I live, and, of course, mentioned Hakon Jørgensen, one of the most important people in the history of the police in … Read moreHe’s my grandad
Now, the stories about Anna and Christian haven’t yet reached December, but I will still allow myself to speculate a bit about Christmas gifts, inspired by ‘Where to Meet Christmas 1906’, which is ,admittedly, a few years older, but the shops still exist in 1910. … Read moreChristmas gifts – the challenge of the year – even to Anna and Christinan
It’s September and time for the big issues of the fashion magazines. Nothing new there as fashion has been described, predicted, laughed at etc. for a very long time. Both Anna and Christian are very fashion concious. Anna enjoys shopping in Paris with Paul Poiret, … Read moreSeptember is – Fashion of course
International Dance Day. Something that naturally catches my attention, given that I have a protagonist like Christian la Cour. Formerly a principal dancer in the Royal Danish Ballet and now a top detective in the police force. But he is still a dancer at heart. … Read moreInternational Day of Dance
History, true crime, cosy crime or crime fiction? All of it, actually. There’s a lot of true crime which means maybe 80% is based on actual cases, which also means that there are illustrations. It’s cosy in the sense, that you won’t be on edge, … Read moreA little bit of…
Copenhagen was a city on the rise, with a growing sense of self-assurance. It aspired to be a metropolis, but its size didn’t quite match up. Demolishing the ramparts had helped, but it wasn’t that long ago. Nevertheless, the half million Copenhageners were quick to … Read moreCopenhagen 1910
Because I felt other time periods were overused. There’s a lot of Victorian era content – largely due to Sherlock Holmes – and plenty from the twenties, which are apparently seen as glamorous, but there was nothing in between. I searched online to see what … Read moreWhy 1910?
Anna and Christian become instant friends due to a quote from Monsieur Lecoq. Most likely only very few have heard of him now, but Emile Gaboriau wrote before Conan Doyle. Monsieur Lecoq first appears in the novel ‘L’Affaire Lerouge’, which was published as a serial … Read moreThe First True Detective Novel
Even fictional characters make fashion choices, and you are careful to make the right ones for them. I have a leading lady who is young, strong, eancipated, with a science education, working as a journalist and with a practical approach to fashion. My leading man, … Read moreTrilby, Fedora and Cape Coat