Chief Inspector William Wisting of the Telemark police has had a distinguished career. Yet he is haunted by a 24-year old mystery, the disappearance of Katharina Haugen, who left her home, flowers on a table, a coded message, a suitcase packed, and then vanished. The husband was questioned, and every year on the anniversary of her disappearance the two men meet up. Only this year Martin Haugen fails to meet their long-standing arrangement.Enter Adrian Stiller, an ambitious young detective attach...

Competently put together mystery. The thrill comes from seeing all the pieces fall logically but not predictably into place - very satisfying. Nothing too dark or depressing or horrifying. I will certainly look for other books by this author.

“The Katharine Code” is different from your typical Scandi crime novel and it’s focused more on the police procedures rather than being dark and brutal. The storyline involving two cold cases was interesting; I liked how two totally different disappearances of young women linked together at the end. I must say I am a little bit disappointed with how the story progressed. The pace was a little too slow for my liking. I felt that the book was too long at the times and I was missing a twist of some...

The Katharina Code by Jorn Lier Horst is a Norwegian cold case police procedural, a case where 24 years ago, Katharina Haugen disappeared into thin air in Kleiverveien. Detective William Wisting has never been able to let go of the case, and every year on the 11th October anniversary, he reaches for the case files to pore over them to see if anything can be done. He has developed a friendship over the years with Katharina's husband, Martin, who he visits on the day as well. Martin has never got

The Katharina Code is the third William Wisting book that I’ve read and I must say I thoroughly enjoy them. Jørn Lier Horst is a Norwegian author who brings a real credibility to the Scandi Crime genre having worked as a police officer and head of investigations. William Wisting is a credible character whose methodical attention to detail brings authenticity to the role. He is a character with his own set of complexities but these don’t overshadow the story. This is the first cold case story tha...

I picked this up at the beginning of the year as it was on offer and what a bargain it turned out to be. A really good read that keeps you enthralled all the way through. The added bonus for me was I didn't realise this was a twelfth book in this series so I now have another 11 to read.This is a story of a detective, William Wisting, who has worked a good few years an has seen many cases but he, like many I suppose, can't stand the ones he couldn't solve. The mysterious disappearance of Katharin...

The hard-drinking, pensive, lone wolf Nordic detective tiptoes the line between trope and cliche, but Norwegian policeman turned award-winning crime writer Jørn Lier Horst steers clear with his family man William Wisting, who refreshingly has a rather more content and positive outlook on life despite the dark deeds he investigates. A widower who is now a grandfather, Wisting has for many years been hauling out old files every October. A case unclosed, unsolved: the bizarre disappearance of Katha...

Received a digital copy for review via NetGalley!A missing persons case of a girl called Katharina has been unsolved for a total of twenty-four years. On the anniversary date of her disappearance, the chief inspector William Wisting revisits the files to see if he can find the missing pieces to the jigsaw. One strange clue does stand out: a code that no-one up until this point have been able to solve. When another woman goes missing, the hunt is on to crack the code and find the two missing peop...

Every year on the 9th October Chief Inspector William Wisting carefully scrutinises the cold case files on Katharina Haugen. This is an unsolved missing person case that has come to haunt him. So here he is again 24 years later picking through the evidence, the witness statements, and the code that was discovered in Katharina’s home in her handwriting. Even expert code breakers have been unable to solve it.Over the years, Wisting and Katharina’s husband Martin have become friends, but there’s st...

Brilliant!

I have read several books in the William Wisting series and I love it! If this is the first time you have ever heard of this series, then I encourage you to go out and find any books you can read. This series by Jørn Lier Horst is excellent and you can without any problem read any of the books as stand-alone. THE KATHARINA CODE starts with William Wisting going through the Katharina investigation. He does it every year on the same day. The day Katarina disappeared. However, this year will pro

Twentyfour years ago, Katharina Haugen, went missing. She left behind her husband, Martin, and a mysterious string of numbers scribbled on a piece of paper. Every year on the 9th October, Cheif Inspector William Wistingtakes out the files to the case he was never able to solve. He stares at the codes he was never able to crack. He visits the husband he was never able to help.This novel is set between the streets and the dark forests of Norway. It's been twenty four years since Katharina Haugen w...

I might just have mentioned before that I really, really like Scandi literature. Oh, I have mentioned it? What really? About 500 times? Surely not. 🤣. Anyhoo. This is the first time I’ve read Jorn Lier Horst and I hadn’t appreciated that the main character features in 11 previous books. It didn’t matter in the slightest, however. I really like William Wisting as a character. He is dogged, determined and intuitive. He is a good family man: a proud grandfather to Amalie and a good father to Lina a...

William Wisting has been a cop for a long time. He loves his job but every year on a certain date, he thinks about the one that got away. It’s been 24 years now since Katharina Haugen disappeared & Wisting still has no idea what happened. HIs penance is an annual visit with her husband to shoot the breeze & talk about the case. But this year doesn’t go as planned. Martin Haugen is missing. Which is ironic because he’s suddenly a popular guy. Wisting gets a call from Adrian Stiller who is with th...

I'm having a moment with Nordic Noir at the moment and am taking recommendations!The Katharina Code is a suspenseful cold case thriller set in the dark forests of Norway. Katharina Haugen haunts Chief Inspector William Wisting. She disappeared twenty-four years before our novel opens, leaving behind her husband, Martin, and a seemingly random string of numbers scribbled on a piece of paper. Every year on 9th October, Wisting takes out the case file, hoping to finally get a break in the case he c...

A Gripping Plot! This is my second book by the author and this one proved to more engaging than the earlier one. Though the previous book ( The Hunting Dogs ) was good, but the translation was weak. This book overcomes that.This is a story of a case, that is about a missing girl that happens and talks lots of about the police works, step by step revelation of the clues and the unfolding of the mystery.Till the last page, the book grips you. Many times the conversation between Wisting and Martin

I have always had great admiration for Jørn Lier Horst and his William Wisting series. A Norwegian homicide detective, Wisting seems able to pace himself through his investigations while always extracting just what is needed at the right time to solve a case and bring the perpetrator to justice. However, there are those cases that slip through the fingers, such as the one of Katharina Haugen. Wisting has never been able to solve it, but pulls out the case files each year on the anniversary of he...

Thoughtful, character-driven crime...Twenty-four years ago, Katharina Haugen went missing and has never been seen since. She left a partially packed suitcase and a sheet of paper filled with cryptic numbers, the meaning of which has never been discovered. The obvious suspect, her husband Martin, had a cast-iron alibi, and the police have never been able to identify any other suspects. Every year on the anniversary of her disappearance, William Wisting, the detective who investigated the case at

One of my goals this year was to explore more Scandi crime and THE KATHARINA CODE is my first of the year. Set in Norway, this follows Chief Inspector William Wisting as he attempts to solve a case that has haunted him for years. 24 years ago Katharina went missing, leaving nothing behind but her husband Martin and a note with some numbers scribbled on it. It becomes known as the Katharina Code and no one has ever been able to break it. Flash forward to present day and Martin has gone missing. N...

This novel centres around a cold case which has haunted Chief Inspector William Wisting for twenty-four years; the disappearance of Katharina Haugen. Wisting has maintained a cordial relationship with Katharina’s husband Martin since his wife went missing and always visits him on the anniversary of her disappearance.Now new evidence has surfaced which links Martin to the supposed kidnapping of teenage heiress Nadia Krogh who disappeared about two years before Katharina. A ruthless and manipulati...