Scene of the Crime: Marcia Clark, Thomas Enger, Jorn Lier Horst & Peter Robinson

Hosted by CBC's Sandra Abma

In Person Fiction

Admission

Free

Wednesday

Oct , 2013

8:30pm

Eastern

Knox Presbyterian Church

120 Lisgar Street (at Elgin) • Ottawa

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Scene of the Crime: Marcia Clark, Thomas Enger, Jorn Lier Horst & Peter Robinson

Legal thrillers don't get much better than this... Boasting a feisty protagonist, a winning supporting cast, and steadily escalating courtroom drama, KILLER AMBITION finds Clark at the top of her game

Booklist

It’s a dark and violent world out there, and our four international bestsellers are having a lot of fun bringing us to its most sinister corners: From the mansions of Hollywood and the University of Essex to the best of Nordic Noir, join us for a globe-spanning trek to the scene of the crime.

Marcia Clark, former criminal defense attorney and prosecutor, is the bestselling author of three novels featuring L.A. Special Trials prosecutor Rachel Knight: Guilt by Association, Guilt by Degrees, and most recently, Killer Ambition. In the words of James Patterson, “It's no big surprise that Marcia Clark knows her way around a courtroom, and a murder mystery - but she's also a terrific writer and storyteller.”

From Norway’s Thomas Enger, the acclaimed author of Burned and Pierced comes Scarred, a dark, thrilling novel that pits a struggling crime reporter against the demons from his past.

A brutal killing, an anonymous threat, and a man on a mission ad up to “a gripping narrative that begs comparison to Stieg Larsson.” (Bookpage)

Meet Chief Inspector William Wisting, Head of CID in Larvik, Norway, the latest unforgettable import from Scandinavian crime fiction. Closed for Winter is the second of the William Wisting mysteries by Norwegian policeman Jørn Lier Horst, to be translated into English, after the international success of Dregs. Ove Bakkerud, newly separated and extremely disillusioned, is looking forward to a final quiet weekend at his summer home before closing for winter but his cottage is ransacked and he discovers a body next door.

Canada's premier, bestselling crime fiction writer, Peter Robinson, winner of numerous awards, including the Edgar Award; the British Dagger in the Library Award; the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière; the Palle Rosenkrantz Award; and, several Arthur Ellis Awards, returns to the Festival with Children of the Revolution, the twenty-first book in the much-loved Inspector Banks series, now a television series on PBS. A disgraced college lecturer is found murdered with £5,000 in his pocket on a disused railway line near his home. There are many suspects, mostly at the college where he used to teach, but Banks soon becomes fixated on Lady Veronica Chalmers, who appears to have links with the victim going back to the early '70s.

Books by participating authors available on-site. A booksigning will follow each event.

We gratefully acknowledge funding from the Embassy of Norway and NORLA in support of Thomas Enger and Jorn Lier Horst.

The Authors

Jorn Lier Horst

Jørn Lier Horst (b. 1970) has worked as a policeman in Larvik since 1995 and now holds a position as the head of investigations at the local police office. He made his literary debut as a crime writer in 2004 and has now published six books in his crime series set in southern Norway, the saga of Police Inspector William Wisting, his journalist daughter Line, and the team of criminal investigators at Larvik police station.The author, who has himself several years’ experience as a Norwegian policeman, brings his knowledge to bear on the descriptions of police procedures and methodical detection work, while using his linguistic dexterity and impressive authorial technique to build up tension, delineate character and make excellent use of dialogue to bring the twists and turns of this narrative to life, engaging the empathy of the reader and ensuring that the novel is a memorable, taut and realistic thriller.

Marcia Clark

Marcia Clark began practicing law as a criminal defense attorney. She became a prosecutor in the L.A. District Attorney's Office in 1981, and spent ten years in the Special Trials Unit where she handled a number of high profile cases prior to the O.J. Simpson case, including the prosecution of stalker/murderer Robert Bardo, whose conviction for the murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer resulted in legislation that offered victims better protection from stalkers as well as increased punishment for the offenders. Since the Simpson trial, Ms. Clark has toured the U.S. and Canada giving lectures on a variety of women's issues including domestic violence and inspirational/motivational speeches, as well as lectures on the latest high profile cases, public service careers, and of course, the Trial of the Century. In May of 1997, her book on the Simpson case, Without a Doubt was published and quickly rose to #1 on the New York Times, Wall St. Journal, Washington Post, LA Times, and Publisher's Weekly bestsellers lists. From February 1998 to 2000 Marcia was under contract as a legal analyst and expert commentator for NBC, CNBC and MSNBC. She appeared weekly as the substitute host of Geraldo Rivera's "Rivera Live," and also hosted "Equal Time" for CNBC and "Judge and Jury" for MSNBC. Marcia has appeared on the "Oprah Winfrey Show," the "Larry King Show," the "Today" show, "The Early Show," and "Good Morning America," among others, and provides legal commentary on a wide variety of cable shows such as "Anderson Cooper 360" and "Issues with Jane Velez Mitchell." Marcia Clark (with writing partner, Catherine LePard) has sold hour-long pilots to the FX network, Lifetime, and VH1 and developed a half hour comedy for NBC. She has also developed reality projects for CBS and was an executive producer of a one hour reality pilot for CBS. Marcia has published three novels which feature Los Angeles Special Trials prosecutor Rachel Knight: Guilt by Association, Guilt by Degrees, and Killer Ambition, which came out in June 2013. TNT has optioned the books and a drama series is currently in development. Marcia is attached as an executive producer. She's currently at work on her fourth novel.

Peter Robinson

Peter Robinson grew up in the United Kingdom, and now divides his time between Toronto and Richmond, Yorkshire. Children of the Revolution is the twenty-first book in the DCI Banks series. He has also written two collections of short stories, and three standalone novels, the most recent of which is the bestseller Before the Poison, winner of the Arthur Ellis Award in Canada, Sweden’s Golden Crowbar Award, and the 2013 Dilys Award given by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. Robinson’s critically acclaimed crime novels have won numerous awards in Britain, the United States, Canada, and Europe, and are published in translation all over the world.

Thomas Enger

I was born in Oslo, Norway, on the 21st of November 1973. My mother is a physioterrorist, sorry; physiotherapist, my father is a teacher in both French and English (he also speaks German if need be). Thus I grew up being taught that education is important, as is keeping your body in good shape. So I spent my childhood years playing football (not the american kind), dreaming of becoming a professional footballer at Manchester United (don’t hold that against me), but I never made it further than Ull/Kisa (a club at the third highest level in Norway when I quit). I do have one hell of a passing foot, though. I also did a lot of girlchasing growing up, reading and watching R rated movies a lot sooner than I should have together with my friends. Needless to say; I had a good childhood. Hey, that rhymed. My first paid job, besides the odd summer job cutting our neighbour’s lawn (not a lucrative or a particularly smart job, since I’m allergic to grass…), was as a garbage disposer at Oslo Lufthavn Gardermoen. Yes, the airport. Well, that’s not entirely accurate, because I held a job as a waiter at a nearby hotel for a whole day (it wasn’t for me). The summer job at OSL didn’t last more than a few weeks, either, and then I moved on to bigger things. Working in a kiosk at a shopping mall in Lorenskog just outside Oslo. Wore a nice shirt and all. Then I went to the military for nine months, got to fire a rifle at least three times, but mostly I spent my days in an office listening to Metallica. Did a lot of head banging. Got to wear a nice looking uniform, though. (Actually I had two) After my soldiering days I went to Oslo to study sports, had a blast at Idrettshøgskolen learning all there is to know about, well, sports. Great fun. Got to practice a lot. Became a lot stronger. Then I spent a year working as a sports teacher in Jessheim, where I grew up. Got to practice even more. Became even stronger. Despite what writers tell you (and I’m one of them, at least when it comes to writing), practice isn’t everything, so I decided to study some more. See if I could awaken the intellectual part of my brain. Don’t know if that worked out or not, but at least I got to go to Stavanger and learn the basics of a trade called journalism. I actually came a breath shy of landing a job out there on the rainy, windy west coast, but it wasn’t to be. Oslo was again my next destination. History became my next interest. You have to know about the past before you can write about the present, right? At one point I found myself broke and unable to lend any more money to use on expensive oslonian beer, so it was time to grow up and get a job. Nettavisen became my first real employer. I worked there from 2000 to the summer of 2008. The last five years as a sports chief editor. Yes, it actually paid off to have a degree in sports. But what I really wanted to do with my time, was to write fiction. After having tried for fifteen years (yes, I’m a resiliant bastard), I finally succeeded. My first novel Burned (originally titled Skinndød) was released by the Norwegian publisher Gyldendal in February 2010, and it was quickly sold to a number of countries, including England and the US. The count is, as it stands, 21 (but feel free to join the party). Burned was shortlisted for the eDunnit award in England for the best novel that was both published as a hard back and in a e-book format in 2011. Movie rights have been sold to the Norwegian production company 4 ½. But Steven, don’t hesitate to call if you want to get Dreamworks in on the action. My second novel Pierced (originally titled Fantomsmerte) came a year later, and it was shortlisted for the prestigious Riverton award in Norway. It has also been sold to a lot of countries. Movie rights have also been sold to 4 ½. In fact, 4 ½ have purchased the rights to make a movie out of all my books in the Henning Juul series (six in total. Yes, I’m crazy). Didn’t imagine that when I wrote Burned on our kitchen table in Oslo. My third novel Scarred (originally titled Blodtåke) is due to be released in Norway in the beginning of 2013. Is there anything more to tell? Well, I live in Oslo with my wife and two kids, and I have a sister who’s a doctor. She has three kids. That means I’m an uncle. Oh, and I like to play golf. Still trying to figure out how that little bastard of a ball operates. Or maybe I’m just finding new ways to cut the grass. Well, folks. There you have it.