Jan Mehlum (born 1 January 1945) is a Norwegian crime fiction writer and sociologist. He was awarded the

Riverton Prize The Riverton Prize ( no, Rivertonprisen) is a literature award given annually to the best Norwegian crime story (novel, short story, play, original screenplay). The prize is named after the Norwegian journalist and author Sven Elvestad (1884-1934) ...

in 1998 for the crime novel ''Kalde hender''.

Personal life and early career

Mehlum was born in

Tønsberg Tønsberg , historically Tunsberg, is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, eastern Norway, located around south-southwest of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near its mouth onto the Skagerrak. The administrative ce ...

on 1 January 1945. He studied at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

, and is an

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and sociologist by education. He has work experience in various fields such as education, business and culture. He founded the private cinema Tønsberg Kino, and has taken an active part in contemporary debates, including writing non-fiction books.

Literary career

Mehlum made his crime fiction debut in 1996 with ''Gylne tider'', and was awarded the

for 1998 for his second crime novel, ''Kalde hender''. His next book was ''Det annet kinn'' from 1999, and his crime novels in the early 2000s include ''En rettferdig dom'' (2000), ''En nødvendig død'' (2002), ''Den siste dansen'' (2004), ''Din eneste venn'' (2005), ''For Guds skyld'' (2007), ''Det ingen vet'' (2008), ''Madrugada'' (2009), and ''Bake kake søte'' (2010). Most of his crime novels are set in Tønsberg, with the protagonist Svend Foyn, a lawyer, solving the crime cases. The real-life Svend Foyn is a well-known historical personality from Tønsberg. Mehlum's books from the 2010s include the crime novels ''Straffen'' (2011) and ''En god sak'' (2012), the thriller ''Lengsel etter penger'' from 2013, and the crime novels ''Ren samvittighet'' (2014), ''Et hardt slag'' (2015), ''To komma åtte sekunder'' (2016), and ''Hvit engel, svart natt'' (2018). In ''Fornemmelse av skyld'' from 2019, Foyn consults

Varg Veum Varg Veum is the central character in a series of crime novels, written by the Norwegian author Gunnar Staalesen, about a private detective who lives in Bergen, on the west coast of Norway. The books have been translated into several languages, ...

, when part of the novel is set in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

. In 2020 Mehlum published the novel ''Lang tids reise'', a disappearance mystery. His novel ''Ut av tiden'' from 2022 is a murder case where one of protagonist Foyn’s friends is the victim.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehlum, Jan 1945 births Writers from Tønsberg Norwegian crime fiction writers Norwegian male novelists Living people