The Mysterious Foe

After an adventurous life of travel, Captain Ivar Rye has settled down in the Norwegian countryside and found love with the daughter of a neighboring landowner. But his peaceful new existence is shattered when her father is violently attacked, leaving Rye as the prime suspect.

Desperate and alone, Rye calls upon his old friend, the renowned detective Asbjørn Krag. As Krag begins his investigation, he uncovers layers of deception, hidden motives, and an elusive adversary. The case isn't as straightforward as it seemed, and the real threat remains in the shadows.

Sven Elvestad, who also wrote under the pseudonym Stein Riverton, was one of Norway's greatest crime writers. ­The New York Times described him as "the Edgar Allan Poe of Scandinavia." A journalist by training, he was the first foreign journalist to interview Adolf Hitler and was famous for stunts such as spending a day in a circus lion's cage. His first novel was published in 1907 and he went on to write nearly a hundred novels, many featuring detective Asbjørn Krag.

Available in English for the very first time, this new translation features an afterword by Nils Nordberg, radio drama producer and Norwegian authority on crime fiction.