A Shocking Beginning
It all began on Saturday, March 24, 1923—the day before Palm Sunday. At the top of Aftenposten's front page, the headline read: "The Bergen Train Plundered Last Night." Readers were stunned, reacting with shock and disbelief. But it turned out to be a remarkably successful publicity stunt—one that made many people choke on their morning coffee. The headline was actually an ad for a crime novel of the same name, written by two students, Nordahl Grieg and Nils Lie.
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Aftenposten, Saturday, March 24, 1923 Aftenposten
This publicity stunt is considered to have played a key role in establishing Easter crime stories as a distinct genre in Norway. However, it was a development that happened gradually. In 1937, the newspaper Aust-Agder Blad noted: “Now, before Easter, is the time for crime novels.” Still, it wasn’t until sometime between 1950 and 1970 that crime book marketing began to appear sporadically.
The best explanation for the Easter crime phenomenon comes from Nils Nordberg, former director at NRK’s Radio Theatre and an expert in crime literature. In 2003, he pointed out, “Norwegians have the world’s longest Easter holiday. Crime fiction is vacation reading.”
Other countries also have their preferred holiday reads, but these are usually associated with summer vacations. Inspired by Norway, Swedish publisher Piratförlaget launched their own “Easter crime novel of the year” (årets påskdecare) in 2003. It was later remarked, “Now Easter crime stories are set to become a Swedish tradition too.”
Radio and TV
In the 1950s, NRK’s Radio Theatre began airing crime dramas on Saturdays. Eventually, they started broadcasting crime serials during the Easter week as well. From 1980 onward, this became an almost yearly tradition. The tradition began with Graham Greene’s radio drama "Den tredje man", which was aired as a five-part Easter crime special, running from Monday through Maundy Thursday.
NRK TV began its Easter crime tradition in 1966, when "Detektimen" was broadcast the Wednesday before Maundy Thursday. Since regular programming started in 1960, Detektimen had been a Friday night staple—except on Good Friday. This changed in 1971, when a crime show aired on Easter Saturday, and from 1976 onward, also on both Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Since 1978, Easter crime dramas have additionally been shown on both Easter Sunday and Easter Monday.
