Meeting ~ Murder Mystery Fest on crime novels

Easter and crime novels and munchies?

It’s a unique Norwegian tradition that started back in the 1920s and has continued up to present day.

Norwegians even have a name for it: Pascha Krim. Translated, it means “Easter Crime,” said Toni Little, one of the organizers of a Friday night presentation about the custom.

Little will serve as the emcee for the free 7 p.m. event sponsored by the Sons of Norway. It will take place at American Lutheran Church, 5 Lewis Ave.

The evening will feature speakers Diana Rogers, Liv Halvorson and Sue Johnson. It will also include snacks enjoyed by Norwegians during Pascha Krim and a discussion of some of Scandinavia’s popular crime authors.

The whole Easter Crime phenomenon began back in 1923, Little said, when two men, Nordahl Grieg and Nils Lie, wrote a novel about a bank robbery.

“They were excited about it and wanted to promote it,” Little said. “So they wrote it as if it was an actual robbery and that went into the newspaper.”

Readers believed the robbery was real, she said. When they found out the crime was the plot of a novel, “they bought the book.”

One thing led to another, and now Norwegians take a long weekend off at Easter. Many travel to their cabins to relax, where they read crime novels or watch TV crime shows.

And they enjoy foods that range from oranges “because that’s the fruit of spring,” Little said, to orange soda, hard-boiled eggs and a chocolate bar called Kvikk Lunsj.

“It means ‘quick lunch’ and it’s a lot like our Kit Kat,” she said. “And they like orange cake.”

It’s also a good time of year for novelists to get their books published and sold, Rogers added. Crime stories are even published on milk cartons.

Norwegians love to read, she said. As proof, all three women belong to a monthly book club in which they earn pins for reading.

“We’ve been doing this two or three years,” Rogers said.

Members meet at Barnes & Noble on the fourth Saturday of the month. The focus is on Scandinavian literature.

It’s a matter of encouraging each other, Halvorson said, and creating an interest in new books the others haven’t yet read. Each person reads a book of his or her choosing and then talks about it at the gathering.

The local Sons of Norway group has a library of about 200 books by Norwegian authors, translated into English. They are kept at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, 180 N. 24th St. W., and members of the public are welcome to stop by and read them.

At the monthly book club meetings, the group also chooses topics to focus on. One gathering focused on Iceland, “a major part of Norwegian history,” Little said.

“And they have wonderful Christmas stories,” she said. “And then we had one on alcoholism in Norway, so we have different subjects.”

On Friday night, Rogers will talk about Jo Nesbø, author of a popular crime series whose book, “The Snowman,” was recently turned into a movie. She will also talk about author Karin Fossum, another Norwegian author of crime fiction.

Halvorson will focus on Henning Mankell, the Swedish author of the Kurt Wallander novels turned into a TV series. Johnson will focus on literature related to immigration.

The Sons of Norway meets the second Friday of the month at American Lutheran Church, 5 Lewis Ave., in Billings. Meetings begin at 7 p.m., unless the gathering includes dinner. Anyone interested in Scandinavian culture is invited to attend.

The book club meets the fourth Saturday of the month at 10:30 a.m. at Barnes & Noble at 530 S. 24th St. W.

For information, call Toni Little at 245-9719.