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Christoffer Petersen

Authentic Arctic Crime books and Thrillers

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petra

The Ice Breaker Quandary – free story!

February 24, 2022 by Christoffer Petersen Leave a Comment

Here’s the Author’s Note for The Ice Breaker Quandary. I think it accurately describes what you’re letting yourself in for if you read this story.

The Ice Breaker Quandary is a short story featuring Constable Petra Jensen. It fits into the Greenland Missing Persons series, but can be read independently of that series.

You might recognise some additional characters, but this short story also introduces David ‘Dave’ Bennett, and was written as part of a reward for a Kickstarter campaign.

One word of warning… given the nature of this high stakes story, Petra is a little more intense than usual. And if this is your first introduction to Petra, well… Yeah, okay, I’ve got nothing. Good luck!

The Ice Breaker Quandary takes the Greenland Missing Persons series to a whole new level of quirkiness. Normal quirkiness (and a darker tone) will resume in the next book in the series.

Filed Under: free Tagged With: greenland, greenland missing persons, kickstarter, petra

Petra lives here!

February 11, 2022 by Christoffer Petersen 2 Comments

Moving south to Nuuk, here’s a photo from February (2013). The apartment block is one of five in a row in Qinngorput, a new (at the time) area in Nuuk across the fjord from the city centre. I took the photo from my balcony in an identical apartment block.

When I needed a place for Petra to live in Nuuk, it made sense to put her in my apartment. So this was her view looking to the right from her balcony.

Chris

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: greenland, greenland missing persons, petra

The Boreal Tattoo

January 30, 2022 by Christoffer Petersen 2 Comments

This was never meant to happen. What began as a short story has developed some … perhaps a lot. It’s still novella length, but while Petra (no spoilers) is convalescing in her hospital bed in Nuuk, she gets a new assignment.

She’s meant to be in Australia!

Which means The Crocodile Beat has been pushed to number 14* in the Greenland Missing Persons series. Yep, like that’s never happened before! Sigh.

So, The Boreal Tattoo – publishing soon – will be the 13th in the series.

More on that later. 😉

Chris

P.S. Thanks, Eva!

*Edit (February 5, 2022): The Crocodile Beat will be a stand-alone novel. Sigh.🙂

Filed Under: greenland missing persons Tagged With: greenland, greenland missing persons, petra

Le Palais de la Pleureuse

January 22, 2022 by Christoffer Petersen Leave a Comment

Just a quick post to say Le Palais de la Pleureuse (The Banshee Palace) is on it’s way. It’s currently in the process of being published to the various platforms. It’s the 7th of the Greenland Missing Persons series to be translated into French.

All that remains to say is …  thank you, Françoise!

Chris

Filed Under: In Translation Tagged With: Bureau des Personnes disparues au Groenland, greenland missing persons, petra

Proceeding South!

January 4, 2022 by Christoffer Petersen Leave a Comment

Everyone needs a hero – or several. One of mine is the Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen. Fans of Scott will protest, and I’ll ignore them. 😉 However, one of Amundsen’s classic quotes was in a telegram he sent to Scott: ‘Beg leave to inform you Fram proceeding Antarctic. Amundsen’. Thus kick-starting the race for the South Pole.

Love it!

And in that vein… Petra is heading south!

The Crocodile Beat is coming along, and I’m using concept art to develop it.*

I started using 3D art in the creative process last year. Before that I often used sketches to puzzle out one thing or another, but the 3D stuff has taken it to a new level. Like it or loathe it, I’m loving it! 🙂

Anyway, you’ll see in artwork above, I’m teasing out an idea of Petra in a desert area. She’s got a small pistol tucked into the small of her back, a water bottle, and the ubiquitous Land Rover.

She’s all set.

About that Land Rover, however. I’ve always loved them, always wanted one, and even more after a very short stint as an off-road instructor in a Land Rover Defender. But money and climate… you know. Owning a Land Rover is never going to happen.

But, if you’ve read some of my books, you’ll note that they turn up every now and again. 😉

Chris

*Edit (February 5, 2022): The Crocodile Beat will be a stand-alone novel. Sigh. 🙂

Filed Under: writing process Tagged With: 3D art, Australia, greenland missing persons, land rover, petra, the crocodile beat, writer stuff

Some method, plenty of madness!

December 18, 2021 by Christoffer Petersen 5 Comments

I was recently interviewed for Mystery & Suspense Magazine about writing crime novellas, and to share some thoughts on why novellas can be a really good length for crime stories, and why so few crime writers write them.

If that sounds like a contradiction in terms, then you’re absolutely right. It is contradictory. But, as I mention in the interview – alongside a host of fantastic authors, I might add – novellas work for me in many different ways.

I wrote my very first Maratse novella: Katabatic between the Fenna novels and Seven Graves, One Winter. The experience was liberating, and I was consumed by the story, inspired by the length, and motivated to write more.

I wrote a lot more.

And with each novella I wrote, I allowed myself to explore topics, writing styles, and new characters within a ‘safe’ and supportive story format. Safe in this context hopefully doesn’t mean boring, as I had so much fun writing Maratse’s novellas, and that fun spilled over into the Greenland Missing Persons series too.

I don’t go in for padding. A story is the length it needs to be, and if that length is a novella, and it works, then it makes no sense to pad it out to hit publishers’ (and readers’) expectations of longer works. Some stories demand more pages, and that works too. But a story is meant to entertain, and I’m sure we’ve all read stories that could have been 100 pages shorter. Likewise, many readers who have enjoyed my novellas often wish they were a bit longer.

I understand that too.

And so I still write novels.

But I’m itching to write more novellas.

However, I think it’s best to return to this topic later, and give you a chance to read the article first.

The interviewer, William Burton McCormick, is an established author in his own right, and has recently published one of his award winning short stories.

I’ll be back with more thoughts about novellas and short stories later.

Chris

Filed Under: writing process Tagged With: Constable David Maratse, novella, petra, writer stuff

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Arctic Images I

Ice fishing, Uummannaq
Sledge dog team, Uummannaq
Chris & Jane, Tanana, Alaska
Uummannaq mountain, Greenland

Arctic Images II

Main Road, Uummannaq
Nansen, Uummannaq
Longline fishing, Greenland
Chris & Ninja, Uummannaq

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