I am trained as a graphic designer in 1981 and have always worked in the graphic industry, at advertising agencies, printing and 18 years in Salling Stormagasin's advertising department in Aarhus. That background gives me the fantastic opportunity to do all the work myself at Forlaget Farfalla, which I established in 2010.
PHOTO: ANNE KRING
I was born on 3 January 1960 and grew up on a horticulture in the city Galten near Aarhus with loving parents, an older sister and a younger brother. Here I spent a lovely childhood near forest, fields and marshes, with plenty of inspiration for a writing-loving and imaginative little girl. I loved the greenhouses, especially when they were filled with fragrant and colorful freesias. But mostly it was vegetables such as cucumbers and tomatoes that gave a lot of picking and packing duties so that my father could take them to the Gardeners' Association very early in the morning.
When I went there in the greenhouses and helped, there was plenty of time to let my imagination run wild. I composed many stories to make the work more exciting. At school, my long stories in style assignments were often read aloud to the other classes, which annoyed me at the time. I was predicted a future as a journalist, writer or illustrator, as I also loved to draw.
But it was drawing that became my future. From 1978 - 1983 I lived in Silkeborg and was employed at a couple of advertising agencies and a printing company as an advertising designer, as it was called then. In 1983, I got a job in the Salling department store's advertising department in Aarhus and moved to Risskov. I still live here today - still surrounded by forest, water and beautiful nature, which has always inspired and motivated me. On my runs in Mollerup Forest, many ideas for my crime stories have arisen.
In 2001, I decided to become self-employed in my own graphics company, IGM DESIGN GRAFISK, and since I could now plan the work myself, time was set aside to write again. This gave rise to my first crime novel "Dukkebarnet" (The Doll child), which had a somewhat messy outcome, as a couple of publishers were interested, but wanted some changes, and when they were made they did not want to publish anyway. "Dukkebarnet" was therefore not published until 2008 at Forlaget DarkLights, where my second crime novel "Drab efter begæring" (Death on Demand) was also published. January 2010 I chose to establish my own publishing house, which I named Forlaget Farfalla, which means butterfly in Italian. I did this in order to have an overview of the entire process in book production, from when I write the first word and put the last period until I send the books for printing and out to the sales chains.
On 1 July 2014, I closed the graphic business in order to concentrate entirely on writing, and now I make a living from writing. It was a dream I've had since childhood. I also do the graphic work myself such as covers, layout of the book and marketing.
The inspiration for the books comes from current events I hear or read about, which then could be interesting for Police Commissioner
Rolando Benito to work with. Each book in the series is written based on an authentic event, which has set my imagination in motion, and which I have then fictionally built on. I follow almost everything that is in newspapers and on TV about the work of the police, forensics and forensic technicians, and I follow the good crime series, where the English and Nordic ones are among my favourites. When I read books, it is also the crime genre that interests me the most. Since I have studied Italian for many years because of my great love for Italy, I also have quite a few Italian books on my bookshelf.
But otherwise, for me, it is the characters in the novel and their behavior that control what will happen. I write solely to entertain my readers with an exciting story.
