Jorn Lier Horst (born in Bamble, Telemark 1970) is a former Senior Investigating Officer in the Norwegian police force. He made his literary debut as a crime writer in 2004 and is now considered one of the foremost Nordic crime writers. His William Wisting series of crime novels has been extremely successful, having sold more than 3,000,000 copies in Norway. Dregs, sixth in the series, was the first novel to be published in English (2011). The next book, Closed for Winter, won Norway's Booksellers' Prize in 2012 and was shortlisted for the Riverton Prize (aka Golden Revolver). The Hunting Dogs won both the prestigious Golden Revolver for best Norwegian crime, and The Glass Key, which widened the scope to best crime fiction in all the Nordic countries, in 2013, as well as the Martin Beck Award – from the Swedish Crime Writers' Academy – in 2014. In 2016, The Caveman was honoured with The Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year in the UK. Book no 10 in the William Wisting series, Ordeal, was published in 2016, and a prequel, When it Grows Dark, was issued in the UK in spring 2017. From 2018 to 2021, he has published four books in the series, all of which have different approaches and different ways of solving old cases: The Cold Case Quartet:

1. The Katharina Code 
2. The Cabin 
3. The Inner Darkness 
4. A Question of Guilt 

The TV-series Wisting stars Sven Nordin as William Wisting. Season 1(2019) was the most expensive television drama series produced in Norway. Season 3 will air in 2022.

Togehter with internationally bestselling author Thomas Enger, Horst also writes the thriller series starring police investigator Alexander Blix and news blogger Emma Ramm (Death Deserved, 2019. Smoke Screen, 2020. Unhinged, 2021).

Together with award-winning illustrator and animator Hans Jørgen Sandnes, Horst has created the bestselling children’s book series Detective Agency No. 2 for ages 6-9. Set in the idyllic small town of Riverton, the Detective Agency No. 2 series follows the adventures of our main protagonists Tiril and Oliver – not to mention their dog Ocho! Together the two young detectives collect evidence, search for connections, and join the at times perilous hunt for criminals. Concluding each book is an afterword in which readers can put their own sleuthing skills to the test. 

Jørn Lier Horst is also the author behind the highly praised CLUE series for children aged 9-12.