Lost Colony: The Hennepin Island Murders - A Discussion with Author Steve Berg
Friday, November 10, 2023 at 3:18AMArticle by Becky Fillinger, Photos provided
A Nordic Noir crime novel set in Minneapolis? Yes, please! Author Steve Berg sets his debut novel in Minneapolis on fictional Hennepin Island. He’s new as a writer of fiction, but has been a journalist for over 30 years. Looking for gifts? Lost Colony: The Hennepin Island Murders is a perfect gift for those who love the crime and suspense genre – well, I think that anyone in the Twin Cities would love the story set amongst familiar landmarks. We talked to the author about his inspiration for the book and why Minneapolis-St. Paul is perfect for Nordic Noir books and movies.
Q: You are a long-time journalist and you also wrote two architecture books, “Target Field: The New Home of the Minnesota Twins” (2010) and “U.S. Bank Stadium: The New Home of the Minnesota Vikings” (2016). What inspired you to write a crime novel and base it in Minneapolis?
Steve BergA: Correct - It wasn’t just those two non-fiction books but thousands of newspaper and magazine stories written over a 30-year career that compelled me to try something new: write fiction. I’d never done it. It was immensely intimidating. I didn’t know if I could do it. Journalism trains you not to make stuff up! I had spent my life writing about real events. The imperative of inventing fictional characters, settings and plots was exciting but daunting. A real challenge. As for the crime novel aspect, I didn’t really set out to write a book in any particular genre, although I’m a big fan of film noir. The subject of murder seems inescapable the world of noir. To set it in in the Twin Cities seemed almost necessary. I lived there for most of my working life. I know the cities well. Culturally, Minneapolis-St. Paul feels like my home.
Q: Olof Palme, the former Prime Minister of Sweden, was assassinated on February 28, 1986, while walking home from a cinema with his wife Lisbeth Palme on the central Stockholm Street Sveavägen. He was shot in the back at close range and died on the spot. His wife was slightly wounded by a second shot. This historical event figures prominently in your novel. Why has this Swedish murder cold case stayed on your radar?
A: As a fiction rookie, I felt I needed a real event to anchor my story. The “theme” surrounding the Palme assassination always fascinated me: shattered innocence. This kind of thing wasn’t supposed to happen in the safe, cozy Stockholm of 1986. It wasn’t supposed to happen on safe, cozy Hennepin Island in 2016 either, but the horrific murders there were just as shocking — especially happening, as they did, in a “refuge,” a church. Over all, I thought that the span of distance (4,000 miles between Stockholm and Minneapolis), the span of time (30 years between Palme’s assassination in 1986 and our story in 2016), and the span between reality and fiction opened a lot of space for the development of plot, character and setting. Plus, there were cultural similarities between Sweden and Minnesota that might prove useful. The best example, perhaps, is a main character’s delusional belief that Hennepin Island (a fictional island in the Mississippi River between Minneapolis and St. Paul) is a colony of the once-robust Swedish empire of the 17th Century. To bolster the delusion, this man’s family built a castle on the island — and built the church where the Minneapolis murders took place.
As a city, I think Minneapolis-St. Paul offers an under-appreciated atmosphere for story-telling. It has lots of water, a fierce climate, historic neighborhoods, a vigorous arts community and a unique ethnic heritage that lends itself to fiction and film. Not every story has to happen in New York or California or in the deep South.
Q: In your novel, there is a murder in Minneapolis, in a Swedish American church. Span Lokken, a demoralized newspaperman, and his partner, Maggie Lindberg, the murdered clergyman’s stylish young assistant, join forces to search for the killers. Will we see Span and Maggie in future novels, set also in Minneapolis?
A: There’s no sequel in the works. That’s not to say there won’t be another book featuring those characters and a similar setting.
Q: If the novel takes off and movie rights are published, will you write the screenplay?
A: If the opportunity arose, our son, Alex Rollins Berg, is an accomplished New York-based screenwriter. He has a six-part TV series script already outlined. It would be hard to picture me as a screenwriter without Alex taking the lead.
Q: Do you have a favorite author in the crime/noir genre?
A: I confess I’m not a big reader of the genre although I especially enjoy the late Elmore Leonard. (My favorite writers are E.B. White, Richard Ford, George Saunders and John LeCarre). I didn’t write this book thinking it would be published. I just wrote it to see if I could do it. I’ve been surprised and delighted by the reviews and the reception.
Q: How may we purchase Lost Colony: The Hennepin Island Murders?
A: The e and print books are available at all the usual places - Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple, GooglePlay. The audiobook is available through Audible, Amazon and Apple.
Q: How do we follow your news?
A: Please follow my social channels:
Steve Berg: https://www.steveberg.org
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCam7xexGQCsJI5v3S4AD5ZA
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/steve.berg.549
YouTube book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pZJfLSEhBk
