CAPE TOWN

Malte Moddy - deputy head of the security department at Western Norwegain Oil - has invited Peggy Browning on holiday to South Africa. Without warning, he becomes seriously ill and ends up almost in a coma. This leads to serious consequences for Peggy.

ANDASMAUET, STAVANGER

After a short stay in hospital traveling Malte home to Stavanger. His problems escalate which also has consequences for his position in the oil company. As a result of the disease and the medication, he isolates from the outside world. He ends up lying to his brother, John-Berg, that he soon will be healthy and back at work. His brother sees through him and seeks him in Stavanger. He forces Malte to go home to Lofoten with him.

GENEALOGY 

Completely unexpected to himself, he takes interest in genealogy. He wants to find out more about his 8th great grandfather Robert Mudie who emigrated to Norway around the year 1630. A DNA test provides an astonishing discovery. As a direct result of this, he becomes involved in events - with roots back to the Viking age - involving the Russian mafia and the Crimean crisis.

A mafia boss, Sergei Shargunov, owns one of four drinking-horns made of pure gold. Rostislav Korolev, the holder of a vineyard in Odesa, own another. These two men have a family connection back in the 16th century. A dispute over who should inherit both treasures gave rise to a family feud that has persisted ever since.

This is the first book in the Moddy trilogy. Although the books follow one another in time, reading them as a single story is fine. The paper edition of the first book (Norwegian) is sold out, but it is available as e-book (ebook.no) and audiobook (Storytel). In English, the book is awailable at Amazon as eBook and POD.