The latest film is the first of six new thrillers featuring the Norwegian dectective.

Stefan Faldbakken’s The Writing On The Wall (Skriften På Veggen) will launch the $14.1m (NOK 91m) second series of Varg Veum thrillers when it is released on August 27.

The latest instalment of the franchise, which is based on the best-selling novels by Gunnar Staalesen, follows Veum as he investigates the murder of a judge. Scripted by Thomas Moldestad, it will see Trond Espen Seim (pictured) return in the lead role alongside Bjørn Floberg as his sidekick, Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Lene Nystrøm.

Meanwhile, principal photography begins today (July 6) on Two Black Sheep (Svarte Får) and Suburban Death (Dødens drabanter, both of which are being directed by Stephan Apelgren, of Wallander fame.

In Black Sheep, which will co-star Alexander Karim and Jakob Oftebro, Veum finds out his girlfriend’s sister is a prostitute with an unscrupulous pimp. In Suburban Death, with Line Verdal and Vegard Hoel in the leads, he clears a 16-year-old boy suspected of having killed his stepfather and mother.

The series will be completed by All Wolves Are Grey at Night (I Mørket Er Alle Ulver Grå), also written by Moldestad, and Cold Hearts (Kolde Hjerter), from a screenplay by Geir Meum Olsen. Faldbakken will act as a consultant for the series, which will be concluded by Like A Bee To Honey (Bukken Til Havresekken).

The series is produced by new Norwegian-Danish outfitCineMiso, set up by Norway’s CineNord (producers Tanya Badendyck, Silje Hopland Eik) and Denmark’s Miso Film (Jonas Allen, Peter Bose). It will is co-financed by SF Norge, Norwegian commercial broadcaster TV2 Norge and Germany’s ARD Degeto.