Jussi Adler-Olsen

In a moment of cowardice, Detective Carl Mørck sends Rose, his junior colleague in Department Q, to the remote Danish island of Bornholm to answer his old colleague Christian Habersaat's repeated requests. But during his forced retirement ceremony Christian kills himself sending Rose into a journey deep into her own traumatic past. Later, Department Q are embroiled into an old cold case of a girl found dead hanging in a tree.

Denmark, 2016. A blurred note is found in a bottle that has traveled across the ocean for a long time. After deciphering the cryptic note, Department Q follow a sinister trail that leads them to investigate a case that occurred in 2008. At the same time, new tragic events take place that test their faith and deepest beliefs.

Denmark, 2013. Police officers Carl Mørck and Hafez el-Assad, sole members of Department Q, which is focused on closing cold cases, investigate the disappearance of politician Merete Lynggaard, vanished when she and her brother were traveling aboard a ferry five years ago.

Copenhagen, 2018. A frightening discovery is made in an old apartment. The subsequent investigation of Department Q leads them to an infamous institution for girls that was suddenly closed in the early sixties.

Denmark, 2014. A former police officer asks Carl Mørck, head of Department Q, to find out who brutally killed his young twins in 1994. Although a local inhabitant confessed and was convicted of murder, Carl and his partner Assad soon realize that there is something in the case resolution that is terribly wrong.

When a homeless Romani boy is arrested at the Danish border for possession of a missing public servant's passport, police inspector Carl Mørck and Department Q are tasked with finding the connection.

Two children in the Viking age find their way into the magical world of Norse mythology.

It’s a tradition. On the last day of the Frankfurt Book Fair—the world’s largest book fair—the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade is awarded. This anniversary year’s Peace Prize laureate is Salman Rushdie, an author who, like few others, embodies both the power of literature and the fury of its critics. Books stand for freedom of speech—a freedom that is repeatedly threatened around the world. This documentary embarks on a wild journey through time. It explores the new beginning after World War II, literature as a catalyst for democracy, and the interplay of intellect and commerce, as well as successes and scandals. It explores the remarkable role of émigrés after 1945, the protests of the 1960s, bestseller marketing and colonial misdeeds, calls for murder and boycotts, East and West, host countries that inspire and others that terrify.