My dear friend Miriam V Owen died suddenly last month; today was her funeral which I joined online. It was a beautiful touching but heart-breaking occasion. I can’t even imagine how her family must feel… All her friends are deeply sad but want to cherish the moments spent together. I don’t feel I can express well anything that goes through my mind as I think of Miriam, one of the #ScandiGang’s original members. So just this short post for now… We met in London in 2013, and clicked straight away, and shared love of Scandinavian and Nordic things: literature, food, landscapes mood. We talked about bringing up boys, about work and life, about crime fiction, travel, writing. She sent recipes. She was always there… We’ve been together at different book events and festivals in Iceland and the UK but haven’t managed to meet in Bergen in Norway. The plan was to follow in the footsteps of Varg Veum, the fictional PI created by Gunnar Staalesen, whom Miriam adored. Her passion for #NordicNoir was shown in her informative views as my fellow judge for Petrona Award and on the pages of the fascinating blog from which I copy the words below.

Nordic Noir blog – Iceland Noir 2014 ‘This film is all about experience at a crime writing festival in Reykjavik, Iceland. It contains interviews with authors, fans and one of the festival organisers as well as images, music and some text. It was made as piece of academic work in 2014 to allow me to explore videography as a tool for research. I loved the experience of making a film, editing it and working with a musician on some of the soundtrack. The piece has been well received at two conferences. One around the theme of Community Memory at the University of Stirling and also at the Academy of Marketing Arts and Heritage Colloquium 2016 held at Royal Holloway in London. The Icelandic Ambassador in London has also viewed it. When I made this I did not have any really fancy tools […] This piece would not have been such positive experience without the support of the crime fiction community as well as the academic community that has supported me. Thank you all.’

I will write more but not today. We miss you, Miriam.