Schrøders Restaurant is a familiar refuge for Harry Hole and, on his return to Oslo, the place where old newspapers bring him back to the murder investigation. Its smoky dining room, bad coffee, and tactful silences offer a sharp contrast to the case’s unresolved violence: here, Harry can resume searching without first accounting for himself.

Setting and Atmosphere

At three in the afternoon, after waking and changing into clean clothes, Harry walks through the rain to Schrøders Restaurant. The brown, smoke-filled room feels largely unchanged; his usual table is occupied, so he settles at the back beneath the television. Over the beer glasses he sees a few unfamiliar faces, but otherwise the passage of time seems to have left the place alone.

Nina brings him a white cup and a steel coffee pot. Her recognition of Harry is matter-of-fact rather than warmly ceremonial, and their brief exchange establishes the restaurant’s characteristic reserve. The coffee is remarkably bad, but Harry drinks two cups while he reads. The place’s welcome lies less in comfort than in its refusal to demand an explanation.

A Place That Keeps Its Own Record

At Harry’s request, Nina fetches a stack of yellowed newspapers from the back room. He has never understood why the restaurant keeps old papers, but their presence has helped him out of trouble more than once. In this visit, the archive supplies something more consequential than a general account of events: a way to catch up on the months he has missed and to test what he already knows against the public record.

Harry leafs through the papers quickly, looking for an overview of what has happened in Norway. The stories seem ordinary to him: a new superstar, a celebrity coming out during a dance contest, a lower-league footballer’s cocaine use, and Lene Galtung’s inheritance advance and engagement to an investor named Tony. The familiar tone of the news makes the first report of murder stand out. In the December papers, Harry finds coverage of the case and recognizes Kaja Solness’s description of the scene: a basement in an unfinished office complex in Nydalen. The cause of death remains unclear, though the police have not ruled out homicide.

Harry’s Return to the Case

The newspaper account does not answer the question that occupies Harry: why the murders are connected. He reflects that there are only two murders so far, yet Gunnar Hagen had been certain that a serial killer was responsible. The papers have not supplied the link, and Harry wonders what has been left out of them. His mind begins to follow its familiar investigative paths; irritated with himself for being unable to leave the matter alone, he keeps turning the pages.

Schrøders Restaurant thus marks more than a stop for coffee. Harry uses its saved newspapers to re-enter the case through fragments: a description he recognizes, a death whose cause is still uncertain, and the possibility of a connection the public account has not disclosed. The quiet routine of reading gives way to renewed investigation. When he finally leaves, the restaurant’s stillness yields to the street: as a taxi door opens, its window reflects a man sitting in a car behind him.