Mystery of the Disembodied Feet

by Jorn Lier Horst, Norway

On 16 February 2008 I read a newspaper article about a macabre mystery. Three severed feet were washed ashore on Valdes Island in

British Columbia, Canada. All three were right foot belonging to a man, and all three were size 43.

The idea for a crime novel began to sprout, and the same week that I started writing for "Dregs", Canadian media announced that a fourth, severed foot was found. The mystery grew while I wrote. Within the novel was finished, the number of feet become seven. Today there are altogether found 15 feet. Not everyone is right feet, and some of them belong together - but still ...

What on Wikipedia is called The Salish Sea human foot discoveries is an exciting and fascinating history. National Geographic has made a documentary about the events, and when Time Magazine made a list of the ten greatest unsolved criminal casesin the world, the mystery of the disembodied feet ended in seventh place. In my book, however, you'll find a logical solution. I am only mentioning it ...

The idea behind Dregs was not to write about severed feet, but to write a book which dealt with crimes and punishment. As a writer, I have been on several prison visits and through these meetings with inmates I have made myself thoughts about which paradox is that in a society whose basic idea that one should help people in difficult situations, alleviate pain and mitigate suffering, consciously choose to make other people hurt by a prison sentence. And even more: What punishment does with a man.

Dregs is thus not a book about a serial killer, but a book about crime and punishment. The title does not refer to what might be left on the seabed, or what is left in the bottom of a wine bottle, but to those people who not only falls outside the community, but to the bottom and become the dregs of society.