Copenhagen's Murder Detective Turns Poet: Inside Nordic Police Work

Martin Wittrup Enggaard, a senior homicide investigator with Copenhagen Police and member of Denmark's national serious crime unit, has published an unconventional account of murder investigation that sits at the intersection of memoir, procedural manual, and poetry.

The book, titled 'Endnu et drab' ("Another Murder"), was released in September 2025 by Danish publisher Klim. Rather than focusing on a single high-profile case, Enggaard uses anonymized examples from real investigations to document the systematic methods Danish police deploy when responding to homicide—from initial emergency dispatch calls through forensic examination and suspect interrogation.

What distinguishes this work internationally is its form. Enggaard, born in 1985, has eschewed the conventional true crime memoir format favored in Anglo-American publishing. Instead, he frames procedural investigation as extended lyric narrative, a choice that reflects a growing European trend of literary non-fiction that prioritizes accessibility without sacrificing analytical rigor.

"The ambition is to make crime investigation stories available to a broad audience without compromising seriousness or precision," according to publisher notes. The approach reflects both Enggaard's professional experience and his artistic inclinations—he published a concurrent poetry collection, 'Enhver kontakt efterlader spor' ("Every Contact Leaves a Trace"), which draws its title from Locard's exchange principle, a foundational concept in forensic science.

Enggaard has become a recognized voice in Scandinavian criminal justice policy beyond his investigative role. In 2023, he initiated a public petition that successfully resulted in Danish police gaining legal authority to use genetic genealogy—DNA family databases—to solve serious violent crimes and homicides. This reform positions Denmark alongside the United States, Germany, and other jurisdictions that have adopted genealogical DNA as an investigative tool, though it remains legally contentious in parts of Europe due to privacy concerns.