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Friday, December 30, 2011

Mind's Eye by Hakan Nesser

Mind's Eye , translated by Laurie Thompsonis the first  in the Inspector Van Veeteren series by Nesser; so now I've read three novels in this series.

When Janek Mitter awakens one morning with a serious hangover, he finds the bathroom door locked from the inside.  His wife doesn't answer, so Mitter uses a screwdriver to open the door and finds his wife drowned, face down, in the bathtub.

Although he vehemently denies having murdered his wife, Mitter has no memories after a certain point in the previous evening.  Van Veeteren thinks it is likely that Janek Mitter is guilty, but he admits that he isn't completely convinced.  Van Veeteren attends Mitter's trial, still vaguely bothered about the crime, and although Mitter is convicted and sentenced to a mental institution, Van Veeteren remains uneasy about the man's guilt.

When someone stays after visiting hours at the mental institution and murders Mitter, Van Veeteren enters the investigation with renewed determination.

Why was Eva Mitter murdered and what prompted the killer to wait so long to murder Janek Mitter, when he could have done so at the same time he killed Eva?  The answers lie in the past and Van Veeteren's only clue is a letter Janek Mitter wrote shortly before his death.

In order of their original publication (although not in order of English translations):

Mind's Eye
Borkman's Point
The Return
Woman with a Birthmark
The Inspector and Silence

I've read the titles in italics and look forward to reading Borkman's Point and The Inspector and Silence which have also been translated.

Fiction.  Crime/Mystery/Police Procedural.  orig. publ. 1993.  Eng. trans.  2008.  277 pages.

4 comments:

  1. This is not an author that I've read yet, but this one sounds fun. Well, maybe not fun, but you know what I mean. Happy New Year, JenClair!

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  2. Kay - Yes, I know what you mean. I'm liking the Scandinavians right now. :)

    Happy New Year, Kay, looking forward to seeing more of you on your "new" blog!

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  3. I haven't read any of these. Thanks for the info.
    Ann

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  4. Oh I've enjoyed reading your reviews of these Swedish thrillers. You know I love mysteries so all of these are going on my list to explore. I think the one I particularly want to try out is the Hakan Nesser series.

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