The Chosen by Kristina Ohlsson is set in Stockholm, Sweden. This is the first book I've read in the Fredrika Bergman and Alex Recht series, and while I realized that there was a backstory with which I was not familiar, it was not detrimental to the plot. A pre-school teacher at a Jewish school is killed by a sniper, and later on the same day, to young boys go missing. The seeds were sown in Israel decades before, and Bergman and Recht need to discover why two Israeli families emigrated to Sweden.
A lot of tangled threads in this one and some deliberate misleading, though not exactly red herrings. I wouldn't mind starting at the beginning of this series.
NetGalley/Atria Books
Nordic Mystery. First published in 2013; trans. in 2015, 2016. Print length: 592 pages.
Death Deserved by L.J. Sellers . I read Deadly Bonds in 2014 and liked the main character, Detective Wade Jackson. Jackson's sergeant is hospitalized and in intensive care after being poisoned; two people are shot at a licensed marijuana nursery; Jackson worries about his own health; and plenty of personal complications among the members of the Violent Crimes Unit keep the plot rolling.
I did not like this one as much as Deadly Bonds, but I this is another series that I wouldn't mind catching up on.
NetGalley/Thomas & Mercer
Mystery. July 19, 2016. Print length: 286 pages.
------- Mail Art continues, and I keep playing with used tea bags
I read Unwanted by Ohlsson, which I think is the first one in the series. It has a nice twisty plot, and introduces her main characters. Definitely a good read.
ReplyDelete:) I hope my library has Unwanted. I had already checked to see if it was on Kindle Unlimited, but no luck. Although The Chosen works well as a standalone, I'm curious about the background!
DeleteI love the mail art!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kelly! I have so much fun making envelopes and postcards, and then finding cool mail from others in the mailbox! My other blog has shifted again, until mail art and snail mail are about all I post about.
DeleteI occasionally like Nordic Noir and Kristina Ohlsson is a name that pops up often in my research for which series I would like. I think I should try it out, but start with the first book to not be any more confused than I would be by this different type mystery.
ReplyDeleteThe Chosen works perfectly well as a stand-alone, but when I like the characters, I'm usually interested in their back stories. So...I went to the library and got the first in the series. :)
DeleteSwedish crime thrillers are either a hit or miss to me; however I've to admit I'm intrigued by their settings and the writing style the authors adopt at times.
ReplyDeleteLove looking at your mail art! BTW, I sent out my letter two days ago. Hopefully it will arrive quickly!
:) Eagerly awaiting your letter, Melody!
DeleteLove the mail art! I especially like the dog envelope. Is that printed paper or did you paint/draw the dogs on?
ReplyDeleteThe dogs were on a card sent by my granddaughter from camp! :)
DeleteAll that mail art is wonderful! I bet your postal carrier even gets a kick out of seeing these envelopes!
ReplyDeleteI read one of Kristin Ohlsson's book recently and I liked it quite a bit. I read it out of order too but that's a series I'll keep in mind. I like the sound of the other one you mentioned too!