Still Waters (Sandhamn Murders Book 1) by Viveca Sten is a new series for me. The novel is mostly set on the small island of Sandham in the Swedish archipelago and conveys a vivid sense of the island community.
Police detective Thomas Andreasson is sent to Sandhamn when a body is discovered tangled in a fishing net. The body of Krister Berggren has been in the water for months, and it is uncertain whether or not the death was an accident. Thomas has a few questions, but can find no definite evidence of foul play.
When Krister's cousin also turns up dead on Sandhamn, however, the coincidence is too great to ignore.
Thomas and his childhood friend Nora Linde attempt to unravel the circumstances and uncover the person responsible.
The first 5 books in this series have been made into a television series, The Sandhamn Murders. I would love to watch it because the island is unbelievably believable.
NetGalley/Amazon Publishing
Mystery/Police Procedural. Oct. 1, 2015. Print length: 387 pages.
To Dwell in Darkness (Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James)
While Crombie's novels can be read as stand alones, there is a great deal of back story and many familiar characters who make their appearances. I've read many, but not all of this series (whatever the library has to offer), and it remains a favorite.
There are several threads to this story, but the main one features an event at St. Pancras Station. A protester sets off what he believes to be a smoke bomb, but is actually an incendiary device that sets him aflame and injures several bystanders. Duncan Kincaid is on the case, but not from his former position at Scotland Yard. When Kincaid returned from his paternity leave, he found he had been transferred to Holborn and his former superior is unavailable. He feels isolated and has no knowledge of what led to his sudden transfer.
Gemma is busy with her own investigation into the death of a young girl, but her story in this novel gets less play. Kincaid's investigation into the St. Pancras Station death takes the lead, but he does get help from his former sergeant Doug Cullen and from DS Melody Talbot, Gemma's colleague.
Although the plot involving the incendiary device and the protesters is resolved, there are some dangling threads. What was behind Kincaid's unexplained and unwelcome transfer? We should hear more about that in the next book--which I eagerly await.
Library copy.
Crime/Police Procedural. 2014. 324 pages.
What the Fly Saw (Detective Hannah McCabe)
This is another of those unexpected arrivals in the mail. It is one of the novels that kept me interested, but also created some of those nit-picky elements that are distracting.
In Albany, New York, a blizzard has disrupted all city services, and Kevin Novak, a funeral home director is found murdered in the basement of his funeral home with an arrow embedded in his chest. Hannah McCabe and her partner Mike Baxter are on the case. The motive is obscure, but as Hannah and Mike investigate their leads develop in different directions. A medium, a psychiatrist, and the minister of a mega-church are among those interviewed, but with no discernible reason for the murder, the investigation is difficult.
There are also several sub-plots involved, one of which seems tied in a vague way to some of the events in the previous book.
I read Bailey's The Red Queen Dies a couple of years ago and feel much the same way about this one. The series is set in the near future, but with few explanations about the new technologies available. Although advances in technology have increased exponentially in a relatively short period of time and 2020 is just around the corner, the novel would read much more smoothly with a bit more explanation of the futuristic elements, especially since there really aren't that many.
Also similar to the first novel is the amount of time devoted to Hannah's brother...that doesn't serve much purpose. He simply isn't necessary. I admit that he's interesting, as he was in the first novel, yet his presence doesn't add enough to Hannah's background information or to the current plot to justify the number of paragraphs he receives. I'd almost rather see him get a book of his own--his circumstances are certainly intriguing.
Even Hannah is a sort of place-holder, more a means of telling the story than a fully developed character. Mike Baxter generally seems like a great partner, but there are some curious questions about the way he steers the investigation away from certain individuals.
ARC from Minotaur Books.
Crime/Police Procedural. March 3, 2015. 327 pages.
The Hidden Child (Fjallbacka #5)
I'm happy to see the title no longer designates the series as the Patrick Hedstrom series. The Ice Princess was essentially Erika's story, but the The Stonecutter and The Stranger (The Gallows Bird) cast Patrick in the lead role.
The 7 Lackberg novels that have been translated to English:
The Ice Princess (2002)
The Preacher (2004)
The Stonecutter (2005)
The Stranger (The Gallows Bird) (2006)
The Hidden Child (2007)
The Drowning (2008)
The Lost Boy (2013)
I've read 4 of these, but have several more to catch up on. I like the series, and I thoroughly enjoyed this one in which a murder in the present has roots in WWII.
I appreciate seeing Anna's story kept up to date; finding that Martin's confidence is growing; that Bertil Mellberg has an interesting human side; that Gosta, too, can make an effort; that Paula, the new hire, is an interesting character, etc. Oh, and there is a dog. :)
Many readers prefer a tauter story line with fewer characters and less development of minor characters and subplots. I love the addition of secondary characters and the feeling that the world in which the story is set is a real one with complications other than the main plot. I love becoming familiar with these characters, watching them develop, getting to know them from book to book. A matter of taste.
Anyway, Erika has spent a year at home caring for Maja, the couple's young daughter, and now it is Patrick's turn. He has taken paternity leave in order for Erika to be able to get back to her writing. When the murder of Erik Frankel, an elderly man occurs, it is difficult for Patrick to accept that he isn't part of the investigation.
A retired history teacher with an interest in WWII and Nazi artifacts, Erik Frankel and his older brother Axel, who is connected to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, have lived in Fjallbacka all their lives. Axel was out of the country at the time of Erik's death, and no one can think of a motive for Erik's murder. In a twist of fate, however, Erika had asked for Erik Frankel's help in finding more about the Nazi medal she'd found among her mother's things.
The plot moves back and forth between the present and the war years, and Erika, having located some of her mother's diaries, continues to dig into the secrets of the past. Lackberg has produced another richly textured and compelling mystery, keeping the reader guessing about who murdered Erik Frankel and why.
Library copy.
Mystery/Crime. 2007; 2014. 526 pages.
To catch up on the Dept. Q series by Jussi Adler-Olsen, I went to the library and was fortunate to find the second and third in the series sitting on the shelf. Just the two I needed!
The Absent One
When a twenty-year-old cold case concerning the murder of a young man and his sister leads to other old cases connected to a gang of wealthy prep school kids, Dept. Q's Carl Morck finds that someone doesn't want these cases re-opened. The members of the prep school gang are now famous, influential, and powerful.
Eventually, Morck focuses on finding a street woman named Kimmie, a woman who has a cunning gift for survival and camouflage. Kimmie has lots of experience at avoiding unwanted attention. She appears as a bag lady most of the time, but when needed, she can transform her appearance into that of an expensive, well-dressed wife or business woman. She needs these chameleon-like skills; the police are only a recent concern; Kimmie has been hiding from something much more deadly for nearly twenty years.
Rose is introduced in this second book in the series, but there is too little of Assad, and it is Assad who leavens this bread of good and evil. The sly humor and comic relief added by Assad, that clever and mysterious man, keeps the viciousness of the crimes from becoming too much.
I have to hesitate a bit on this one. The bad guys were a little too depraved for me and the plot pretty far-fetched. Yet, while I didn't like it as much as I hoped, the book was, nevertheless, riveting.
Translator: K.E. Semmel; British title: Disgrace
Library copy/Dutton
Nordic Crime/Police Procedural. 2012. 406 pages.
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A Conspiracy of Faith suited me better than The Absent One. More Assad, more humor to contrast with the evil doings. There are certainly plenty of detestable villains in most of Nordic crime novels, and they are present in the Dept. Q books as well. Fortunately, Adler-Olsen doesn't dwell on the graphic details of the crimes; his ability to create tension and dread works even better than lengthy, gory descriptions.
The books, however, are long and there are plenty of details--but they are details concerning Morck (his ex-wife, his friend Hardy, his romantic interest in Mona), Rose (and her sister, Yrsa), and Assad (where does he really live?). There are also details concerning another crime concerning arson under investigation.
As a result of these digressions, many readers find the books too slow and too long. I'm not one of those. I like them long. I like most of the details about what goes on in the private lives of the Dept. Q team and about politics within the police department. They are the real reason I love the series.
A Conspiracy of Faith begins with a message in a bottle--a long delayed cry for help. When the message finally makes its way to Dept. Q, it is so damaged that determining much of the message is a difficult guessing game.
This isn't a whodunit, a matter of having several suspects and determining which one is the killer. We know who the killer is and have insight into his goals and his methods. There is information about his childhood and dysfunctional family, and about his married life and the control he exerts over his wife and her behavior--but we don't know his real name, where he works, or how he conducts his life when he isn't involved in his murderous activities.
I am now all caught up on all 5 English translations of Dept. Q!
Translator: Martin Aitken (I like his translations); British title: Redemption
Library copy/Dutton
Nordic Crime/Police Procedural. 2013. 504 pages.
The Second Deadly Sin
I really like this series featuring Rebecka Martinsson, and this latest addition does not disappoint.
Prosecutor Rebecka Martinsson and Inspector Anna-Maria Mella are once again on a case when Sol-Britt Uusitalo is found murdered and her grandson missing.
Rebecka's friend Krister Ericksson, a police dog handler, finds Marcus, but the boy is unable to provide information about what took place. Then Rebecka is side-lined by obnoxious fellow prosecutor, Car Von Post (the Pest).
Before Rebecka is removed from the case, information about the family tragedies is discovered: Sol-Britt's son was killed by a hit-and-run driver, her father was eaten by a bear, and her grandmother was murdered.
When Von Post takes over, he plans to use the case to enhance his career and wants a quick resolution. An angry Rebecka is fearful for Marcus, who may also be targeted by the killer. Angry, she may be, but even if she isn't on Sol-Britt's case, she can still investigate the unusual coincidence of so many unnatural deaths in the family.
What transpires is a division of narratives: one covers the current investigation, the other goes back to 1914. The novel moves back and forth between the two narratives, and Rebecka becomes convinced that the "past is prologue." I thought the two stories flowed well and served the purpose, even if the past narrative ended up seeming a bit contrived.
As usual in Larsson's novel, the plotting is skillful, the characters are well-developed, and the setting in the remote, frigid northern-most area of Sweden is beautifully depicted.
Inspite of being set in a small community, Larsson's books could never be called cozies--they have the Nordic darkness found in so many Scandinavian novels. The Second Deadly Sin was somewhat lighter than the previous novels in the series, and I think it is her best to date. It is encouraging to see a great series getting even better.
P.S. The section on Anna-Maria Meller and her family encapsulated the drama/comedy of life with kids and made me smile. I love the emotional support Anna-Maria's husband provides. I'm also half in love with poor Krister, the terribly disfigured and utterly kind dog handler, who is hopelessly in love with Rebecka.
Recommended.
Read in May; blog post scheduled for July 16.
NetGalley/Quercus Press
Mystery. to be re-released in e-book format in Aug., 2014. Print version: 352 pages.
