Helene Tursten

#ReadAroundTheWorld #Sweden

This a short and humorous story translated from Swedish, featuring an 88 year old serial killer. Maud has been living rent-free in her family’s apartment in Gothenburg since her father’s death many years ago. She contents herself with regular travels abroad and when she is at home she surfs the web from her cosy antique home. When troublesome neighbours get in her way or try to take advantage of her age and frailty, Maud simply dispenses with them in the most pragmatic way possible. When at last the law catches up to Maud and is investigating one of the murders, will she finally be caught or will this prodigious elderly lady disappear with her walking frame into the sunset?

This was an entertaining read, not the usual elderly detective story, but in this case the villain of the piece. I am intrigued to read one of the author's other books, possibly one featuring Detective Inspector Irene Huss who featured in this novella.… (mais)

When a dancer/choreographer disappears and her body is later found in the charred ruins of a fire, Goteborg detective Irene Huss is taken back fifteen years to one of her earlier cases. The current fire victim was eleven years old then, and she was the last person to leave the house where her stepfather died in a fire. Irene and her colleagues were never able to get the neuro diverse Sophie Malmborg to speak about the fire or what she witnessed. Is her death in a fire related to her stepfather’s death fifteen years ago?

Irene investigates largely on her own in this case because most of her colleagues are tied up with a gang-related murder. In some ways this made the plot tighter. Irene’s daughter, Jenny, has been featured in a couple of the earlier novels. This time around it’s Jenny’s twin, Katarina, who spends more time with Irene. Many readers will figure out the answer to the fifteen-year-old fire from the description of the dance that Sophie choreographed. The symbolism is obvious to the reader, and it should have been immediately obvious to Irene.… (mais)