Favourite Euro Crime Reads of 2017 - Ewa

The final entry in this series of Euro Crime reviewers' favourite British/European/translated reads of 2017 is from Ewa Sherman:

Ewa Sherman's favourite reads of 2017

Top 5 of 2017

The following Scandi books had a huge impact on me in various ways, and are simply unforgettable. In alphabetical order by title:

The Crow Girl by Erik Axl Sund (tr. Neil Smith): dark, disturbing, unpleasant – and completely addictive as the authors examine the damage caused by abuse and how people attempt to deal with it through vengeance, revenge, or developing personality disorders.

The Dying Detective by Leif G W Persson (tr. Neil Smith): inquisitive, intelligent and emotionally mature, just like the main protagonist Lars Martin Johansson, obsessed with finding the truth of a forgotten cold case. A masterpiece from the celebrated criminologist.

The Legacy by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir (tr. Victoria Cribb) full of hidden love, trademark dark humour and desire to understand the chilling impacts on those connected to a Children’s Home, while imagination runs riot, finding ways to extinguish people’s lives.

The Mine by Antti Tuomainen (tr. David Hackston) brings together environmental issues, snow and secrets, and complex relationship between family and crime, and delivers exquisite gems like ‘We don’t think rationally about the things we love’.

Snare by Lilja Sigurðardóttir (tr. Quentin Bates): a sparkling firework of a novel, tightly-plotted, fast-paced and cracking with tension. And dangerously fun as the trapped heroine survives on a cocktail of cocaine smuggling and love for her young son.

Huge thanks to the translators who continue to bring these incredible books to the English-speaking world. Without their skill, talent, hard work and magic with words the reading spectrum wouldn’t have been so exciting.

Review: The Magdalena File by Jon Stenhugg

The Magdalena File by Jon Stenhugg, August 2017, Endeavour Press, ISBN: 978-1549581441

Reviewed by Ewa Sherman.

Sara Markham, 36-year-old Homicide Investigator at Sweden’s National Bureau of Investigation is called to a crime scene: a body of a tortured man was found in his own home on Sela Island. He seemed to have been electrocuted and then shot twice closely in the chest. Initial investigation showed that the victim was Leo Hoffberg, outspoken and rebellious MP who had recently quit Parliament, interested in environmental matters, former member of the Defence Department Committee. Just before his death he had seemingly delivered a letter to the Prime Minister, threatening to expose secrets and to destroy the entire city of Stockholm.

His shocked and grieving wife Kristina couldn’t fathom any reason for the murder, though she pointed at Magdalena, a cleaner from Poland, and decided to check through all her husband's possessions. Documents come to light showing that Hoffberg might have bought a manual for a Shkval, a nuclear Russian torpedo.

But as Sara begins to work on the case, she gets contradictory messages from her superiors. She’s also required to look for Martin Spimler, whose boat was found drifting empty in the waters opposite Stockholm’s City Hall. The missing man, a retired Navy diver was interested in a ‘fish project’ and travelled to Estonia some time ago with Hoffberg.

At the back of her mind is the tragedy of MS Sally, brought to her attention at the victim’s home. The sinking of MS Sally in September 1994, off the coast of Sweden and close to Estonia, had put the entire nation into a state of mourning. The wreckage of the ship has never been discovered, but several theories float around, implying that the dangerous weapon, the infamous Shkval, was being smuggled to Stockholm.

The quote at the beginning of the book is indeed very apt: "Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead". The author cleverly moves between different points of views, to muddy the waters, not just for the readers for also for the main players. Hard-working Sara is kept in the dark; her boss Sven Peterson wants quick results yet seems to withhold certain information; Chief Inspector Lars Ekman, head of the Counter Terrorism seems to be pulling all the strings, and then a legendary retired US Army CID Lieutenant John Hurtree is brought to Europe as a ‘tourist’ and the only person who might have seen the elusive Schneller, an ex-Stasi secret agent. Sara tries to balance the conflicting demands and her own equilibrium while convinced that a certain Kim Lemko, somehow connected to the murdered man, and a technological company in Tallinn, is behind the murder, and also a link to the dangerous torpedo hidden underwater.

Jon Stenhugg is a pen name of a Swedish author born in California, USA. A graduate of Education, Psychology and Statistics from Stockholm University his career involved teaching and IT. THE MAGDALENA FILE follows his debut novel THE SECOND CHILD, and again demonstrates his fascination with European history. The fast-moving tight plot offers plenty of surprises, and an occasional cynical sense of humour which lightens the mood of an otherwise very serious thriller and shady politics, with the caricature-like Swedish Prime Minister and a sleazy Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs at the centre of the current investigation. Relationships between central characters keep changing as quickly as the priorities which move from the local searches to the wider international arena. The dark past is never far behind and its enigmas can have devastating consequences, as shown by the background stories of Kim Lemko and the mysterious Magdalena.

THE MAGDALENA FILE is a good solid read.

Ewa Sherman, October 2017

Review: A Place to Bury Strangers by Grant Nicol

A Place to Bury Strangers by Grant Nicol, November 2016, 262 pages, Fahrenheit Press, ISBN: 1539980693

Reviewed by Ewa Sherman.

Detective Grímur Karlsson’s life isn’t a barrel of laughs. Ageing, depressed, dissatisfied with his professional life, he has become known for not solving crimes, and failing to secure arrests and convictions in his two last major cases. His world-weary cynicism has contributed to people losing lives. Occasionally he still fights his own unwillingness and loneliness to concentrate on the job. When he reluctantly starts to investigate the disappearance of Svandis, a run-away girl from a ‘good home’ and a seriously desperate heroin addict, it’s obvious that nobody believes in his abilities, including her family and her hapless boyfriend. Very soon the National Commissioner gets involved and orders Grímur to be taken off the case, though Svandis and her habit funded by prostitution don’t seem to warrant such a strong opposition from the establishment, as she is just one of many ‘sex workers’ who will agree to do anything to survive. Until of course some insignificant clues begin to appear to be pointing in the direction of certain powerful men. Yet it will be a while before the depressed policeman realises what is really going on: shortly after his superiors’ decision he became a target of a violent shooting when following another young woman who had seemed to be in danger.

As he lies in an induced coma in a hospital his boss Ævar and a colleague Eygló are called to a gruesome crime scene at a deserted building site. A charred body is found in a barrel; behind it on a wall an enigmatic message in Norwegian written in a black paint. The police establish that the corpse was of a drug dealer, low in the pecking order, and want to resolve the matter quickly, especially as there might be a perfect villain on the loose, searching for an ex-girlfriend in dodgy clubs in Reykjavik: the notorious Knut Vigeland. The Norwegian despises Iceland yet makes frequent business trips to the country: and so far his activities under the official radar had only damaged the local drug barons. Ævar is determined to tie him to both crimes.

A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS is New Zealander Grant Nicol’s third book set in Iceland. The author’s passion for the country doesn’t mean that the story revolves around picturesque landscapes and tourist attractions. Although some well-known landmarks are mentioned, for example the famous Perlan building, they become points of focus for the plot which mostly moves between the police station, various unsavoury places in the capital, and then further away in the suburbs where nothing good ever happens to the main characters. The use of the Icelandic setting helps to shed light on some perilous issues and deeply unhappy types, as the central drug problem is closely linked to the abuse of women. The narration jumps time-wise and adds to the clever confusion which keeps it interesting. This piece of writing isn’t for those who want things cosy and pretty. But if you are not afraid of getting to know the brutal underbelly of this island, then read about a gritty and violent place to (apparently) bury strangers.

Ewa Sherman, March 2017

Favourite Euro Crime Reads of 2016 - Ewa

Here are Ewa's favourite British/European/translated reads of 2016:

Ewa Sherman's favourite reads of 2016

Choosing my Top Five of 2016 wasn't easy, especially as I had a chance to read many amazing books. Also, I have some not-yet-read, but I already know that I’m in for a treat. So I’ve decided to concentrate on books coming from the five Scandinavian/Nordic countries. So here are my favourites.

Denmark

The Vanished by Lotte and Søren Hammer (translated by Martin Aitken)
After a severe heart attack Detective Chief Superintendent Konrad Simonsen returns to the Homicide Division in Copenhagen. Instantly he is at the scene of violent shooting at school where the victim appeared to have some connection to another deceased. As Simonsen investigates the suicide of a postman, he finds evidence pointing towards murder. He also discovers possible links to the case of a missing English girl who had disappeared in 1969 after her visit to Denmark, following an encounter with six Danish students of the Lonely Hearts Club. This leads to revaluating his past when he was in love with a left-wing flower-child, and deployed to provide the ‘crowd control’ during 1970’s demonstrations. In true Nordic Noir fashion this third book by the brother and sister duo brings disturbing themes, deft characterisation and social conscience.

Finland

The Wednesday Club by Kjell Westö (translated by Neil Smith)
The Wednesday Club was founded by the decent broad-minded lawyer Claes Thune and his five friends, and it became an exclusive gentlemen’s club. As the political situation in Europe escalates in 1938, its members’ lives are threatened. Thune, recently divorced and feeling lost, employs an efficient new secretary Mrs Matilda Wiik who tries to repress painful memories of her time as a prisoner in the starvation camp during the Finnish Civil War, twenty years earlier. One day she hears a voice of her former tormentor and rapist, the silent ‘Captain’, and this time she doesn’t want to be a powerless victim. Part historical novel, part crime mystery with elegant measured prose, sophisticated language, and a truly contemporary feel though the events are firmly based in the turbulent past, Westö’s work belongs in Thomas Mann’s league.

Iceland

Why Did You Lie? by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir (translated by Victoria Cribb)
Three maintenance workers and a photographer arrive by helicopter to the tiny lighthouse on a remote ocean rock. Weather turns worse and tensions soar, and a recurring dream turns real: two dead, and a third person fighting for their life.
An ordinary family returns from a house-swap holiday in Florida to find their home in disarray and their American guests missing. Noi hears strange noises, sees flashes of light and finds notes with menacing messages. His wife seems calm.
Journalist Thröstur worked on the forgotten cases of child abuse but now he’s in coma after his failed suicide attempt. His wife Nina, a police officer, clears old documents at the station where she finds possible evidence that it might have been an attempted murder. This mixture of supernatural and factual is spellbinding.

Norway

Where Roses Never Die by Gunnar Staalesen (translated by Don Bartlett)
Three years after Varg Veum’s fiancé Karin’s death his personal and professional life lies in tatters. Luckily he gets a chance to help a grieving mother in search for answers as to what had happened to her missing small daughter Mette. Bergen’s PI was approached as the expiry date for the statute of limitations draws near. The girl vanished without a trace twenty-five-years earlier from a secure garden of five houses, a close-knit community of five families whose lives fell apart shortly after the event. The original thorough investigation was fruitless. The experience as a social worker in child services makes Veum use his intuition, sensitivity, determination and often barely legal methods to bring a glimmer of hope. This is another beautifully written, complex and emotionally-charged novel from the Norwegian Chandler.

Sweden

The Dying Detective by Leif G W Persson (translated by Neil Smith)
Lars Martin Johansson, the retired Chief of the National Crime Police and the Swedish Security Service, has suffered a stroke, following a life of stress, work pressure, good food and fine wine. While recovering in a hospital he meets a neurologist who provides an important piece of information about an unsolved 1985 case just as the window for prosecution expired weeks earlier. The rape and murder of a young girl destroyed her parents who had arrived as political refugees from Iran. Respected for his extremely sharp mind Johansson becomes obsessed with finding the truth and enlists help of family members, two carers and old colleagues. Dark humour and perceptive observations punctuate this hugely intelligent and inquisitive novel from the renowned Scandinavian criminologist and psychological profiler.

Review: Killer Women: Crime Club Anthology #1

Killer Women: Crime Club Anthology #1, September 2016, 210 pages, Killer Women Ltd, ISBN: 152720071X

Reviewed by Ewa Sherman.

Even if you haven’t yet heard the term ‘Killer Women’ you must have already read their books. Sixteen, London-based, bestselling and award-winning female crime writers have formed a group to offer innovative events, debates, talks and workshops to libraries, book groups, bookshops, literary and art organisations, turning their written words into spoken words of encouragement, debate and fun. They have been working incredibly hard organising the Crime Writing Festival 2016 due to be held in October. The Killer Women have also filled their first anthology with fifteen unique and brand new short stories, each representing the original styles of the authors. Their combined personal and professional experience is vast and varied hence no subject is a taboo, no topic is off the menu, no evil is left alone.

With endorsement by the one and only, much celebrated Val McDermid, who has also written the foreword, and including short biographies of all the writers with information on what inspired their particular stories, the selection is a wonderful invitation to read more. Or to get to know the featured authors: Louise Millar, Alex Marwood, Tammy Cohen, Melanie McGrath, Colette McBeth, Jane Casey, Erin Kelly, Sarah Hilary, Louise Voss, Alison Joseph, Helen Smith, Kate Medina, D E Meredith, Laura Wilson and Kate Rhodes. These Killer Women are no strangers to psychological suspense, thrillers, mysteries, historic crime series, contemporary detective fiction and police procedurals.

The tales vary in length because there’s no template for how long a good short story should be, and when the theme is right, and the observation is precise, they just work. So these sharp, imaginative and concise samples of their talent encompass fantasy, obsession and supernatural, mundane and boring, unusual and perfectly explainable. A real-life event that can spark excellent writing. Dementia and tricks that the human mind plays. Loneliness and vulnerability. Broken window and noisy crows. Buried secrets and manipulation. Wicked women and untrustworthy men. Clothes. Noises in the old house. Overstepping boundaries. Art.

Even as the bleakness is about to descend, a dash of humour and a moment of reflection come to the rescue, or the unexpected twist turns a story into a criminally satisfying surprise. This collection of written miniatures resembles a box of fine chocolates, each with a different filling under the silky cover of a darkness of soul and mind. But you might want to reach for a glass to calm your nerves, or to celebrate...

Ewa Sherman, September 2016

Review: Thin Ice by Quentin Bates

Thin Ice by Quentin Bates, March 2016, 279 pages, Constable, ISBN: 147212149X

Reviewed by Ewa Sherman.

I’d like the Icelandic cop Gunnhildur Gísladóttir, known as Gunna, to be my friend: no-nonsense, tired, logical, grumpy and loving, with sense of humour and boundless capacity to understand; a big country girl who still appears to be finding her feet in the capital. Well, maybe not a girl anymore… All these qualities get mixed up constantly to show a very real portrait of a woman who has to deal with criminals, the system and her own family. And in THIN ICE she is having quite a hard time as her own painful past catches up with her while she investigates the disappearance of two women into the thin crisp November air, and a strange arsonist attack in Reykjavík in which a petty crook dies. Gunna’s methodological, pragmatic methods, with support from faithful colleagues Eiríkur and Helgi, bring answers to the apparently unrelated riddles, and though the story is not Gunna-driven, her presence is felt everywhere.

So… Two minor baddies get into trouble, even if practical and reasonable Magni happens to be the accidental criminal: after losing his job on a trawler he agrees to assist Össur, an ambitious but stressed out crime kingpin in robbing a leading drug dealer called Alli the Cornershop. Magni acts as a ‘heavy’, muscles to Össur’s brain. They leave the scene with more than a quarter of a million euros. Yet the ‘escape to the sun’ plan goes wrong. They hijack a car with two women: mother Erna and daughter Tinna Lind and flee Reykjavik to the middle of nowhere where they have no choice but to break into a small hotel closed for the winter. Soon enough a new relationship comes to life within the group. While terrified high-maintenance townie Erna is in a state of shock, and Össur, gun glued to his side, swings between fury and anger in his cloud of stolen dope and rubbish television shows; Tinna Lind, hippy and carefree, finds the captivity very exciting. She develops a crush on Magni and so a new type of Stockholm syndrome case is born: one where the hostage tries to take initiative because Plan B fails to materialise, and her ‘hero’ takes care of getting supplies and petrol, cooking stews, and diplomatically smooths over aggressive Össur’s outbursts. Tensions rise... The four fugitives from law and crime underworld realise that being snowed in will not protect them from the police and Alli’s revenge and more powerful friends. Because detective Gunna will eventually find their scent.

Reading Quentin Bates’ books feels like being immersed in a good friendly chat: words easily flowing, plot developing in a relaxed manner, and suddenly bang! There’s another dose of cruel violence and though sort of anticipated it comes as a shock after you’ve became lulled into a sense of weird false security, magnified by the picturesque Icelandic landscape, promising peace and quiet. These contradictions make THIN ICE another gem from the master of the engaging and suspenseful crime story, who creates convincing characters and effortlessly portrays a country that he knows so intimately.

Ewa Sherman, April 2016

Favourite Euro Crime Reads of 2015 - Ewa

In today's penultimate entry of the Euro Crime reviewers' favourite reads of 2015, it's Ewa Sherman's turn to detail her favourites:

Ewa Sherman's favourite reads of 2015

I had an opportunity to read some amazing and thought provoking books that provided many thrills and emotions, and expanded my knowledge about European writing (and countries) so choosing a top five favourites is a challenge...

For a start The Hummingbird, by the fascinating Kati Hiekkapelto and translated by David Hackston, was a revelation. The Finnish writer, punk singer and performance artist created a real female heroine, fighting for justice for those with no voice: immigrants in a snowy fictional town. Through the eyes of Anna Fekete who fled ex-Yugoslavia as a child, now a competent police officer in her adopted country, Hiekkapelto poses a question of where individuals fit within a society. Intelligent powerful prose, in a very measured manner expressing the anger at modern world. Quite rightly so.

We Shall Inherit the Wind, finally published in English (translated by Don Bartlett), reintroduced me to the Norwegian author Gunnar Staalesen. The story brings together environmental terrorism, religious fanaticism and family secrets, but most of all it can be read as a love story. Social worker turned private investigator Varg Veum is one of my favourite fictional characters, both in print and on screen. I watched nine films based on Staalesen’s novels, which are more graphically violent than the original writing but very engaging, exciting and showing the underbelly of peaceful and beautiful Norway. Nothing is ever perfect but often great writing comes very close to perfection.

And then there is Snowblind by Ragnar Jónasson, masterfully translated by Quentin Bates, himself an author of books set in Iceland. What a wonderful introduction to the Dark Iceland series by a writer fully exploring his knowledge of intricacies of Icelandic society and nature, with a lightness of pen, intelligent plotting, and desire to put his own mark on the classic murder mystery. The sense of claustrophobia is created by the constant darkness and the unknown environment of a small remote town. A young policeman Ari Thor Arason on his first posting experiences isolation and uncertainty. But over the course of other books he might graduate to the same level as Arnaldur Indriðason’s famous detective...

Indriðason, the King of Icelandic crime fiction and a master storyteller, weaves history, geography and social issues, and creates the perfect sense of location. I’ve read the recent Reykjavik Nights (paperback) and Oblivion (hardback), in sensitive translation by Victoria Cribb, at the same time so I would like to include them as one entry. They both provide background story for the young Erlendur Sveinsson who is both endearing in his pursuit of justice/closure, and infuriating because of his doggedness and lack of communication. But he became the iconic gloomy Icelandic policeman and these two instalments throw some light on the circumstances that made the compassionate man we know from previous novels.

I also love to travel by means of excellent writing, and so The Ghosts of Altona by Craig Russell took me to Hamburg’s district of Altona, a protagonist in its own right. This is a most disturbing and compelling modern stylish Gothic story set in the 21st Century. Jan Fabel, Head of Hamburg’s Murder Commission, investigating a gruesome murder of a charismatic woman and struggling with the aftermath of his Near Death Experience, is an awe inspiring character. He’s so well developed that I felt I could know him in real life. At the time I was also watching 1864, the Danish heart-breaking historical drama, where northern Germany features heavily, and hence by connecting the TV production with restrained Russell’s writing, I travelled back to my favourite region: Scandinavia.

Review: The Harbour Master: The Collected Edition (Books 1-3) by Daniel Pembrey

The Harbour Master: The Collected Edition (Books 1-3) by Daniel Pembrey, November 2014, 384 pages, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, ISBN: 1497384052

Reviewed by Ewa Sherman.

Two key characters in THE HARBOUR MASTER are equally important: Henk van der Pol and Amsterdam. They cannot exist without each other.

Having spent years in the military and living abroad Henk is a maverick cop on the verge of retirement, the owner of a typical houseboat, strongly believing that ‘we Dutch remain at heart a seafaring people’. He is happy with his personal life, still attracted to his wife Pernilla, a newspaper features writer, and slightly anxious about daughter Nadia, a headstrong media student. In the professional sense Henk is growing disillusioned with the budget-and-target driven management at the police station where he’s stationed. Also, it seems that politics and connections take priority over decent policing and clearing the streets of criminals. And as Henk and the city are one, the work and private lives merge constantly into one, too.

When on a cold morning Henk finds a woman’s body in Amsterdam Harbour, he’s told by his boss to back off. The photos he took on his mobile vanish. But the weathered detective isn’t going to give up. He follows gut feelings and tenuous clues: a tattoo seen on the dead body, leading him into the Red Light District and then the den of a vicious Hungarian pimp. His involvement threatens his family life. Henk must decide who his real friends are, especially as his own investigation creates more problems with his superiors, though his own small team of Stefan and Liesbeth duly deal with orders and suggestions.

In the second part Henk investigates a mysterious case involving diamonds and a Ghanaian diplomat, fine art and drugs. He travels to Rotterdam and Brussels, visits places that are out of limits, questions a glamorous art insurer and a head of a notorious bike gang. There is a high class prostitute viciously beaten by a client. And a murder of a Norwegian diplomat which takes Henk to Oslo in the third book. The finale also sees Henk working outside of the official investigation into the kidnapping of a powerful Dutch politician Rem Lottman who might (or not) be his friend. The situation mirrors the kidnapping of Freddy Heineken in 1983 and Henk cut his professional teeth on that case.

Daniel Pembrey is a master of concise stylish writing. It demonstrates not only his craftsmanship and discipline but also an intelligent ability to convey mood and atmosphere of the setting and urgency of Henk’s actions within the clearly defined framework of a novella. This vivid and mesmerising portrait of the city is not for the faint-hearted. However, murky, dangerous and illegal Amsterdam is very appealing as Pembrey weaves tiny pearls of history and geography into the tightly constructed stories.

Putting three books together makes perfect sense: it allows the reader to immerse in Henk’s life while he manoeuvres through the maze of political options, criminal underworld and old friends. He is a good player yet feels threatened by all the changes… So Henk van der Pol tries to remember his own motto: Things evolve. And they will keep evolving in further instalments of the Harbour Master series.

Ewa Sherman, November 2015

Review: Murder in Malmö by Torquil MacLeod

Murder in Malmö by Torquil MacLeod, July 2015, 322 pages, McNidder & Grace Crime, ISBN: 0857161148

Reviewed by Ewa Sherman.

Tommy Ekman, the charismatic head of an advertising agency, is found dead in his shower. With no tangible evidence the suspicion falls first on his employees, and then on his wife Kristina, daughter of the powerful and rich industrialist Dag Wollstad. Tommy’s death has been caused by inhaling gas, similar to what was used in Nazi gas chambers. The discovery is shocking and completely incomprehensible. Soon another prominent Malmö businessman is found murdered, and the investigating team stumbles in the dark, trying to dig into the backgrounds of victims and to connect conflicting motives. A third murder follows…

At the same time a gunman is targeting immigrants in Malmö, shooting to spread the fear, and then shooting to kill. No traces are left but the message is clear and disturbing. The ghost of the King Gustav Adolf, famous for leading Sweden to military supremacy in the seventeenth century, seems to be lurking in background…

However, Inspector Anita Sundström is not allowed to be involved in either of these investigations. Returning to work after her disastrous error of professional judgement (set out in a first novel MEET ME IN MALMO) she is side-lined and sent to track a stolen modern piece of art. That case is more to please the well-connected Commissioner Dahlbeck rather than to seriously find the painting. Anita’s previous protégé is sent to Stockholm so she is teamed with Hakim, a young conscientious but hot headed policeman of Iraqi origin. She feels equally annoyed and motherly towards Hakim but has no say within the boundaries set by her antagonistic boss Chief Inspector Moberg and her colleague and nemesis Inspector Karl Westmark, a particularly unpleasant person, lusting after any attractive woman he sees and chasing after people who could further his career. He would become a caricature; however, MacLeod’s skilful characterisation builds up tension where it is needed and moves the story forward.

I confess I want Inspector Anita Sundström to be my friend. She messes up, kills the wrong man, falls in love with the killer and cannot move on. She’s big on self-pity. Occasionally she disobeys orders. But she definitely wants to do her job to the best of her abilities, and although reluctantly, she can admit that misogynist opportunist Westmark is actually an excellent cop. Only a clever author can create a believable protagonist, flawed and honest.

Fast paced, with a strong plot and full of references to the history of Sweden and geography of Skåne, where Malmö is located, the second novel by Torquil MacLeod is very visual, with a very rich sense of location. Anita Sundström’s stories would make a great TV dramas. I would also recommend it to the fans of the much darker Kurt Wallander’s series: Ystad is not that far from Malmö. Read, compare and enjoy.

Ewa Sherman, November 2015

Review: We Shall Inherit the Wind by Gunnar Staalesen tr. Don Bartlett

We Shall Inherit the Wind by Gunnar Staalesen translated by Don Bartlett, June 2015, 300 pages, Orenda Books, ISBN: 1910633070

Reviewed by Ewa Sherman.

I’ve been a fan of a private investigator Varg Veum (meaning ‘wolf in a sanctuary’ in old Norwegian) for ages. I’ve read WRITING ON THE WALL and watched nine movies based on Gunnar Staalesen’s books. I was also incredibly lucky to visit Varg Veum’s Corner in a hotel bar in Bergen. Outside the guests are greeted by a life-sized statue of Bergen’s most famous literary creation. And so I could not wait to read WE SHALL INHERIT THE WIND by the Norwegian Raymond Chandler, superbly translated by Don Bartlett.

1998. Veum is sitting by the hospital bed of his fiancée Karin who is seriously injured, fighting for her life. Blaming himself for what happened to her, he reflects on the events that led to this tragic outcome. As the story unfolds we learn of his latest assignment, starting with Karin’s request to investigate the disappearance of a successful businessman Mons Maeland, reported missing by his wife Ranveig, Karin’s friend. When Veum and Karin visit distressed Ranveig in her lovely summer cottage by the sea, they also meet a family friend, Brekkhus, a retired policeman, friendly yet hardly volunteering any information. Brekkhus was involved in a search for Mons’ first wife Lea who had also vanished in suspicious circumstances without trace seventeen years earlier. Ex-child welfare worker and idealist at heart, Veum reluctantly agrees to find Mons and is slowly pulled into a complicated family drama where there is no love lost between Ranveig and Mons’ two grown-up children Kristoffer and Else. Also, Mons’ disappearance happens at the time when he had apparently scrapped his highly controversial plans to develop a wind farm on his own plot of a beautiful untouched island. The speculations are wild, Kristoffer and Else find themselves in opposite camps, and long buried personal secrets surface.

A deceptively straightforward investigation turns into a life-changing experience for Veum, propelling him into a world of religious fanaticism, big money and bold environmental activism, all coming to an explosive confrontation on Bergen's islands. Lives of all characters are affected.

Tenacious and persistent Varg is a complex character, existing on the outside of the prosperous society, crossing paths both with the police and the criminal ‘underworld’. He stubbornly searches for justice and truth for those most vulnerable. A classic lone PI Veum is flawed yet so human and passionate, and truly unforgettable.

Grippingly, WE SHALL INHERIT THE WIND brings together great characterisation, fast paced plot and social conscience. The writing style is superb. You can smell the wet wind and taste the coffee. You feel so strongly for the sad situation of Veum and Karin, and understand people’s motives.

The beauty of Staalesen’s writing and thinking is in the richness of interpretations on offer: poignant love story, murder investigation, essay on human nature and conscience, or tale of passion and revenge. I choose all options.

Two further titles in Varg Veum series will be published by Orenda Books, in 2016 - WHERE ROSES NEVER DIE, and in 2017 - NO ONE IS SAFE IN DANGER.

Ewa Sherman, October 2015

Review: Broken Chord by Margaret Moore

Broken Chord by Margaret Moore, April 2015, 344 pages, McNidder & Grace Crime, ISBN: 0857160826

Reviewed by Ewa Sherman.

BROKEN CHORD by Margaret Moore introduces State Prosecutor Jacopo Dragonetti known as Drago, in the first novel of the series, set in Tuscany, and one of the first titles published by the new M&G Crime imprint. Born in the UK, Margaret Moore has lived most of her adult life in Italy. She’s married to an Italian, has a large family and a keen eye for detail. The author weaves her extensive knowledge of all aspects of Italian everyday life: music, food, architecture and history into the novel’s setting, creating a vivid, memorable background.

Ursula von Bachmann has been brutally murdered in her own elegant villa on the outskirts of Lucca. A nouveau riche and a despot she has made many bad decisions in her life but it seems that the worst was to let her killer into her bedroom. Her three children by three different fathers, staying with her during the unbearably hot summer, are shocked by the violence of the attack. They suspect that Guido, their mother’s jilted fiancé and a lounge lizard gigolo of the purest water, is the killer. And so the youngest, Marianna, nearly 18, in a world of her own, an older Lapo, with a physical deformity, beautiful face and a cruel streak, and Tebaldo, a recovered drug addict, now a questionable pillar of his own family, cling to the hope that all will be sorted soon. Imprisoned in the villa, they eye each other with increasing mistrust and fear, becoming anxiously aware of their circumstances, the constant presence of faithful yet resentful servants and the echoes from the Second World War as well as the more recent past. With so many people inside and outside the family bearing grudges the situation becomes tense. The components of this complex case prey on the investigating magistrate Dragonetti’s mind during his trips between his ancestral own Palazzo in Florence, police station and von Bachmann’s villa. Things are not what they seem…

Against the backdrop of the sophisticated surroundings, under the unforgiving July sky a much darker toxic side appears to the superficially comfortable peaceful life. Following his own instincts and some false trails Drago unravels a private history of feuds and violence, and tales of a family rich in money but poor in love where jealousies, hatreds and passions run riot.

The opera-loving chain-smoking Drago is a stylish, astute yet empathetic Italian character. Although he reminds me of both Andrea Camilleri’s Salvo Montalbano and Henning Mankell’s Kurt Wallander he is definitely a man in his own right and these comparisons are definitely favourable. He seems to have a fairly normal private life, with a sensible attitude to his own work and not many demons lurking in the background.

BROKEN CHORD, an elegant psychological exploration of a dysfunctional family in a fine tradition of crime mystery is a great read, and I will follow Drago’s investigations and musings in further instalments.

Ewa Sherman, September 2015

Review: The Templar Inheritance by Mario Reading

The Templar Inheritance by Mario Reading, April 2015, 400 pages, Corvus, ISBN: 1782395334

Reviewed by Ewa Sherman.

1198: On the eve of his execution, Bavarian knight Johannes von Hartelius writes a last confession. His parchment conceals the location of the Copper Scroll, said to hold the secret of Solomon’s treasure, and the key to the building of a new Temple in the Holy Land. Years before that, Hartelius attempted to rescue the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, from drowning in a river during a battle. Although now a disgraced Templar knight, Hartelius is still a guardian of the Holy Lance and does not want the Scroll to be sold to finance a Fourth Crusade.

May 2013: In present-day Iraq, British photo-journalist John Hart survives a bomb explosion near a roadside café. He’s accompanied only by Nalan Abuna, his intelligent beautiful Kurdish Christian translator. They are shaken and terrified for different reasons but this event will lead them both to uncover shocking brutal stories, firmly set in the modern history of the area.

At the same time Hart also discovers the message hidden in his ancestor’s testament, placed in the Holy Spear. The famous treasure appears to be concealed in a hollow mountain, known as Solomon’s Prison. Hart, besotted with Nalan, becomes obsessed about getting to Iran where the mountain is located. With Nalan’s help he sets out to find the Copper Scroll, following in Hartelius’ footsteps and his epic battle hundreds of years ago, and his life changes dramatically. What follows is a dangerous adventure where past and present are interwoven, and the finale is utterly unexpected.

Similarities between Hart and Hartelius are plentiful. True love features strongly in their lives, along with the desire for truth and honesty. Both are heroes in a way…

There are vivid descriptions of torture and humiliation in the present times. I assume that style might have been chosen as a way to engage the reader more in the story, and its political context, and also to demonstrate the differences between two separate modern worlds: that of the quite naïve idealistic Hart and that of the disillusioned, older-than-her-years Nalan.

THE TEMPLAR INHERITANCE is an intense fast paced thriller in the 'Dan Brown' tradition. Mario Reading uses short chapters, each ending with a little cliff-hanger which encourages the reader to keep reading and wanting to know more; his preference is for firmly defined characters and the historical background that might not always be accurate but provides an interesting setting for this plot-driven novel.

Ewa Sherman, August 2015

Review: The Hummingbird by Kati Hiekkapelto tr. David Hackston

The Hummingbird by Kati Hiekkapelto translated by David Hackston, September 2014, 350 pages, Arcadia Books, ISBN: 1909807567

Reviewed by Ewa Sherman.

THE HUMMINGBIRD, voted the best Finnish crime novel of 2014, was shortlisted for the prestigious Petrona Award for translated Scandinavian crime fiction. It’s only the second Finnish crime fiction book that I’ve read yet I can tell it instantly brings an unusual Finnish feel to the Nordic Noir genre. Superbly translated by David Hackston, it has the classic Scandinavian elements: weather, location, atmosphere and some unspoken tension, but it also focuses on the painstaking realistic police procedures in a slightly mysterious world with a different language, mentality and sensibility. Additionally, THE HUMMINGBIRD doesn’t shy from a very difficult contemporary theme: immigration which has as many faces as there are people discussing it.

Kati Hiekkapelto introduces Anna Fekete, a complex character; a new recruit to the police force in a coastal town in northern Finland, a place where she had spent her earlier years and now returns to in a professional role.

On her first day Anna is partnered with middle-aged Esko, who doesn’t hide his xenophobic prejudices and misogynist opinions, and undermines her work. Together they have to work on a case of a young woman who has been brutally murdered on a running track. A pendant depicting an Aztec god has been found in her possession. Talisman or jewellery?

Another murder soon follows, and the second victim also has a similar pendant which appears to be some kind of motif, a ‘trophy’. Baffled by the discovery and the violence of the attacks, police follow complicated and sometimes misleading clues in an attempt to find and stop the serial killer. Anna, in charge of the investigation, fears that the killer will strike again. The mounting pressure takes toll on her personal life, too, especially as Anna, a runner like the victims, dreads going near the track, the murder scene…

Anna, a foreigner, constantly feels the pressure to justify her own existence, mostly to herself, and her sense of belonging. She was an outsider even in her homeland: being part of the Hungarian minority in Yugoslavia, and at the age of seven she fled the Balkan wars with her mother and brother. On the surface she is an assured Finnish citizen, having served in the Finnish army, and a senior criminal investigator, who has trained to use her analytical skills to find a perpetrator.

Various perspectives on immigration are well portrayed, and I could identify with many of the emotions experienced by those who had arrived in Finland to start a new safer life. The author weaves in stories of the ‘Balkan mafia’, a Kurdish girl and her family, and Anna’s brother. They add to the realistic portrayal of the changing Finnish society.

The strong writing style of this confident debut novel promises that the second book THE DEFENCELESS, due to be published by Orenda Books in September 2015, will carry the same sense of place, situations and characters, and will deliver another intense and powerful story for Anna Fekete.

Kati Hiekkapelto is a force to reckon with; a talented and uncompromising author who will keep thrilling the readers.

Ewa Sherman, August 2015

Review: Tenacity by J S Law

Tenacity by J S Law, July 2015, 400 pages, Headline, ISBN: 1472227883

Reviewed by Ewa Sherman.

All my doubts whether I would want to spend some time aboard a nuclear submarine two-hundred metres below the ocean’s surface are gone now: the closeness of the boat company’s members (the ‘Old Man’ in charge booms that ‘crews’ are on ships); the ‘constant monotonous routine of sleep-wake-eat-work-eat-sleep’; cramped living and working conditions; no privacy; stale air pumped around the confined space; unexciting food; hierarchy and discipline; an atmosphere of camaraderie and very strict unchangeable rules; the ‘us and them’ division; artificial light; a place where disobedience is punished and brothers-in-arms bonds are indestructible; claustrophobia.

All the facts and characteristics of the place where you ‘dream about coffins’ before you descend into the belly of submarine HMS Tenacity, where Lieutenant Danielle Lewis, Dan for short, the best investigator in the Navy, embarks on a tough assignment.

Dan, recently re-assigned to the Special Investigation Branch’s KILL team, is shocked by the hostility she encounters during her investigation into the suicide of Stewart Walker who died on board of the submarine where he was serving. His wife Cheryl was brutally murdered just a day before his death and Dan also unofficially probes into the circumstances and possible connections between these two events.

No one wants to believe that foul play contributed to Walker’s suicide but the Royal Navy, albeit reluctantly, follow the protocol. Dan’s previous investigation hailed as both a spectacular success and a failure had caused irreparable psychological, physical and reputational damage. It’s told through flashback memories and then more tangible experiences as a new violent assault brings back painful recollections of a vicious attack connected to the investigation.

Dan, a lone wolf in her determination to see justice done, paranoid and anxious, trusts no one. Regardless of consequences, she ploughs through piles of paperwork, continues to interview reluctant and antagonistic submariners and intimidating officers, and refuses to give up and conform. To find answers she leaves no stones, or in this case heavy secret containers, unturned nor unlocked.
Gripping from the very beginning TENACITY is an uncompromising portrayal of working in the Navy, both on land and underwater, and the tensions that this kind of close relationship brings. It delivers a new take on solving crime in a formal yet aggressive environment and on being a woman in a tough place where everybody wants to undermine her professionalism. J S Law’s powerful writing style creates a perfect setting for the thriller where flawed yet strong heroine Lieutenant Dan Lewis fights for justice. This first instalment of a new crime series from debut author J S Law is absolutely brilliant. Cleverly constructed, dramatic and tense it leaves you feeling shocked yet wanting more. I can't wait for the second book.

Ewa Sherman, July 2015

Review: Summerchill by Quentin Bates

Summerchill by Quentin Bates, May 2015, 142 pages, ebook, Constable

Reviewed by Ewa Sherman.

I knew I was in for a treat as soon as got my hands on SUMMERCHILL. I am big fan of Gunnhildur (Gunna) Gisladottir, the down-to-earth and determined Icelandic policewoman with a sense of humour who feels more at home in her small provincial town than in Reykjavik where she is employed. And this time, at the end of the hot summer she and her sidekick Helgi work particularly hard to find out how the alarming and unsettling events around the city might (or not) be connected.

Meanwhile in the countryside the carpenter Logi toils away at the building site during the day and returns to his flat in Reykjavik in the evenings. When he finds a gun hidden under the floorboards his first thought is to keep it a secret until there is an opportunity to sell this unusual find. While pondering about his next move Logi half-heartedly agrees to help his former brother-in-law Danni to complete another building job: tax-free cash and a 'no questions asked about anything' type of contract from some ruthless customers. But Logi has huge financial commitments and so decides to continue, regardless of starting to feel slightly uneasy… Then an unexpected visit from an extremely unpleasant debt collector results in Logi skilfully using his tools. A body needs to be disposed of. Logi asks his friendly Polish workmates for a favour, and they are helpful and efficient, as always.

SUMMERCHILL, published only as an e-book, a novella, about a half of the length of a standard book, suits the story very well. There is an urgency in Gunna and Helgi's actions as they try to make sense of the strange and apparently unrelated events which elude them. The settings in Reykjavik and in the countryside lend themselves to the book’s structure. The time-frame of several days fits with Logi's and the police' thinking.

There is murder and there is violence; Gunna's frustration, and the investigation which isn’t going quite right, and the excellent portrayal of a small chunk of the Icelandic underworld. However, the mood of SUMMERCHILL seems fairly relaxed compared to other books by Quentin Bates. The story moves fast and it never loses its momentum. Definitely a noir story, with a summer twist, with an expectation of cold, snow and long dark nights, but also with an undercurrent of fun.

The finale of the story is a surprise. Logi wants to escape from two unhappy women, his mounting debts and the shady characters following him, and from the police, just in case... I don't wish to give away the ending but for me it was a really unexpected scenario, demonstrating the author's excellent perception of people’s motives, and his sense of humour. Read SUMMERCHILL, you'll love it.

Ewa Sherman, June 2015