From the hardback: Detective Inspector Irene Huss is an investigator assigned to the Violent Crimes Unit in Goteborg, Sweden.
She is a wife and mother - her husband is a chef and she has twin daughters - and also a judo champion and an avowed feminist in a police department which is still adjusting to the presence of women as officers.
On a rain-drenched November night, she is called to the scene of the apparent suicide of a wealthy financier connected with the first families of Sweden.
His mangled body has landed on the icy ground, just feet away from an old lady walking her dog.
Did he fall?
Or was he pushed from the balcony of his luxurious duplex apartment?
Before Irene and her colleagues can determine what happened and why, she must tour contemporary Sweden, from the haunts of the highest echelon of Society to the drug addicts, skinheads, and motorcycle gangs that constitute a new threat to the country's liberal ethos.
About the author: Helene Tursten, who lives in Goteborg, is a registered nurse and also a dentist.
When her dental career was curtailed by rheumatic illness, she turned to writing.
Detective Inspector Huss, her first novel, was published in Sweden in 1998 under the title Den Krossade Tanghasten. Subsequently, Den Krossade Tanghasten was made into a film entitled The Torso (video) produced by Illusion Film and Yellow Bird Films and has been very well received in Sweden.
Her mysteries have been translated into Norwegian and Danish and are bestsellers in Germany.
Detective Inspector Huss (2003) has been translated from the Swedish into the English by Steven T Murray.
My take: Click onto Helene Tursten's fan website for more information on the Detective Inspector Huss series of which there are two other books in the series apart from this one, and they are The Torso (2006) and The Glass Devil (2007). The fourth book, Night Rounds, will be published in 2012.
2011 is drawing to a close in under a month and I have discovered another excellent Swedish crime series which reads like a classic - well-researched and well-written. I think it is perfect for the days leading up to Christmas. It does take some time to finish perhaps because some of the translation is a bit stilted but I highly recommend this perfect police procedural. Happy reading!
A review by Eurocrime.
A Book A Week review.
Rating: 5/5
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