Inspector Irene Huss, stationed in Goteborg, is called through the rain-drenched wintry streets to the scene of an apparent suicide. The dead man landed on the sidewalk in front of his luxurious duplex apartment. He was a wealthy financier connected, through an old-boys’ network,
The book stars Detective Inspector Irene Huss and her colleagues in the Violent Crimes Unit. They are the ones called out to investigate the von Knecht death. On being given the assignment, they are given a word of caution to the effect that the victim is connected to the Swedish elite. He was a prominent and very wealthy businessman.
This is how this very exciting crime novel begins. Helene Tursten has been compared to PD James in her native Sweden. Her two subsequent Irene Huss mysteries have been highly praised. She was born in Goteborg, where she now lives, in 1954. So far three of her books have been translated into English. She is an excellent and obviously quite talented writer.
The crime itself turns out to be an exceedingly tangled one, with loads of suspects, a locked door, and many complications and other crimes cropping up as the story progresses. That said, the primary culprit can be guessed almost right from the start, even if the motive and method for the murder cannot. A great deal of the novel’s success is attributable to Tursten’s detailed step-by-step rendering of the patient police work that leads to the resolution.
Detective Inspector Huss is a very intriguing and well executed police procedural from Swedish author Tursten. Especially so as this is the first book in this series – the series debut, so to speak. The heroine of the series, Irene Huss, is a sympathetic 40-something detective, very well described, who attempts to juggle a demanding job and her family life. She is a modern Swedish woman, and appealing as well as interesting. Detective Inspector Huss is very likable, as a 40-ish woman in a male dominated profession filled with casual sexism.
Rather quickly Huss and her competent team trace von Knecht’s life into the criminal underground of drug dealing and motorcycle gangs. Then the case turns deadly again when a bomb blows up Von Knecht’s business office, killing two people. Huss and her squad struggle with finding the motive. Huss, however, has a feeling that von Knecht’s underworld and business connections have crossed at a fatal junction. This makes her worry that more killings will follow if she is unable to stop the unknown perpetrator.
There is little about the mystery, the characters’ personalities and motivations or the police approach to solving the crimes that couldn’t easily be transposed to a contemporary American setting. Irene Huss herself is an entirely plausible creation – smart, competent, but fallible – and the exchanges between the various police officers with whom she works help define them as three-dimensional as well. Through solid, patient police work, the good guys catch the murderer, whose identity, while not a total surprise, provides a nice narrative twist. The most impressive aspect of the book, however, is its descriptions of the police procedures and the rich characterizations.
The characters, from the police to suspects and witnesses, all are exceedingly well-drawn and believable. Irene Huss’ co-workers are all intriguing, from enigmatic Hannu, to the wheezing supervisor Andersson, the bright young Brigitta, the arrogant Medical Examiner Stridner, and the many technicians who assist the investigation. Huss’s personal life adds great depth and sympathy to her character, especially the subplot involving one of her daughter’s flirtation with neo-Nazism. Ethnicity comes into play in the book as well, with several characters having Finnish backgrounds that render them quite alien to the Swedes.
The pacing of Detective Inspector Huss is quite good considering the book’s length and complexity. Also, the translation is exceedingly smooth and readable. A very nice and suspenseful read!
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