DP54Cover - Deadly Pleasures

�managing NEVER finances, END this (Viking, seemed $24.95, like a great 2006). idea A to heat us.
wave So Francesca is smothering Hatton the and Swedish THE coastal MURDER city STONE of Gothenburg. were
School born. It’s is out, 1916, and and parks she’s and just beaches buried the are last teeming male with of
people. her name—her But a spate grandfather—in of unsolved the rape/murders aftermath of casts the a
disturbing Battle of shadow the Somme. on this That particular bloodbath summer. also Chief took Inspec- from
tor her Erik the Winter, last of now her five forty-one male and cousins a father, and precipitated
assembles the
scant his death. but grisly And details so there of the isn’t crimes, anyone and else begins to face to see thean
eerie vultures connection at the to funeral a five-year-old who accuse unsolved her rape/murder,
family of
a case dealings he, in she’d typically never obsessive heard of. fashion, Including has refused murder. to let
go cold. It owes more to Daphne Du Maurier than to
�romantic FROZEN suspense, TRACKS because revenge (Viking, is $25.95, the theme, 2007). not
The saving investigation the poor of afflicted a series heroine. of assaults She and learns a string to defend of child
abductions herself very take well, Erik thank Winter you, to in spite “the of flats,” coming the late barren to
prairies filling of her rural grandfather’s Sweden whose shoes. wastelands DP reviewer conceal Larry crimes
as
Gandle
sinister
liked
as the
it. In
land
fact
itself.
he gave
Winter
it a glowing
must deduce
review.
the
labyrinthine connections between the cases before it is too
And the publisher was pleased. Will they want an-
late and his own family comes into danger.
other? We’ll see when the contract is renewed later
this year. It was interesting to try other characters and
other themes, Kjell and to write Eriksson in a different style. And
Series readers Characters: who were Detectives Rutledge-philes Ola were Haver at first and very Ann
Lindell, upset that Uppsala, Rutledge Sweden would be two years in returning—
�and then THE told us PRINCESS that they had OF BURUNDI been so absorbed (St. Martin’s, by the
$23.95, STONE 2006). that they Homicide forgave us. detective So that’s Ola our Haver tale. and Do we his
colleague, have ideas Ann for other Lindell, stand-alones?? investigate the You murder bet. It of opened a wellliked
working an interesting class man can and of tropical worms fish creatively! expert. This is a
solid police procedural, winner of the Swedish Crime
Academy Margaret Award Maron for Best on LAST Crime LESSON Novel, and OF reminiscent SUMMER of
the Ed McBain’s “87th (from Precinct” an interview series, on with its emphasis
on the work
murderandmayhembookclub.com)
and lives of the cops.
� THE I do CRUEL enjoy inhabiting STARS different OF THE personalities, NIGHT (St.
Martin’s, but it’s normally $23.95, within 2007). the Thirty-five-year-old encapsulated experi- Laura
Hindersten ence gained goes by to the writing police short to report stories, that her my father, usuala
local
vehicle
professor,
for series
is missing.
variation.
Inspector
This
Ann
time
Lindell
I got
and
to
her
colleagues can find no motive for the man’s disappear-
explore a new character in depth. As always
ance. And when the corpses of two elderly men do turn up,
when writing of an amateur sleuth, though,
neither of the dead men is the missing academic.
there’s the difficulty of making it “real.” Why
� THE DEMON FROM DAKAR (St. Martin’s,
does this non-professional get involved? What
$24.95,
can she
April
logically
2008).
do
Rating
when
B+
she
[Reviewed
isn’t a police
by Bev
DeWeese] In some ways, Eriksson’s Uppsala police
officer, a PI, or even a judge with police con-
department is reminiscent of Ed McBain’s 87
nections? In this book, I also wanted to show
th precinct
with its assortment of interesting cops with human frailities
Deadly Pleasures
and how realistic a sheltered procedural and details. protected This department, young woman with the
focus finally on detective finishes Anne growing Lindell, up investigates by solving the long- baffling
death buried of a man family found mysteries in a nearby on river her with own. no She ID and a
tattoo doesn’t that has threaten been partially anyone removed. with a gun Naturally, or get their
methodical knocked around investigation physically, eventually but leads in them the course to a numof
ber the of other book, crimes: she asks a Mexican pointed visitor questions, who will do steals anything
to
information,
rescue his brother
deduces
from a
the
Swedish
secret
prison;
hiding
some
place
nervous
of
low-life criminals ineptly trying to sell drugs; and the owner
some important papers, methodically figures
of high-end restaurants who has some rather shady finan-
out the motive for her grandmother’s murder,
cial dealings and who is not honest about his taxes.
then sets
Though
a trap
the
for
cops
the
are
killer
believable
with
and
herself
generally
as
likeable, bait the — all most within fully the developed realm of characters plausibility. are the
suspects/victims. The love of the two Mexican brothers
who come from a poor, isolated village is very touching,
and Steve their attempts Hamilton’s to understand comments this on strange the subject: new world of
Uppsala are As far both as sad standing and humorous. alone on Slobodan the issue Andersson, of stand-
the alones, sleazy I think restaurant Lee Child owner, is gonna is not a be totally the last bad remaining character.
He hold-out, treats his at least staff among well, He the gives hard-boiled Eve, a stressed, writers I single can
mom, think the of. chance (Maybe to Ian make Rankin? money Did and he to ever investigate do a stand- a new
direction alone?) After for her ICE life. RUN At the comes same out time, this she year, is dealing it feels with like
two Alex sons is going who may to need need a more break, time and and I might attention be feeling than she a
can little give regionalized them. But with everyone the Michigan at the thing, restaurant too... seems So
happy yeah, for the her. next Even one is the a stand-alone, local drug dealers set in seem the Hudson relatively
low
Valley
key,
of
though
New York.
murder
[Editor’s
is part
Note:
of their
Ian
career
Rankin
choice.
wrote a
Part of the great appeal of these Scandinavian
spy novel years ago that has just been reprinted in
crime novels is the portrait of the Swedish policing that
hardcover in the U.K. – WATCHMEN]
underlies all of the stories. Though the Swedish citizens
expect their government and their police department to
care for them, the cops don’t always live up to these
standards. Michelle Some Spring cops on are writing homophobic, her first even stand-alone though they
have been to seminars to novel be retrained. Others are very
sympathetic My next to a novel young is mother a stand-alone. who still Before wants you a loving ask,
sexual Laura partner Principal, for herself. P.I. — the Some central try character to understand of the the
teenage series that boys began who with show EVERY little judgment BREATH in YOU their TAKE efforts — to
appear certainly cool. isn’t The ready cops to retire. don’t In seem fact, like she enemies and her in
Sweden. partner Sonny Mendlowitz, her right-hand woman
Stevi, and This her lively circle plot of has women many friends strands, are but about eventually to be all
the drawn loose into ends what are tied could up. be The the characters, most thrilling both case cops of and
criminals, are engrossing Laura’s and career. have emotional depth. This
is a very But readable for several crime years novel. now, I’ve had a story up
my sleeve that requires a completely new cast of
characters. It Inger requires a Frimansson
dramatically different setting.
Series It requires Character: each major Justine character Dalvikto
speak in his or her
� own GOOD voice, whereas NIGHT, Laura MY DARLING Principal, in (Pleasure true P.I. Boat
Studio, tradition, $16.00, always 2007). insists Justine on telling Dalvik the is a story wealthy herself. woman
approaching THE middle NIGHT age, LAWYER who, after is a set tormented in the most childhood
extraordinary and a not-much-better part of the extraordinary adulthood, figures city of it’s London time to
free — a herself peninsula of the in horrible the River memories Thames that called are the beating Isle of her
down. Dogs, This where involves a bright a considerable skyscraper amount world is of rapidly revenge
against displacing the people a traditional who made dockside her life community. so miserable, The but
rather central than character go the is traditional Ellie Porter slice-and-slash who works the route, night the
author shift focuses for a tabloid more newspaper on what’s happening in Canary inside Wharf. Justine’s We
head,
watch
the
as the
emotional
young
toll
lawyer’s
that settling
carefully-controlled
old scores takes
life
on
is
her.
thrown off-course by a stalker. (I came to crime
�writing as THE a result SHADOW of being IN stalked THE myself WATER by a (Pleasure student
Boat who Studio, planned $16.00, to murder 2008). my Justine family, Dalvik so the is topic still is battling one
demons, about both real which and I have imagined, passionate while living feelings.) in her family
home in Hässelby.
THE NIGHT
The
LAWYER
tall, forbidding
is not
manse
the usual
was
stalker-
the last
cum-serial-killer novel. It includes muggings, murder,
karate and a teenage girl who poses as a creature of
the night. It is a psychological thriller that tries to get
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