Translated
by Don Bartlett
Published
by Orenda Books,
15 May 2017.
ISBN: 978-1-910633-27-4 (PBO)
15 May 2017.
ISBN: 978-1-910633-27-4 (PBO)
When the body of a woman turns up
in a dumpster, scalded and wrapped in plastic, Inspector Frank Frolich is
shocked to discover he knows her – she’s engaged to his former best friend ...
This
classic PP is narrated alternately in the third person following the heads of
Frolich and his boss, Gunnerstranda, who is on leave as events start, but who
becomes involved once the body is found. There’s also a third person whose
thoughts we see, the young policewoman Lena, who’s having a dangerous affair
with another officer, and who uses herself as a honey-trap later in the story.
The plot is clever, with several strands to the investigation: Frolich is
following the dead woman, Veronika, and his friend Karl Anders, but he’s also
trying to figure out Veronika’s links with the local mobster, and trace a
missing overseas student, while Gunnerstranda finds Veronika’s death
reminiscent of a cold case he worked on years ago; there’s no DNA on Veronika’s
body, but DNA was found on the first dead girl – if only they can find a match.
The
detectives contrasted well with each other, with Gunnerstranda’s home life and
loving wife, Tove, set against Frolich’s dark past, and Lena’s difficult
present, and there was a good feel of life in an Oslo police station. The pace
speeds up as the novel progresses, with a cliff-hanger for one character
jumping straight to the investigations of the other – at one point, I thought a
chapter had gone missing, as the cliff-hanger was left, well, hanging, until a
casual mention told us how it had ended.
A
fast-moving Norwegian PP with good characters and setting.
------
Kjell Ola Dahl was born in 1958 in Gjøvik. He made his debut in
1993, and has since published eleven novels, the most prominent of which is a
series of police procedurals cum psychological thrillers featuring
investigators Gunnarstranda and Frølich. In 2000 he won the Riverton Prize for The
Last Fix and he won both the prestigious Brage and Riverton Prizes for The
Courier in 2015. His work has been published in 14 countries, and he lives
in Oslo.
Marsali Taylor grew up near
Edinburgh, and came to Shetland as a newly-qualified teacher. She is currently
a part-time teacher on Shetland's scenic west side, living with her husband and
two Shetland ponies. Marsali is a qualified STGA tourist-guide who is
fascinated by history, and has published plays in Shetland's distinctive
dialect, as well as a history of women's suffrage in Shetland. She's also a
keen sailor who enjoys exploring in her own 8m yacht, and an active member of
her local drama group. Marsali also does
a regular monthly column for the Mystery People e-zine.
A review of her recent book Ghosts
of the Vikings can be read here.
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