Lethal Investments

September 17, 2012
Dahl’s debut mystery, which in 1993 introduced odd couple Oslo policemen Inspector Gunnarstranda and Frank Frolich, marks his fourth published in English after 2009’s The Last Fix. Fifty-seven-year-old widower Gunnarstranda has a sharp wit, and sharper tongue, belying his slight, unprepossessing appearance. The much younger and larger Frolich looks up to his boss, but has his own valuable part to play in their investigation into the brutal knife slaying of beautiful Reidun Rosendal. The pair quickly locates an eyewitness, albeit a questionable one, elderly Arvid Johansen, and the victim’s final lover, Sigurd Klavestad, but to no conclusive avail. Even more suspects, as well as confusion, turn up in Reidun’s former workplace, A/S Software Partners, a company seething with feuds and secrets. That the firm is missing its marketing director suggests that there’s more to the killing than an isolated crime. Series fans will relish the opportunity to see these two unorthodox sleuths work their magic together.

October 15, 2012
The fourth dour appearance for Norwegian cops Gunnarstranda and Frolich. When the Oslo police are called to the crime scene, pretty Reidun Rosendal doesn't look so pretty any more. Blood seeps out of numerous stab wounds. Nor does her apartment look its best. It's obviously been tossed, the door ajar but the front gate lock smashed. What happened to the lively saleswoman for Software Partners? The neighbor across the way has a few ideas generated by a stash of porn magazines, a chair angled to peer directly into Reidun's flat and a pair of heavy-duty binoculars to put her love life into focus. He insists that the ponytailed man who spent the night must have done her in. But did he? Inspector Gunnarstranda and his second-in-command, Frolich (The Fourth Man, 2008, etc.), aren't so sure. They take their time exploring every possibility, including Reidun's occasional recreational sessions with her company's managing director, her cool relationship with his wife and the criminal proclivities of the chief owner, who's now working a fraud involving partnership deals that will enrich him at the expense of the firm. There's a second break-in at Reidun's place and another at Software Partners. Even more disconcertingly, the ponytailed lover winds up beheaded, and the porn-addicted neighbor who suspected him succumbs after a slide into the river. More stolid police work separates the financial from the supercharged emotional shenanigans, culminating in a spate of overkill. Proficient but slow-going, leaving readers worrying that the rain will never let up, until ennui runneth over.

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