The Oslo Conspiracy

August 22, 2016
Norwegian author Skredderberget’s uneven U.S. debut, a series launch, introduces Milo Cavalli, an extremely wealthy Norwegian cop assigned to the Financial Crimes Unit. Because Milo is Italian on his father’s side, his superiors dispatch him to Rome to help investigate a Norwegian citizen’s murder. Ingrid Tollefsen, a researcher who worked at the Oslo office of an American pharmaceutical company, was found strangled in her hotel room in Italy, but with no other signs of violence. Milo is surprised to learn that two years earlier the victim’s 15-year-old brother was executed near his school in Norway by gangsters who also gunned down a teacher. Meanwhile, Milo’s personal life resembles a soap opera as he deals with tension with his significant other, romantic temptations, and dramatic revelations about his family. Milo’s antics won’t be to every taste, nor will the plot contrivances. For example, the cop who assists Milo in Italy lost a parent in a naval catastrophe that also affected Milo’s family.

September 15, 2016
Mystery fans will be in seventh heaven as this narrative begins. A young woman is murdered, after she struggles to leave a coded message about her death. Then a glorious sequence, 10 pages long, describes detective Milo Cavalli examining the scene. He observes a fresh scratch on the wall, like an arrow, and lets it direct him to the smeared message. Afterward, we join Cavalli as he goes to his father's for dinner and discovers he has a half-sister he didn't know about. Lengthy dinner, too. Well, this is a Scandinavian mystery, and they take their time up there. Readers willing to indulge family matters, as well as Cavalli's flirtations with gorgeous women, will find a ripping mystery. The dead girl was a researcher for a huge drug company and was exhorting her bosses about the damage their greed was doing. Cavalli's investigation leads him to seismic confrontations with pharma execs that are so exciting to read they almost overpower the crime story. Patience will pay off here.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)