Night Rounds

Starred review from December 12, 2011
A self-effacing but effective lead plus a complex whodunit plot add up to a superior Scandinavian crime novel, Tursten’s fourth featuring Det. Insp. Irene Huss (after 2007’s The Glass Devil). When a nurse, Marianne Svärd, is found strangled at a small hospital in Göteborg after a blackout that also claimed the life of a patient who was on a respirator, the night nurse on duty, Siv Persson, tells the police an incredible story. While the power was out, Persson claims she saw the ghost of a nurse who committed suicide in the hospital 50 years earlier after having an affair with a surgeon. While Huss and her team instantly dismiss a supernatural explanation, she becomes convinced that the motive for Svärd’s slaying stems from the hospital’s past. Tursten does an outstanding job of offering multiple plausible murderers, making this the rare procedural that actually requires the reader to evaluate alibis, motives, and means to solve the case. Agent: Anneli Hoier.

Starred review from February 1, 2012

At a tiny, private Swedish hospital one fateful night, someone cuts the power, disengages the backup generator, and murders a nurse. Eerily, the other nurse on duty is convinced she saw the hospital's resident ghost that evening. Back in the late 1940s, a nurse died there, hanged in the attic; many feel she continues to haunt the facility. A few days after the power failure, another nurse who has gone missing is found hanged in the same place. Insp. Irene Huss realizes that the killer is intimately familiar with the hospital's history. And that means she and her team will have to immerse themselves in both the current evidence and with the building's genealogy. Diagnosis: Revenge. VERDICT I couldn't put down this finely crafted, Swedish procedural with its complex story line and heart-stopping climax. In her fourth outing (after The Glass Devil), Huss works intuitively, and her family interactions add extra depth to the novel. This series will appeal to those who like Michael Genelin and Quentin Bates. [See Prepub Alert, 11/11/11; for more Scandinavian crime fiction, see "Nordic Crime Fiction" on p. 58.--Ed.]

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2012
After a three-year absence, Tursten is back with a new Detective Inspector Huss novel. While this series isn't cozy in the classic sense, it's definitely one of the more domestic in the dark and violent Nordic crime field. Swedish police detective Irene Huss, happily married with a dog and two mostly normal teenagers, worries about missing haircuts as much as she worries about her police work. But that doesn't mean she isn't a top-notch detective, nor is she unwilling to get physical with subjects or colleagues if need arisesafter all, she is a third-level black belt with a strong sense of justice. A nighttime power outage at a private hospital results in the deaths of a patient and a nurse, with another nurse missing. The only witness is convinced that she saw the murderer, but she swears it's the ghost of a nurse who hung herself in the attic 60 years earlier. Huss' investigation delves into the history of the hospital and the local wealthy family who owns it, creating a taut and compelling mystery. Recommend to fans of Icelandic female cop Sergeant Gunna (Cold Comfort, 2012).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)