Munster's Case

Starred review from June 18, 2012
Intendent Münster steps out of the shadow of his old boss, the now fully retired Inspector Van Veeteren, in Nesser’s sterling sixth Inspector Van Veeteren mystery (after 2011’s The Inspector and Silence). Münster has to figure out who stabbed retiree Waldemar Leverkuhn 28 times in his sleep on the night he and three of his friends celebrated winning the lottery. Their shared winnings come out to about 5,000 guilders each, hardly worth murdering for, and Leverkuhn appeared to be a harmless old man without enemies, despite his emotionally frozen family. As Münster and his team investigate, another lottery winner vanishes. The discovery of the body of one of Leverkuhn’s neighbors raises the ante. Gallows humor punctuates the solid plot as Münster’s introspective musings lead to a surprising ending. Münster’s growing self-confidence and his insight show that he can carry the series on his own. Agency: Bonnier Group Agency.

August 1, 2012
Throughout his first five appearances translated into English (The Inspector and Silence, 2011, etc.), Chief Inspector Van Veeteren has constantly threatened to retire, but this time he seems to mean it, leaving the scant detecting honors here to Inspector Munster. Waldemar Leverkuhn's lucky day, which begins when he splits a lottery prize of 20,000 guilders with three old friends, ends when he's stabbed 28 times as he sleeps off his drunken celebration. That same night, fellow winner Felix Bonger goes missing from his houseboat, and shortly thereafter so does Else Van Eck, the wife of the caretaker in Leverkuhn's building. The Leverkuhn children are no help in Munster's investigation. The eldest daughter, Irene, has been a patient in a mental hospital for years, and her lesbian sister Ruth and weak-kneed brother Mauritz haven't remained close enough to their parents to offer any helpful information. The biggest break in the case comes when Leverkuhn's wife, Marie-Louise, who's been acting more shocked than grief-stricken, suddenly confesses to his murder and--this being an unspecified fictional country that combines features of Sweden, Finland and Holland, but certainly not the U.S.--is promptly put on trial. From beginning to end, in fact, the case is driven not by any discoveries the police make but by developments outside their control. Munster, who feels very much like a stopgap sleuth, cuts an even less assuming figure than Van Veeteren, who pops up as a kind of Greek chorus from time to time to remind you that it's his franchise. The mystery, like the detection, manages to be both routine and gripping.

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