Room No. 10

December 3, 2012
Meticulous observation and persistent psychological analysis can find solutions that not even modern forensics can provide, as shown in Edwardson’s intricate seventh novel featuring Chief Insp. Erik Winter (after 2012’s Sail of Stone). When the body of 29-year-old Paula Ney is discovered hanging in Room 10 of Gothenburg’s sleazy Hotel Revy, an obvious murder victim, despite a mystifying suicide note, Winter recalls that 29-year-old Ellen Börge disappeared in a case involving the Hotel Revy 18 years earlier and never seen again. Painstaking police work, including endless interviews with Ney’s oddly unemotional parents, alternate with Winter’s recollections of the earlier case and the beginnings of his working relationship with Det. Insp. Fredrik Halders. The old and new investigations intertwine and merge in a fascinating fashion. This is a must-read for those who appreciate psychologically astute mysteries, though readers should be prepared for repetitive dialogue and relatively little action. Agent: Peter Riva, International Transactions.

January 1, 2013

Swedish award-winning crime fiction writer Edwardson (Sail of Stone) is at the top of his game with the seventh police procedural in his Inspector Winter series. When a young woman's death is ruled a suicide, many things appear wrong, including an odd note left behind by the victim. In addition, the case resembles one that DCI Erik Winter investigated 18 years earlier; it involved the disappearance of a woman from the same hotel AND room. Winter's keen investigative techniques take the reader with him as a member of his team, until a shocking connection between the two cases is discovered--the body of the woman from 18 years ago is newly buried. In the gritty climax, Winter discovers firsthand that history doesn't always stay in the past. VERDICT Readers of Scandinavian crime fiction should add Edwardson to their reading list. You don't have to start at the beginning but you can, if you dare! Lovers of fiction by Iceland's Arnuldar Indrioason and Sweden's Kjell Eriksson will revel in these works.--Frances Thorsen, Chronicles of Crime Bookshop, Victoria, BC

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