Unseen

May 29, 2006
Swedish journalist Jungstedt's first mystery, set on the island of Gotland, a popular tourist destination, opens with some promise. After a gathering of friends dissolves amid jealous accusations, the source of the conflict, Helena Hillerström, vanishes from her home, only to turn up the victim of a savage ax murder. This violent act shocks the residents of the normally sleepy resort island. Despite the dedicated efforts of Insp. Anders Knutas, the killer strikes twice again. The killer's clichéd motive for these crimes and the police's failure to connect some obvious dots will disappoint those expecting another Henning Mankell. Still, the unusual setting is nicely described, and hopefully, later entries in the series will focus on issues that are particular to Sweden as this debut effort does not.

July 1, 2006
The murder of Helena Hillerstrom on the beach of Gotland seems related to a physical fight with her live-in boyfriend the night before -until within weeks two more women are brutally killed in the same fashion, their bodies left naked and slashed and their panties stuffed in their mouths. As the summer tourist trade on this Swedish island suffers as a result, Detective Superintendent Anders Knutas and his colleagues struggle to find connections among the victims while dealing with journalist Johan Berg, who's getting inside tips about the crimes. First novelist Jungstedt includes a romance and some red herrings, along with brief excerpts describing the perpetrator's actions and thoughts that enable the reader to solve the mystery just ahead of the authorities. Neither the issue of abuse, at the heart of the murders, nor the police-press relationship is explored at length, but Jungstedt fashions a solid, compellingly readable police procedural with a nicely rounded protagonist. The prose is not as fluid as that of Henning Mankell, to whom the publisher compares Jungstedt, but the potential is there. This first title in a new series is recommended for collections where foreign mysteries are popular. Jungstedt lives in Stockholm." - Michele Leber, Arlington, VA"

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2006
The Scandinavian invasion continues with the arrival in the U.S. of another talented crime writer from Sweden. Jungstedt's first novel takes place in Gotland, where a serial killer has tourists (in the area during the region's midsummer tourist season) running scared. The sleuth here is Gotland inspector Anders Knutas, who is out of the intuitive-provincial school of crime solving. He is thoroughly engaging in that Maigret way--reminiscent, too, of fellow Swede Van Veeteren (in Hakan Nesser's " Borkmann's Point, " 2006) and French police " commissaire " Adamsberg (in Fred Vargas' " Have Mercy on Us All," 2005). Knutas has the help of an enterprising Stockholm journalist, Johan Berg, who becomes involved with one of the victim's friends. Like Ake Edwardson in " Never End" (2006), Jungstedt shows that Scandinavian summers can provide just as effective a backdrop for crime drama as the region's icy winters. If this strong combination of pacing, suspense, and character study is any indication of what is to come from Jungstedt, we have another fine import on our hands. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)