Unspoken

July 9, 2007
At the start of Jungstedt’s somber, subtle second mystery set on the Swedish island of Gotland (after 2006’s Unseen
), Det. Supt. Anders Knutas and his team look into the murder of the alcoholic former news photographer Henry Dahlström. In the course of their investigation, they discover evidence not only that the man maintained a good income doing illegal repair work for most of Gotland’s leading citizens but that his death may somehow be linked to missing 14-year-old Fanny Jansson. Meanwhile, Johan Berg, a Stockholm news reporter, tries to keep his bosses interested in Dahlström’s murder so he can take trips to Gotland to visit his married lover, Emma Winarve. With solid characters and powerful descriptions of the dark Swedish winter, this newest entry in the great tradition of Scandinavian police procedurals provides an engaging and twisty narrative that will fool even the most attentive reader.

August 1, 2007
Indridason turns introspective in his third mystery translated into English (after the award-winning "Jar City" and "Silence of the Grave"), a thriller that occurs over just six days before Christmas. In the midst of the holiday rush at a Reykjavik hotel, the doorman who portrays Santa Claus is found stabbed in his basement room, in costume and wearing a condom with his pants around his ankles. When Inspector Erlendur learns that the victim was once a celebrated choirboy who was never able to experience a real childhood, he's reminded of the death of his younger brother in a blizzard, which he himself survived. Erlendeur also has to deal with his drug-addicted daughter mourning the recent loss of her baby and a child abuse case involving an eight-year-old boy, which takes a turn that distresses Erlendur's colleague Elinborg. A long-divorced loner, Erlendur takes residence in the hotel, weighing motives of greed and hatred and developing a promising romantic relationship while coworkers worry about his lack of Christmas plans. An exceptional psychological studyErlendur struggles with his past and his presentthis won the Martin Beck Award in Sweden for the best crime novel in translation.In Jungstedt's second mystery (after "Unseen"), Detective Superintendent Anders Knutas of Gotland has both a murdered alcoholic photographer and a missing 14-year-old girl on his hands. Along with his closest colleague, Detective Inspector Karin Jacobsson, Knutas is assisted by smitten reporter Johan Berg, who turns up leads as he pursues married Emma Winarve, whose bond to her children has her vacillating between her lover and her husband. Inevitably, the two cases are found to be linkedand become painfully personal for Knutas. Jungstedt's portrayal of the victimsparticularly of young biracial Fanny Jansson, daughter of a single alcoholic motherare especially sharp, as she continues to develop the characters from her debut novel. The result is a more polished sequel and ending with a cliff-hanger that whets interest for her next. Featuring perpetrators acting out of desperation and a certain insularity with their island locales, both novels are recommended for collections where dark, foreign mysteries are popular, but probably not for holiday reading.Michele Leber, Arlington, VA

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2007
Following Unseen(2006), Jungstedts chilling second offering set on the Swedish island of Gotland findsDetective Superintendent Anders Knutas with his hands full investigating the suspicious death of sixtysomething photographer Henry Flash Dahlstrom. (Did an enterprising criminal get wind of the alcoholic lensmans big win at the racetrack?) Matters become further complicated when sexually explicit photos of murdered 14-year-old Fanny Jansson are found in Dahlstroms darkroom. Detective Knutas makes headway on the case, thanks to crackerjack colleagues and invaluable tips from his friend Johan Berg, a television reporter who always seems to be at the right place at the right time. (The same cant be said for Johans personal life; his affair with a married woman has taken a disturbing turn.) Swedish radio and television journalist Jungstedt serves up crisp prose, steady suspense, and a roster of flesh-and-blood characters by turns conflicted and content. At the center of it all is the idyllic island of Gotland, home to the medieval walled city of Visby and a slew of unsettling modern-day crimes.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)