After eight books in the Kurt Wallander police mystery series, this renowned Swedish crime writer is developing a new character, Kurt’s daughter Linda. This seems to be the change-over title with a part for them both, although it turns out to be very much Linda’s book. The appeal of the masters of this particular genre is their feeling for place, Rebus with Edinburgh, Morse with Oxford, and Sweden is very much a player in this grizzly tale. Comparison: Ian Rankin, Colin Dexter, Reginald Hill. Similar this month: Stephen Booth, Sue Grafton.
In woodland outside Ystad, the police make a horrific discovery: a severed head, and hands locked together in an attitude of prayer. A Bible lies at the victim's side, the pages marked with scribbled corrections. A string of macabre incidents, including attacks on domestic animals, have been taking place, and Inspector Wallander fears that these disturbances could be the prelude to attacks on humans on an even more alarming scale. Linda Wallander, in preparation to join the police force, arrives at Ystad. Exhibiting some of the hallmarks of her father - the maverick approach, the flaring temper - she becomes entangled in a case involving a group of religious extremists who are bent on punishing the world's sinners. Following on from the enormous success of the Kurt Wallander mysteries, Henning Mankell has begun an outstanding new chapter in crime writing.
Henning Mankell was born in Stockholm in 1948. He is the prize-winning author of the eight novels in the Inspector Wallander Series which has been translated into many languages and consistently tops the best-seller lists throughout Europe. His novel Sidetracked won the CWA Gold dagger in 2001. Mankell has worked as an actor, theatre director and manager in Sweden and in Mozambique, where he is head of Teatro Avenida in Maputo. He died in October 2015.
