While on a field trip through the woods on the outskirts of Behren, a young girl stumbles upon a decomposing body wrapped in a carpet and lying in a ditch. The body has no hands, feet, or head, but this was not the work of wild animals. A brutal killer is on the loose—but who is the victim? From the hospital bed where he is recovering from surgery, Chief Inspector Van Veeteren begins to piece together the fragmentary clues that involve a nun who hides a secret, a crippled woman, the murders of two other women, and a former track star who served two sentences for murder and has been missing since the date of his return to society. No one is who they appear to be, and a sleepy village finds itself reopening cases long considered closed. With the assistance of his colleagues, Van Veeteren faces the prospect of taking the law into his own hands in the face of a flawed system of justice.
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"A page turner in the Chandler mode. The main investigator is largely absent due to injury for the first 2/3 of the read, hence he lacked a bit of development. This is one of a series of "An Inspecot Van Veeteren Mysteries" and I'll probably pick up a few more."
— Garland (4 out of 5 stars)
" I picked this up years ago in Stockholm because it was one of the few book I saw written by a Swede, but translated into English. I found the pacing slow, the murder unremarkable and the characters forgettable. "
— Andrew, 2/18/2014" "Journalists are like cow shit, Reinhart used to say. I'm not especially keen on the stuff as such, but I understand that it has its uses" (103). "
— Katherine, 2/9/2014" Entertaining. Quirky. Good read. A chief inspector who follows his own intuition to solve cases. Van Veeteren. The New York Times writes, "Nesser has a penetrating eye for the skull beneath the skin." "
— Mary, 2/6/2014" I enjoy the Inspector Van Veeteren series, good mystery reads. Interesting location in Sweden. Not a flashy hero, but imminently likeable. "
— Barrie, 2/2/2014" 4+ actually - one of the best so far. The dry humor is getting better & better. "
— Barbara, 1/29/2014" Not as good as previous two books in the series. Still a good read but not gripping like the last ones. I didn't really care about the murder victim and why they were investigating for so long. Seemed a little unreal. "
— Cathy, 1/29/2014" Good author; fun mystery. "
— Rob, 1/25/2014" Another excellent Swedish detective novel featuring Inspector Van Veeteren. "
— Ann, 1/19/2014" What is it with these Scandanavian crime writers? This was the second third book I've read by Nesser, and I'm enjoying his style. "
— False, 12/31/2013" I found this dull and barely managed to finish. In the "Swedish Detective Novel" genre, I greatly prefer Henning Mankell. "
— Tom, 12/13/2013" Another Nesser that I enjoyed. They are entertaining, well written, good plots, not always well edited. Some words seem to not be well translated. "
— Jacquelinelborda, 12/2/2013" (Inspector Van Veeteren Mystery, No. 3) "
— Sheila, 5/24/2013" Loved this book. I wish it was a longer read. A great murder mystery if you like reading them :) "
— Erin, 5/9/2013" Good murder mystery. I almost didn't figure it out. 3 murders, years apart -- narrative kept jumping backward & forward between 1994 and 1993, 1981, or 1962 so I did catch on pretty quick who the murder was but not what his name was. "
— Tes, 1/19/2013" I continue to enjoy these books. Things do get a bit muddled here and there but the characters grow on me. "
— Greg, 7/13/2012" I'm still enjoying the swedish crime novel. In this one, man becomes murderer b/c wife stops having sex with him. Hmmm, seems understandable, no? "
— Heyhansen, 11/27/2011" Great idea for a mystery, but I just didn't "get it". Perhaps I can blame it on the translation? "
— Pam, 11/21/2011" Probably the weakest Van Veeteran book. "
— Christa, 9/30/2011" This is a terrific book. I very much like Van Veeteren and the ending of this one is just so good. "
— Joan, 6/9/2011Håkan Nesser was awarded the 1993 Swedish Crime Writers’ Academy Prize for new authors for Mind’s Eye; he received the best novel award in 1994 for Borkmann’s Point and in 1996 for Woman with Birthmark. In 1999 he was awarded the Crime Writers of Scandanavia’s Glass Key Award for the best crime novel of the year for Carambole. Nesser lives in Sweden and London.
Simon Vance (a.k.a. Robert Whitfield) is an award-winning actor and narrator. He has earned more than fifty Earphones Awards and won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration thirteen times. He was named Booklist’s very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and has been named an AudioFile Golden Voice as well as an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009. He has narrated more than eight hundred audiobooks over almost thirty years, beginning when he was a radio newsreader for the BBC in London. He is also an actor who has appeared on both stage and television.