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Mystery author #48: Camilla Läckberg

The first book in this Swedish series, The Ice Princess, was published in English earlier this year, and according to Amazon.co.uk, this one will be published (in hardcover) in February 2009, under the title The Preacher.

Icelandic title: Prédikarinn
Original Swedish title: Predikanten
Series detective: Patrik Hedström (assisted by his colleagues and his girlfriend, writer Erica Falck)
No. in series: 2
Year of publication: 2003
Type of mystery: Murder
Type of investigator: Police
Setting & time: Fjällbacka, Sweden, contemporary

Story:
The corpse of a young woman is found in a ravine in the small Swedish town of Fjällbacka and beneath the body lie two skeletons of young women who had disappeared more than 2 decades earlier. All three had been tortured in similar ways before dying of strangulation, so everything points to the same killer. Patrik Hedström of the local police heads the investigation while his heavily pregnant girlfriend deals with invasions of visitors seeking to stay in their house (Fjällbacka is a popular summer resort), and a local family seethes with passion and resentment as old wounds are opened up by the discovery of the bodies.

Review:
Wow! This mystery totally blew me away. Not only is it excellently written (and well translated), but also beautifully plotted and none of the characters, however insignificant, is a stereotype. I don’t often read a book in one sitting, but I did this one and even found myself skimming the occasional passage in order to get to the resolution faster. I can’t wait to read the other books in the series. As others feel the same, I may have to go on a waiting list at the library to get the other two that have been translated into Icelandic, or I may just go out and buy them.

Rating: A fantastic mystery/thriller. Highly recommended. 5 stars.
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Comments

Anonymous said…
I very much enjoyed this book, too. (Though I thought the romance a bit unrealistic.) I'm looking forward to the next.

The film of Jar City has finally opened in the UK, so I'm looking forward to that, too. (subtitles).

I read your blog in RSS so have only just noticed your "new" (?) look. Very nice.
October 04, 2008 5:06 pm
Bibliophile said…
Thank you, Maxine.

Do go and see the film. It's very good.
October 07, 2008 1:03 pm
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