Review: SUMMERTIME DEATH, Mons Kallentoft

• this edition published 2012 (originally published in Swedish 2008) by Hodder & Stoughton
• translated into English by Neil Smith
• ISBN 978-1-444-72156-0
• 486 pages
• #2 in the Malin Fors series

Synopsis (Amazon)

In this chilling crime novel starring the elusive, tough-as-nails Swedish police superintendent Malin Fors, a combustive summer turns deadly.

IN THE ACCLAIMED MALIN FORS SERIES, EVERY SEASON IS PERFECT FOR MURDER.

The tiny town that Detective Malin Fors calls home is plagued by a sweltering heat wave and resulting raging forest fires. It is the hottest summer anyone can recall, and it’s about to become the most violent and grim, too. A teenage girl is found naked and bleeding in a city park, without any recollection of what has happened to her. Next, another grisly discovery is made on a lakeside beach, and the whole town is on edge. A serial killer walks among them, and while the families of Linköping withdraw to protect their young, Malin must uncover the secrets behind these crimes, potentially putting herself and her own family at risk in the process.

My Take

This novel was a little more noir, even grisly, than my normal choice of reading.

Having just survived a hot spell here, I could empathise with the skeleton investigation team which takes on the first case. The victim has amnesia so has no clue as to what has happened to her., and the team really has nothing to work on. Her parents have only just discovered she is missing.

Malin Fors' mind is distracted by the fact that her daughter Tove, approximately the same age as the first victims, has gone on a holiday to Bali with her father.

The central theme of the story is the relationship between fathers and their daughters.

Those who like a bit of paranormal in their crime fiction will undoubtedly like this book berrter than I did. The victims' voices, italicised, provide a commentary on the investigation, and that really stretched the bounds of credibility for me. So, just at the moment I probably won't be looking for #3.

My rating: 4.3

I've also read 4.3, MIDWINTER SACRIFICE

Review: MIDWINTER SACRIFICE, Mons Kallentoft

• published Hodder & Stoughton 2011
• Translated from Swedish by Neil Smith
• aka MIDWINTER BLOOD
• ISBN 978-1-444-72150-8
• 440 pages
• Source: my local library
• #1 in the Malin Fors series

Synopsis (Amazon)

'An investigation consists of a mass of voices, the sort you can hear, and the sort you can't. You have to listen to the soundless voices, Malin. That's where the truth is hidden.'

Early one morning in the coldest winter in Swedish memory, police detective Malin Fors is called away from the warm flat she shares with her teenage daughter. The naked body of a man has been found hanging from a tree on the deserted, frozen plain outside the town of Linköping.

From the outset Malin is confronted with a host of unanswered questions: Who is the dead man? How did he end up in a tree? And where did the strange wounds on his body come from?

Malin and her team must search for the truth in a community that seems determined to keep its secrets, and follow in the frigid wake of a killer to the darkest corners of the human heart.

My Take

MIDWINTER SACRIFICE is essentially a Swedish police procedural set in area of Linköping where the author grew up. The discovery of a frozen body hanging in a tree is the start of an investigation which grinds to a baffling halt about mid-book, despite the early identification of the victim.

The investigation does reveal that the victim was a suspect in a rape case from about three years earlier when a social worker was viciously assaulted. What it cannot tell Malin Fors and her partner Zeke Martinsson is what is behind this particular killing. Is it "just" murder or are there some links to mid-winter rituals?

There are a number of background stories as one would expect in the first novel in a series where the author is establishing the main characters but I have to agree with other reviewers who have said this book is far too long.

There is also a paranormal element that I really didn't think achieved much except as a sort of overview of what happened to the murder victim and a predictor of events to come. It does give us clues about who is responsible for the crime.

The author chooses to leave one crime unsolved although both the reader and Malin Fors would think they have enough evidence to know who the perpetrator is.

The series continues in a "seasonal" fashion, rather along the lines of Ann Cleeves' Shetland Quartet, which also began with a winter murder.

My rating: 4.3

Other reviews

• EuroCrime: Michelle Peckham
• EuroCrime: Maxine Clarke

From the author's site
In 2007, Midvinterblod (Midwinter Sacrifice/Midwinter Blood) - his fourth novel and first venture into crime fiction - was published to great acclaim and quickly became one of the bestselling books in Sweden. His second book about police inspector Malin Fors, Sommardöden (Summertime Death) was published in May 2008 and was followed by Höstoffer (Autumn Killing) in May 2009, Vårlik (Savage Spring) in May 2010 and Den femte årstiden (The fifth season) in June 2011. The latest book about Malin Fors is called Vattenänglar (Water Angels) and was published in August 2012.