Category: CRIME

Defenceless in Finland

I am still in fictional Finland and having finished the book, filled with the bitter-sweet emotions one gets – the sense of achievement conflicting with the loss of being with those people who have filled my imagination this last few days.

On this occasion I was holding back tears as I had been wrapped-up in the lives of the key players in Kati’s second Anna novel:-

  • Anna Fekete,
  • Esko and
  • Sari.

We get even closer to Anna and Esko in this the sequel to The Hummingbird which I reviewed only recently. The crime threads aren’t connected so you can read them standalone I hasten to add.

Without giving anything away this is full of personal emotion for Anna and leads us on to the next one without leaving loose crime threads. At some points I did wonder if Anna would herself unravel if we pulled too hard.

On September 8, 2015 I was fortunate to be able to attend a book event at Blackwell’s in Portsmouth. Both Gunnar Staalesen and Kati Hiekkapleto were the star turns on a short tour on their way to Bloody Scotland.

The local event had been arranged by Karen Sullivan (Orenda Books) and the MC was Quentin Bates (known on social media as ‘GreyBeard;’ a local writer in his own right and also translator of note).  Both authors answered questions about their work and also gave us the honour of reading small passages from their latest.

Kati read from The Defenceless  where two girls go out into the forest to smoke purloined cigarettes and discover a crime scene.

Afterwards a small group of us went for food in a local restaurant where I was able to enjoy the company of Kati and her lovely teenage daughter. She is a fan of fantasy in the written word citing ‘Lord of the Rings’ as one of her favourite books.

I was also privileged to have both Kati’s books dedicated and also Gunnar’s We Shall Inherit the Wind.

Anyway, I had started to read The Defenceless  in earnest only that day having read a few chapters before going back to read The Hummingbird to get the back-story on our key players e.g. Anna, Esko and rest of the violent crimes unit.

I had only literally finished Anna 1 the evening before and written the review you will find on previously on this blog.

The Book of the Blog

The Defenceless 

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We start this story from the perspective of a character called Sammy, who is with us throughout the story, and his escape from his homeland from persecution and death on his journey to Finland.

As we rejoin Anna and her colleagues, the plot forks off into a number of threads; the investigation of a road traffic accident where a Hungarian girl has apparently run over and killed an old man – who is miles from home; two girls that find a blood-stained crime scene have decided to report it to the police so we now have three strands and two crimes at the beginning of a complex and twisting plot.

Anna, now a senior constable, and Sari are working on these threads. Anna’s brother isn’t helping but she manages to clear the way for him in his fight against booze and he ceases to be as much of a distraction for her. Although the Hungarian girl begins to irritate both Anna and the reader – well she did me – cropping up at the wrong moment on occasions.

Then a neighbour of the apparent road accident victim disappears; a drug dealer is found dead with serious injuries in his flat in the same building. The links between these new investigations, Sammy our refugee and the conflict between The Hells Angels and The Black Cobras gangs builds this into a taut and complex plot.

This gives Esko, working alone something to focus on as well as dealing with his boozing and smoking and their effects on his fitness and general health. But as they say every dog has his day – Esko gets some kudos in this novel after all he is a long-serving and good ‘copper’ even though he is a stereotypical racist.

Written from the perspective of a number of the characters; Sammy, Esko and of course Anna the pace of this novel is really good. The swap between their angles keeps the pace moving nicely as a small clue will be dropped and then you are inspired to read-on to find out what happens next.  Anna’s life is as usual the main thread running through this and last, with her family issues coming to a head again in this one.

In addition to the crimes and Anna’s life, we are given a microscope on the plight of an individual refugee. How they are prepared to live in desperate circumstances as opposed to being captured and killed in their own country for religious reasons as in this case or because their country was at war and they wanted to escape the horrors. It also looks at how intelligent, law abiding people are sometimes prepared to cross the line when it comes to helping others.

I love this book as I did the previous instalment. It is better I would say but different in that it isn’t a police procedural although there is crime scene investigation, the unit meetings with their boss, the autopsy scenes and the detectives at their work but in this and the other book so far it is also about the people, the social condition and their lives. Kati brings into this the seasonal changes as Anna’s exercise regime changes from jogging to skiing. Even a glimpse into the female condition is something I understand now was threaded in for a good reason.

Last but not least it is topical; it makes an important statement about what is happening in the world as I write – tens of thousands of misplaced human beings escaping from war and terror and religious fanaticism. Presenting an economic and political challenge for the leaders of both our countries and those of the wider EU community.

Whodunit?

I couldn’t possibly even start to explain the outcome of this book in a few words and anyway as you’ll now know if you read me that I don’t do SPOILERS but as I always say there are I hope enough TEASERS to inspire you to get this one and read it for yourself.  We are definitely left with a reason to want to come back to Anna, I can’t wait for Anna 3.

Credits

Humming with thrills and suspense….

It doesn’t look like my feet have touched the ground since my last blog; I now feel that I am writing from Finland…..

I am, I hasten to add writing this off the back of being given a copy of The Defenceless by the same author courtesy of Orenda Books to review. I quickly determined that for my peace of mind I needed to go back to the beginning and read The Hummingbird before getting too involved in the plot of the sequel.

I don’t regret it one bit! It’s a thrilling read and I hear the sequel is even better.  I would counsel reading books in order. 

The Book of the Blog

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In Kati’s work I’ve met yet another character at the start of a set of Nordic crime thrillers in Anna Fekete. She has already got under my skin like a lot of my other police heroes and heroines.

Anna, as we learn over time, is a Serbian-Hungarian immigrant who has lived in Finland since coming over with her family to escape the war in Yugoslavia. She is working at her first job as detective constable. She has returned to her adopted home town where her brother and their old friends live.

Instead of being tasked with the mundane she is plunged into a high-pressure environment in the violent crimes unit. The team starts investigating the murder of a jogger – shot beyond facial recognition on the forest paths in late summer.  Anna not only has to deal with the investigation – she is also a habitual jogger now reluctant to go out so she resorts to the kind of exercise I subscribe to – a cigarette and a beer!  Her brother isn’t helping her situation as he hasn’t acclimatised to Finland as well as she has.

Her new colleagues are a mixed group too; a racially-bigoted, alcoholic and chain-smoking guy to whom she is assigned as partner – he is unkind and intolerant, a woman who keeps receiving anonymous and threatening text-messages – as does Anna, and the other male on the team who doesn’t like going home as his marriage is falling apart.

There is a sub-plot which wraps around the main murder investigation about a muslim honour situation trigged by an emergency call from a teenage girl.

Then, when another jogger is shot with a similar modus operandi it gives them a clue to the fact that a serial killer is on the loose.  A love triangle is introduced into the plot amongst the suspects and hence a motive.  Anna’s own promiscuity and morals are brought into question which contrast with the ‘above and beyond’ follow-up she demonstrates against orders on the honour case!

It’s only when a third jogger is shot, do the pieces start to all come together in this gripping and exciting police procedural. This very well written narrative devotes valuable time to the cultural social and economic issues around migrants in Finland, paralleled I think today in a lot of EU countries; in fact as I was reading and am now writing the Syrian exodus is playing out across our European states and the politics is getting very interesting.

The other facet of this book that I very much like is that it reminds me of Arne Dahl’s A-Unit books, in how the narrative is seen from the perspective of some of the other key police players and not just from Anna’s side. I like multiple layers as it spreads the story and adds intrigue!

I may have also learnt some Hungarian expletives – I doubt I can pronounce them though.😜

Whodunit?

I won’t tell but there is a thrilling twist when a not so obvious culprit is charged, but you’ll have to get the book and read it because I DONT do spoilers. I like to think I do TEASERS!

By way of teaser I have the sequel The Defenceless and am already hooked. Later today I get to meet the writer. I hope she likes my review!

Credits

It was my great pleasure and honour to meet Kati in Portsmouth at Blackwell‘s on September 8 with Orenda Books on a whistle-stop tour before Gunnar Staalesen and Kati Hiekkapelto wend their way to Bloody Scotland via a UK mini-tour. Thanks to all involved for a great evening!

Nothing ever happens….

I am on my literary travels again but this time in Iceland; still, I believe considered Nordic.

I’m writing this somewhat isolated on my continuum of not going anywhere as I am advised to rest and not to drive due to my recent head injury.  I suppose therefore I feel mildly like Ari Thor does when he accepts his first police job in an isolated and close-kit community; there the similarities end as here right now as I write the sun is shining.

Doing a job in the police is not easy in any circumstances and I sympathise a little with Ari Thor as I was once a special constable in coastal Hampshire. Where I was based was literally a walk in the park compared to Siglufjördor with it’s ice, wind, mountains, perpetual nighttime and blizzards to the point of there being no way out. 

I like Ari. I had a long-distance relationship 10 years ago which didn’t work out. I had also moved for a new job which enabled me to start a new life which I am now happily enjoying but new surroundings, new people, new job and a different pace of life – these are a challenge. 

The Book of the Blog

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We first meet Ari Thor in Reykjavik when he finishes Police college and gets the opportunity to start his first job in the former Icelandic hub of herring fishing. He leaves his girlfriend behind on bad terms to take up the position where ‘nothing happens’ according to his new boss. He plans to go home at Christmas but events turn against him in this respect and in parallel with that he starts to have feelings for a local girl, with links to the cast of characters, who could be enmeshed in the investigation.

Ari finds himself trying to fit into the tight-knit community where everyone knows everyone else. Then something happens! A famous local writer is found dead after rehearsals for the local amateur dramatic society’s latest production. Which one of the group is guilty? He does feel trapped when the roads are blocked and the onset of the winters’ 24 hour nighttime closes in on him.

To add insult to injury in the town where they are now all stranded due to the weather another violent crime has been committed – a woman is found stabbed and bleeding.

I read this book some time ago with enthusiasm  in fact during a hot British summer so a stark contrast to the book’s setting.

The plot is built cleverly as there are only a few people who could have perpetrated the crimes and it all comes to a not obvious conclusion in this well written and engaging novel. I think it does make it more sinister as you never really know if he is safe walking around in the deep snow and perpetual dark. Who can he trust?

Whodunit?

As I always say you’ll have to read it yourself! I can only finish by dangling the carrot for the next instalment NightBlind which is out in late this year/early 2016. I can’t wait!

Credits

  • Nordicana 2015 where I bought the book
  • Quentin Bates the translator a writer in his own right
  • Karen Sullivan at Orenda Books
  • Ragnar Jónasson last but certainly not least for a brilliant book that had me frozen to the spot at times.
  • Goldsboro Books from whom I got a double-signed copy

A man called Wolf…

I have travelled very swiftly from Sweden to fictional Norway with my next read. If you are following me, I haven’t actually moved anywhere far as I am still at home with my feet-up, and you will know my back-story.

I won’t labour the point other than to say – I am typing again with both hands! 

The Book of the Blog

So I have now read We Shall Inherit the Wind by Gunnar Staalesen. We Shall Inherit the Wind BF AW.indd

The Plot 

Varg is a PI in the Chandler style. The story is written entirely from his perspective as he follows-up on the apparent disappearance of his girlfriend’s (Karin) friend’s husband, Mons. The book actually starts in intensive care where his girlfriend is in a coma, we are then hooked into the what happened and what will be the outcome.

The plot then rewinds to the case. The plot sees Varg travel to and from a remote, picturesque, bleak, rugged, wild, run-down and fictional coastal region of Norway in search of the missing man. Varg’s motive is to dig into where the storyline is primarily set near the site of a disputed potential wind-farm. It is while he is there that the plot explodes in dramatic circumstances.

In the course of his digging, Varg meets Mon’s two grown-up children from his first-wife. These now adult children are on opposing sides of the dispute.

From there he starts to unwind a ‘cold-case’ involving the man’s first wife’s disappearance – apparently by drowning many years ago. He gets entangled, as the plot develops, with the business interests that want (or do they?) the wind-farm to be built, the eco-terrorists, local religious fanatics, curtain twitching local gossip-mongers, local ex-police and current Bergen police. Varg is known to the Bergen police by reputation as at one point as they finish talking one of them says “catch you later Varg” which I found amusing in the darkness of this very good Nordic-noir novel.

I enjoyed how the tensions between on one-hand the unearthed family conflicts, the past and present are entwined and the ecological and layered economical conflicts; I am intrigued to read more about Varg and probably need to get some more books from Staalesen. I think my fiancee may hit the roof when I next get back from a book-shop as the pile will yet again grow quicker than I can reduce it.

I found the style different from my other recent reads but when I look back on the other authors I’ve read Mankell and Nesbo most of their work is written from the main character’s perspective so not a difficult transition.

The story does achieve closure on all fronts; there are clues to the culprits if you look for them – whodunnit? – I won’t say other than to highly recommend the book. Please read it and then you’ll find out.

Credits

My literary flight from Malmo to Bergen comes courtesy of Karen Sullivan at Orenda Books. My thanks for the opportunity to discover a writer of great pedigree of who, prior to this, I had not heard of.

Gunnar’s fame in his native Norway is legendary – as you will see from the link there are twelve films about the ‘Wolf’ in the stories Varg Veum.

It was my great pleasure and honour to meet Gunnar in Portsmouth at Blackwell‘s on September 8 with Orenda Books on a whistle-stop tour before he and Kati Hiekkapelto wend their way to Bloody Scotland via a UK mini-tour. Thanks to all involved for a great evening!

I am now reading The Defenceless by Kati Hiekkapelto and will be writing about that in due course.

The Art of Murder….

In complete contrast to my last blog, unfortunately, I’ve had much too much time to read this week. I had a fall two weeks ago which resulted in a bang on the head. What I thought was a 4 day hangover from an enjoyable final evening on a short cruise, now turns out to be a minor bleed on my right brain.

I don’t want sympathy but it’s meant I’ve been able to concentrate on reading in the peace and quiet of a waiting room in one of our wonderful hospitals. This unfortunate injury does however mean that sporadically I have a loss of feeling in my left arm and reduced minor motor function; those things that become second nature, and we take for granted, what we call ‘muscle-memory.’ Those actions have had to become more deliberate this week. A visit to hospital on Monday August 17, gave me an extended opportunity to read so I finished the subject of this blog ahead of time. Then on Tuesday, August 18 at home I read the last 100 or so pages of “Murder” and collected my thoughts for my blog.

In fact I am dictating most of my blog this time. This is because it would take me hours to do this with my left-hand being frequently useless at present; my consequent frustration would lead me very quickly to give up. I am quite impressed by how clever it is and despite my strong regional accent my MacBook hasn’t needed any tuition. I should warn you now if you haven’t read ‘Meet Me..’ Then you should, but also do not read this blog. Spoiler alert!!

Torquil Macleod

The book of the Blog
Somewhat like me, Anita is down on her luck.

She’s been on ‘sick leave’ due to the last case and shooting the wrong man.

The right-guy who she fell in love with in ‘Meet Me’ is now in prison as the murderer from that book. She’s in conflict; his appeal keeps drawing her back to his prison which if found out could end her career.

Her nemesis, Westermark, knows this and tries to use it against her continuing to prey on her as he does with most women. He sees her as a sexual conquest and has power over her as a result of her apparent blindness on the previous case.

He meanwhile is in the ascendancy along with Moberg the overbearing and sexist boss who have claimed the credit for Ewan being locked up.

Anita like my other police heroes, has baggage. Her son, Lasse, away at University now has a girlfriend with whom he wants to spend the midsummer. This leaves Anita feeling very lonely. To add insult to injury her sidekick from ‘Meet Me’ has gone to Stockholm and she has a new trainee called Hakim whose parents are immigrants from Iraq.

When she returns, due to her failure, Moberg excludes her from the murder case, leaving her to work on two pieces of art theft, painted coincidently by the father of her childhood friend, Karin. The plot thickens when another art theft is perpetrated but the owner murdered in a bloody way.

With these two threads of crime, Moberg has another problem, someone is shooting immigrants.

Anita finds a tenuous but important link in the art crime thread as two other people from the Ad agency are also murdered. Hakim, finds a link between the murder victims. There are references to Wallander and Krister Henriksson in the text an homage to Henning Mankel in my view. Ystad is not far away and their force are involved in the police work.

Westermark’s weaknesses lead him astray and true to form he responds to flattery which puts Anita and Hakim in mortal danger.

There are obvious clues, red herrings and multiple layers to this excellent, police procedural. MacLeod sets the pace, builds the tension and weaves a complex plot to great conclusion finishing on the last page! I also like the social comment in the text as it highlights a current problem in Calais. There are historical and political references that play within the main theme too!

A well constructed and thoroughly enjoyable read with a surprising outcome of the crimes but if you’re concentrating early-on you get a good clue to a possible perpetrator of one of the murders.

Whodunnit?
You’ll have to read it. Excellent; page-turning and engaging! your turn.

Credits/Acknowledgements
McNidder & Grace @McNidderGrace for the pleasure and honour to be part of the Blog Tour. Thank you Linda.
Mr Macleod for writing great stories for me to read and write about.
QAH Portsmouth ‘AMU’ for their lovely care and coffee trolley!

Meet me in crime land somewhere north of Germany..

I’ve been, it feels, locked in a windowless office in the south of the Netherlands for the last four days in meetings with no sunlight. It could have been winter in northern Sweden!

My business trips get in the way of reading and writing. By the time the flip-chart pad has been scribbled on; the whiteboard (can you say that?) drawn-on, photographed and wiped and my fingers are covered in dabs of coloured marker — looks down at shirt to see if he’s ruined another one — and I’ve killed my colleagues with yet another presentation my brain is too exhausted to read.

My preference at this point is to retire to the hotel bar, the restaurant and then my room, switch on the TV to find something easy to watch. I still find crime as choice one! On Monday, I ate dinner with colleagues; Tuesday evening after dinner with a colleague I found ‘Lewis’ and his trusty side-kick solving a crime in the beautiful settings in and around Oxford. On Wednesday evening I found ‘Silent Witness’. One of the UK’s better answers – if not the only one to the US CSI franchise and in fact a forerunner. I don’t, I hesitate to state, raise any comparison between the two. The role the local CSIs play has a very English feel and is a far more relaxed in the build-up and I could say on contradiction more tension built. All of these shows this week in English with Dutch sub-titles on NED-3.

The Book Of the Blog 

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Why make excuses? Because I am currently reading Meet me in Malmo by Torquil MacLeod. Set in Malmö in Sweden featuring a Scots journalist sent to do a piece on his old university buddy’s life as a now famous ‘Geordie’ Swedish film director. The police element comes from the attractive, blonde, divorced, female inspector who is under pressure to find the murderer of Mick‘s (the director) reluctant star and actress wife. Ewan the Scots ‘hack’ finds her body so gets entangled in the web of intrigue being unwound by Anita. Another dimension to the story comes from her Anita‘s boss, an overweight and overbearing chauvinist ‘copper’ who wants to string-up the first suspect on circumstantial evidence. The plot has developed nicely and we learn about our heroine’s back-story. I am looking forward to an exciting climax as there are only a few other key players in this clever plot.

The question remains as always.  “Whodunit”? I hope to finish this excellent novel over the weekend as my relaxation and find out the answers to those inevitable questions in the crime genre;  ‘Why, Who did do it,’ and ‘will or won’t they get away with it? Add that to the pleasure of finding out I’ll be adding another to my 2015 book count. The bonus is I won’t have to wait long for the follow-up as I believe a copy of Torquil MacLeod‘s next instalment and Anita’s next case Murder in Malmo is winging its way in hard copy to my letterbox. Unlike some Nordic Noir authors (nameless) whose books in English I have caught up and wait impatiently for the next translation. You know who you are if you ever read this!

“Meet me in Malmo” engaged me in the people and the places; it makes me feel like I am in Malmo and I am starting to sympathise with the main characters and if the journo Ewan will still be part of the next one and more entangled with Anita than the investigation he is caught up in!

Background

As this is my first real blog on what I am reading I suppose a little back story would assist to try to give me some street-cred in your eyes; I am in my 50s I have always aspired to write but never have (or make) the time. I have however read a lot — predominantly crime; a lot of espionage and sci- fi along side general novels. I have some favourite authors – Jo Nesbo; John Le Carre; Henning Mankel; Arne Dahl; Iain Banks; Asimov; Charles Cumming and Edward Wilson. There are others where I’ve read a single book – Graeme Greene’s ‘Our Man in Havana’. In most of the books I have read there is one character that grabs me and I want to know more about them it helps my passion so I like books with characters who ‘star’ in the books Kurt Wallander; Harry Hole; George Smiley; Catesby! So my latest find is Anita Sundström – there are other heroes in the crime genre (homage to a BBC line used in reference to brand naming). I’ll write about them in future blogs if you like this then thank you! If you don’t we are all entitled to our opinion!

Enjoy reading, it has to be one of the last and most inexpensive pastimes that allows me to escape from reality and so far unknown to me anyway no medical expert has said it is detrimental to my health! Until next time.