Hakan Nesser is one of Sweden's most popular crime writers, receiving numerous awards for his novels featuring Inspector Van Veeteren, including the European Crime Fiction Star Award (Ripper Award) 2010/11, the Swedish Crime Writers' Academy Prize (three times) and Scandinavia's Glass Key Award. The Van Veeteren series is published in over 25 countries and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide. Hakan Nesser lives in Gotland with his wife, and spends part of each year in the UK. Available from Hakan Nesser: Borkmann's Point, The Return, The Mind's Eye, The Inspector and Silence, The Unlucky Lottery

About the Author

Hakan Nesser was born in 1950 and is one of Sweden's most popular crime writers, receiving numerous awards for his novels featuring commissioner Van Veeteren. He started writing while working as a teacher. Hakan Nesser lives in Uppsala with his wife and two sons.

Reviews

World-weariness in a detective is well and good--but what if it ends up costing innocent victims their lives? That's the predicament in which Detective Chief Inspector Van Veeteren finds himself in this moodily affecting mystery, the first to appear in Nesser's native Sweden but the third to be published in the U.S. (after The Return and Borkmann's Point). Though the melancholy cop suspects accused killer Janek Mitter is innocent of drowning his new bride during an alcoholic blackout, Van Veeteren opts to focus on such more personally compelling matters as his own ruptured marriage and to let the judicial process run its course--until a second, truly shocking murder boots him and the book into high gear. The suspense intensifies as it becomes apparent that the initial killing was no garden-variety domestic drama but part of a bloody tapestry worthy of Greek tragedy. Even if you guess the book's final twist a bit early, this is a hauntingly powerful tale you won't soon forget. (June) Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

One of the best of the Nordic Noir writers. * Guardian *
The godfather of Swedish crime. * Metro *
One of Sweden's best crime writers. * Mail on Sunday *
A master of suspense. * Sunday Times *

When the convicted perpetrator of a drunken murder is also cut down, the Swedish inspector discovers something afoul in this precursor to the Van Veeteren series (The Return; Borkmann's Point), available for the first time in English. Award winner Nesser lives in Sweden and New York. Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.