The first book in Swedish author Viveca Sten’s enormously popular Sandhamn Murders series.On a hot July morning on Sweden’s idyllic vacation island of Sandhamn, a man takes his dog for a walk and makes a gruesome discovery: a body, tangled in fishing net, has washed ashore.Police detective Thomas Andreasson is the first to arrive on the scene. Before long, he has identified the deceased as … identified the deceased as Krister Berggren, a bachelor from the mainland who has been missing for months. All signs point to an accident—until another brutalized corpse is found at the local bed-and-breakfast. But this time it is Berggren’s cousin, whom Thomas interviewed in Stockholm just days before.
As the island’s residents reel from the news, Thomas turns to his childhood friend, local lawyer Nora Linde. Together, they attempt to unravel the riddles left behind by these two mysterious outsiders—while trying to make sense of the difficult twists their own lives have taken since the shared summer days of their youth.
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Police detective Thomas Andreasson is readying himself to start his summer holidays at his small summer house in the Sandhamn islands off the Swedish coastline where he grew up. What at first looks like a drowning accident – or possible suicide, though there’s no evidence to support that – quickly drags Thomas deeper when the victim’s only living relative, a cousin he was particularly close to, also is found dead shortly afterwards under mysterious circumstances. Thomas seeks help from his childhood friend and local lawyer Nora Linde and together the two of them try to uncover what turns into a convoluted and difficult mystery.
I often enjoy Scandinavian based crime stories and this one in particular really appealed to me. While much of the Scandi-crime I have previously read is slightly darker in tone and setting than other British or American based crime fiction, this book was delightfully more verbally colourful and lighter. Set at the height of summer I found it a refreshing and totally different landscape even though the murder mystery was a stark contrast to the lighter tone of the beach-going summer holiday makers.
I found the mystery in particular a little slow to begin moving. Readers who prefer a faster paced – or action-driven – style of novel might find this a little slow or plodding for their tastes, but personally I really appreciated the time to get to know Thomas and Nora’s characters a bit better and really enjoy the local island/beach going setting which was completely different from what I was expecting. I found being eased into this and also having a slower introduction to Thomas and Nora, their childhood connections and friendship as well as the different twists and turns each of their lives had taken as they had grown up and both married and started their own families – a slightly slower pace for the mystery plotline really appealed to me and made a lot more sense, rather than some bang-bang-bang hard driving murder mystery action pace.
I was also really impressed that the author didn’t hint or indicate in any manner that Nora and Thomas were anything other than long-standing and completely platonic friends. This is the first book in a series though and I completely accept this might change down the track, but for now I found it really refreshing and quite wonderful that Nora and Thomas are simply friends who share a long-standing history and they’re each perfectly content to keep it like that. I found this lovely and noteworthy.
The murder mystery, once it gets cracking, was really well written and I feel those who like police-procedural style of crime novels should find this fits the bill really well. I am really glad I gave this Swedish crime novel a chance and am eager to read the next in the series. Recommended.
Loved the characters, well written!
Viveca Sten is a Swedish author whose novels are set in the tiny community of Sandhamn Sweden, close to Stockholm. I have now read Still Waters, Guiltless, and Closed Circles. I enjoyed them all. Her novels are not action-packed thrillers but are really well written good mystery stories with great characters. Cheers Lynda L. Lock (Isla Mujeres Mystery series).
This was a great start – to the Sandhamn series – set in a location I’m interested in. Clear and interesting writing, fine characters, a satisfying mystery-thriller. I enjoyed it and will continue reading this series.
There is something about these Sandhamm Mystery novels that make me miss the characters as soon as I finish the book. I want to visit Sandhamm Island in Sweden, meet these people, watch them interact with each other and just be part of their lives. It is a wonderful setting, has characters you care about, and beautiful writing.
I usually look for historical fiction when I visit a new place. But during a recent sailing trip among the spectacular Swedish skerries, the only novel I found with a local setting in the bookshop of the picturesque island of Sandhamn was a contemporary murder mystery. It took me only a few days to devour it.
Detective Inspector Thomas Andreasson has become a bit of a workaholic with not much of a social life after his baby daughter died and his marriage fell apart. But when a corpse is washed up on the island adjacent to where he has his holiday cottage, he has to postpone his summer holiday and start investigating. In the next few weeks he will make countless two-hour ferry trips from Stockholm to Sandhamn and back, which give him the chance to catch up on his young godson Simon Linde, whose mother Nora has been a good friend since his youth.
With the help of the pretty Chief Inspector’s daughter Carina, Thomas identifies the victim and contacts his only known relative, a cousin who has just returned from several months on the Greek island of Kos. To everyone’s horror, this woman is soon found gruesomely murdered on Sandhamn. Both cousins had been living rather miserable lives and neither a connection between their deaths nor a possible motive is evident.
Soon another body is found by Nora floating in an idyllic bay and the plot thickens. Disagreement between Nora and her husband over a potential new job and a growing attraction for Thomas on Carina’s part introduce well-developed interpersonal relationships. The suggestion of a black market of stolen alcohol leads the police to suspect a rich landowner on the island. But the final dramatic denouement takes us all by surprise.
This book is a captivating read with rich characters and a flowing style, without the need to revert to explicit sex and violence. It’s not surprising that Viveca Sten has made this the first of many successful Sandhamn Murder mysteries.
Though it was hard to read at first because of the names of everything and everyone being so foreign, I quickly got engrossed in a good story line. There was mystery, relationships, and local color. The story moves fast and as I got farther into the book, it was hard to leave it. I just had to know what happened. It’s a good stand alone book, but I still can’t wait to read book two.
Just returned from tour of Scandinavian capitals. This series made me feel I was right back in Stockholm. Great books.
Reading this was like sailing in the round the islands race in Hawaii. Keep the jib taut and stay awake!! Fair winds and following seas sailors!!
Pretty good read for the most part. A little wordy at times. Thought Nora should dump Hendrik, but that was just me.
Lots of info about Sweden, it’s islands, ferries, etc. Suspected killer pretty early on, but then thought, maybe not.
I originally wanted to try these books because they are set in Sweden and I am of Swedish decent and have been there a couple of times and have family who vacation on the archipelago. What I got were beautiful intense unputdownable stories. I know this isn’t much of a review except to say this series is wonderful and I can’t wait till they translate the rest of her books.
I learned about the archipelagos off the coast of Sweden and found the book to be well written and entertaining.
Review This book was written by a Swedish author and later translated in to English. I liked the book but it is very long on the descriptions of the detectives thought processes. I found myself skip reading over parts. I really wanted to find out how it ended but didn’t read every word. I just found out that this series was made into a TV series. I will have to look into it because this shorten down would be a great show.