I picked this up from the library in my foray for some new authors to read.  This is the first in a translated to English from Swedish series.

Anyway, I really liked Inspector Van Veeteren or maybe I just identified with him.  He is kept on the job simply because he is really good at what he does.  He is not there out of any particular passion for it or a drive to succeed.  He is like a dog with bone, when things don’t seem to jive with the case, he just keeps working at it.  Uncovering clue after clue and following them up.

I love atmospheric mysteries like this one.  The dark mood really immerses me in the story.  The husband accused of the crime and seemingly unwilling or unable to help himself is a very different character than one usually encounters and his lawyer seems almost a touch humorous with his obvious frustration with his client.

The book was a very quick and easy read and was not really that graphic.  We get descriptions of the crime scene(s) and the beginning of an attack, but no excessive gore or violence.  The plot ties together a series of tragedies in the end very neatly.

My only issue with the book was that I knew very early on who the killer was and what had happened. I don’t want to give a spoiler here so I can’t really discuss how, other than to say I spent my middle school years reading a very trashy series of novels (which are once again popular now for some reason) that sort of ran along these lines.

Overall, I will read more of Inspector Van Veeteren’s investigations as they come available.