The Unlucky Lottery by Hakan Nesser

The Unlucky Lottery

Hakan Nesser

The brightest detectives on a Swedish force are all absent. But pensioners are being murdered and their dispirited colleagues don't know who's killing them or why. One of a series I hadn't read before, this book stands alone as an example of Nordic crime and a challenging puzzle. It starts from a slow burn, but once the pace picks up the story twists to a surprising conclusion. The police don't come close to the truth - will you?

Extract
'The truth?' she said slowly and thoughfully, turning her head and apparently directing her attention at the sky and the landscape. 'You don't know what you're talking about. Why should anybody go digging after something which is ugly and repulsive? If the truth were a beautiful pearl, then yes, I could understand why anybody should want to go hunting after it; but as it is ... well, why not let it lie hidden, if somebody is managing to hide it so well?'
Parallels
  • Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason
  • Any book by Henning Mankell