Publishing year: 2006
I am glad to start reading a new mystery for Patrik Hedstrom.
At the beginning of this book we get to know the new police officer, a woman called Hanna Kruse. She comes to replace the nasty policeman who kept trying to boycott Patrik all the time. Hanna is attractive, but I hope that doesn’t mean anything to Patrik. What is interesting is that he notices there is something weird with her. First, she doesn’t mince words when she expresses her wish to go for a leading position, and then her coy looks seem to hide something.
Patrik and Hanna are called to check a crashed car which as a result a woman has died. When they get there, it seems that it is a straightforward case as Hanna can smell the alcohol in the woman, and they find a bottle of vodka on the floor of the car. Patrik knows the woman from town; her name is Marit and she has a shop. Despite the apparent uncomplicated case, Patrik feels that there is something strange. I wonder what it is.
We learn later that Marit is in a relationship with Kerstin, and the night before they had a fight because Kerstin wanted them to get out of the closet, but Marit was against it. They pretended to be just flatmates, but Kerstin wanted a normal life as a couple. Marit was worried because she has a teenage daughter, and she was afraid that Sofie would have a hard time if their relationship was made public. The argument was very intense, and in the end Kerstin just told Marit to go and never to return. Kerstin has been awake all night, worried about Marit and wondering where she is. When she learns that her lover is dead, she will feel devastated as she will think that their last moment together was one of fury and recriminations.
Apart from this, in a nearby town there is a rich man Erling Lavson, who has allowed a television to set a popular TV show in his fine house. He thinks that will be good for him and for the town, but there are some people who are against it. The reality show is about teenagers, and one of them is Jonna, who has big problems as she cuts herself, and this makes her popular as some other young people feel like she does.
As for Erika, once again she is busy and overwhelmed. In the last novel she agreed to marry Patrik, and then she learnt that her sister had killed her husband. Now Erika is busy with wedding arrangements, but she also has her hands full as her sister has come to live with her and Patrik, and Anna’s children are there too. We don’t know what has happened to Anna about the murder charge, but in the brief chapter I have read, Anna spends her days locked away in the bedroom, so Erika has to look after not only her own daughter, but also her nephew and niece.
Another subplot involves Bertil Mellberg, Patrik’s boss. In the last novel he was fretting about the fifteen-year-old son that he has learnt he had. The relationship between them wasn’t too smooth, and the boy returned to his mother in the end. Yet, now we learn that they still see each other from time to time. What is interesting about Mellberg now is that he has met someone at a barn dance, and he thinks he is in love. Her name is Rose Marie, and he admits he has never felt this way before, but the truth is that they have only just met, so I don’t know if Mellberg is just deluding himself or if he really loves this woman.
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