Anne Holt

Death of the Demon

Detective: Hanne Wilhelmsen
Setting:      Oslo
Time:        Mid 1990's
Genre       Scandi Noir

This is the third of the Hanne Wilhelmsen series, set just after Wilhelmsen has been appointed aDetective Inspector.

The crime involves the murder, one evening, at her workplace of the manager of a children's home. the possible suspects include a lover who has been defrauding her bank account, a colleague who has been fiddling the books, a husband who could benefit from a change in her will and a 12 year old boy with an  ADHD problem (defined as MBD in the book) who has gone missing from the home.

The investigation is paralleled by a developing account, set in italics, of the mother's experience with her son and the attempts to get the social services agencies to support her rather than place him in the home.

It seems a dead end case but the pieces come together  with a twist to reveal the murderer and with a final twist in the mother's story about a key piece of evidence.

The back story concerns the challenges facing Wilhelmsen in managing a case after her promotion and her continuing nervousness about colleagues knowing about her long standing lesbian  partnership.

A+

Wikipedia background to Ann Holt

Previously read
Blind Goddess (1)
Blessed are thos who thirst (2)
1222 (8)