Torquil Macleod

Murder in Malmo

Detective Anita Sundstrum
Setting      Malmo
Time         2008/09
Genre       Scandi Noire

This is the second of the Anita Sundstrum, Malmo, novels. Sundstrum is returning to work after the controversy which concluded the first book and she finds herself sidelined to dealing with an art theft whilst the rest of the detectives concentrate on the murder by gassing of an advertising executive. It is not until a third murder that the plots start to come together and Sunstrom is reconciled to the main action. At the same time there is a rogue gunman randomly killing members of the Malmo immigrant community. As in other Sedish novels the rise of racist reaction to immigration is an aspect of the plot.  The plot develops well as information is skilfully revealed and there are some well crated twists.

In terms of backplot, Sundstrom is still drawn emotionally to the killer she arrested at the end of the first novel and she still has to handle the advances of a sexist and slimy colleague and professional rival.

A
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Meet me in Malmo

Torquil MacLeod

Meet me in Malmo

Detective: Anita Sundstrum
Time:       2008
Setting    Malmo, Sweden
Genre:    Scandi Noir

This is heralded as the first in the Detective Inspector Anita Sundstrum series. An English journalist arrives in Malmo to interview a university contemporary who is now a Swedish celebrity only to walk into his flat to find the film star wife murdered. Until the discovery of the body the pace is slow but it speeds up after this. There are a number of possible leads until the crime is solved and there is a final last page twist. 

Sundstrum is part of a team of detectives with differing personalities, including the almost inevitable over-bearing boss although he can be supportive  of Sundstrum's insights and pursuit of her own theories.

A promising start to the sequence

A

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