Earlier this fall I dived deeply into Scandinavian crime fiction. We are talking a bit beyond the Steig Larsson Millennium series. (Although those were good too.)
Camilla Lackberg has been labeled the next Swedish crime queen. (You'll find out she is not the only one who has been labeled thusly!) The Ice Princess starts out a bit gruesome with a shocker and gets better. She sets her story in a tiny village (which gave her some comparisons to Agatha C.) with her heroine - Erica - coming back to town after the deaths of her parents. One of her former schoolmates Alex dies - was it a suicide? - no - it was murder. But Alex was the local glamour girl who had everything - looks, wealth, and position. But as Erica starts to write about her, she soon uncovers that everything is not as it appears to be. And her memories of a good childhood are being tested by the realization that others in her classroom had been in hell. The secondary story of her classmate Patrik, who happens to be the police detective investigating the case, and how their work collides and their relationship blossoms, adds a depth and a warmth to the story. A great story of uncovering the evil that lies beneath... A good read.
Asa Larsson writes about the area of Sweden that sits above the Arctic circle in the book Sun Storm. Her heroine Rebecka is called back to her hometown, Kiruna, when she learns that the leader of the town's largest revivalist church has been murdered. Now a tax attorney, she was once a member of that church community, and we learn more about Rebecka's past through flashbacks and the villagers who still remember her. Was it the jealous religious elders who killed their leader? Was it an outsider? The church has made the community wealthy. Where is all the money going? Rebecka finds herself taking care of the leader's sister who seems helpless, or is she just manipulative? Rebecka is a great character who Larsson allows us to see in bits and pieces. As she asks the questions, she makes others very nervous. A good read. I'm looking forward to seeing how Larsson continues Rebecka's story in the next book.
