20 Great International Mysteries, February 2012

Hakan Nesser has won the Crime Writers of Scandinavia’s Glass Key Award for the best crime novel of the year for his previous novel Carambole.   The Inspector and the Silence is the fifth in the Inspector Van Veeteren series. The inspector is called to investigate the brutal rape and murder of a young girl at the Pure Life Camp. Pure Life is a religious sect lead by a messiah like leader once imprisoned for inappropriate sexual behavior. Following a series of anonymous tips from an unidentified woman, the inspector goes to investigate. The investigation becomes strained and frustrating when the staffers refuse to answer any of his questions and a few of them just stop speaking at all choosing to remain silent rather than defend themselves. But when the crimes become increasingly more horrifying, the inspector must try to illicit information from the silence. Those who like police procedurals will be rewarded with a protagonist who is a capable and at times a sarcastic investigator. Readers do not need to have read the first installment to enjoy these books.