DEAD JOKER is the final (at least for now) installment in the Hanne Wilhelmsen series to appear in the US. The books have seen publication markedly out of the series’ chronological order, an occurrence that has been disappointing but certainly not fatally so. Interestingly enough, I came away from this book feeling as if it was the best of the lot, not only for the tantalizing mystery it presents but also for the changes that author Anne Holt puts her characters through. It’s a winner from beginning to end.

One must keep in mind when reading DEAD JOKER that it was originally published in 1999, which, though less than 20 years ago, seems like ancient history. At one point, an important revelation occurs because of the discovery in an apartment of an internet “dial-up” line. “Dial-up”? Oh, the humanity. It occurred to me that there are some readers who will have to ask their older siblings or parents what that was. At least cell phones were rapidly becoming a necessity by that point, though all you could do was talk on them. Still, it is the twin tracks of character development and plot that carry the day here.

"I came away from this book feeling as if it was the best of the lot, not only for the tantalizing mystery it presents but also for the changes that author Anne Holt puts her characters through."

DEAD JOKER begins appropriately enough with a murder. The victim is the wife of Sigurd Halvorsrud, Oslo’s chief public prosecutor, and she has been killed in her home in a particularly traditional but nonetheless gruesome manner. Halvorsrud is covered in her blood at the scene and claims to have witnessed the killing. He also alleges that he knows who the murderer is: Ståle Salvesen, a one-time public figure who experienced a fall from grace. The problem is that an eyewitness claims that Salvesen committed suicide before the murder occurred.

Wilhelmsen and her colleague and friend, Billy T., arrest Halvorsrud and charge him with his wife’s murder, and subsequent events and discoveries add to the growing pile of evidence that he did indeed kill his wife. When a second similar murder occurs while Halvorsrud is out of detention, it seems to further solidify the case against him. And yet, Wilhelmsen is not entirely convinced that they have the right person in custody. Meanwhile, Wilhelmsen is undergoing a personal crisis --- one that she compounds with an error in judgment --- that reverberates into future (already published) books in the series. The answer to the mystery is a complex one, but Holt’s surefooted prose --- aided by Ann Bruce’s translation --- tugs the reader through the details, which add to the story rather than distract.

It is a blessing to have this series complete at long last for American readers. There may be more coming, and Holt has another series as well as some stand-alone novels that have yet to be published in the States. Hopefully we will see those in the future. In the meantime, feast on DEAD JOKER.