It really doesn’t get any better than the Inspector Konrad Sejer series. Author Karin Fossum may be called the Queen of Crime in her native Norway, but the depth and breadth of these books overflow the mystery/thriller genres and move out beyond. The primary reason is Fossum’s solid and canny characterization. Sejer, an Oslo, Norway police inspector, is quiet, well-mannered and caring. He is also doggedly determined to speak on behalf of the dead and see that justice is done.

One almost forgets that Sejer is a fictional character, so when he has troubles such as those that occur in this latest installment, one feels honest concern. That is a tough trick for an author to pull off, but Fossum does so with an aplomb that is captured perfectly in translation by Kari Dickson. The addition of a complex moral issue makes THE DROWNED BOY a book that simply cannot be missed.

"One almost forgets that Sejer is a fictional character, so when he has troubles such as those that occur in this latest installment, one feels honest concern. That is a tough trick for an author to pull off, but Fossum does so with an aplomb that is captured perfectly in translation by Kari Dickson."

The novel is hardly complex from a plot standpoint, though. There is a primary mystery and a secondary concern. The former involves the death by drowning of 16-month-old Tommy Brandt. It appears to be an accident, but Sejer is brought into the investigation by Detective Jacob Skarre, who senses that something is amiss. According to Carmen, the boy’s mother, he wandered outside while she was otherwise occupied and fell into a pond by the family home; he was already dead when she found him a few minutes later. Tommy had Down’s syndrome, and while the detectives sympathize with the difficulties of raising such a child, there is something off about Carmen’s reaction. Nicolai, Tommy’s father, is devastated by the loss.

The reader is given many opportunities to see how both parents act and interact out of sight of the police, a narrative device that supplements what is told and not told to Sejer and Skarre. Carmen is caught in a lie by the police but has a plausible reason for it. It appears that while she is somewhat culpable in Tommy’s death, it is not something that she will answer for. Nicolai is beside himself, and Carmen’s reaction in the aftermath of the tragedy does not help at all.

Meanwhile, Sejer has his own troubles. He is experiencing onsets of dizziness, which he is attempting to ignore but can’t. And he shouldn’t. His dialogue, internal and otherwise, with his faithful dog Frank (who accompanies him everywhere) on this and other subjects is by itself worth your time in reading THE DROWNED BOY. Even as he deals with his health issues, Sejer is preoccupied with Tommy. He is sure that Carmen’s involvement in his death is far greater than she has indicated. But how is he to prove it to a court’s satisfaction?

I loved the ending, for reasons that I can’t go into without revealing it. I will only say that, to be frank, you might forgive the somewhat unlikely kismet that allows the evidence of what truly occurred to literally fall at Sejer’s feet. It was the perfect conclusion to a perfect book, one that you should read before summer ends.