Gunder Jomann goes to India to find a bride. She has a little business left to complete so he heads back to his town of Elvestad to prepare for her arrival. On the day he is to meet her at the airport, his sister is seriously injured in a car accident. He sends a taxi to get her, but the taxi driver does not find her. The body of a foreign woman is found near his home town. Inspector Sejer and his team set out to investigate. Everyone in the town appears to be hiding something. Readers are unsure at the end if the police have found the right murderer.

This was a book that captivated my attention from start to finish. I was a bit disappointed in the ending, but I don't know if that is because of a difference in the expectations of this genre in the Norwegian and American cultures or not. I would have preferred for things to have been all neatly tied up with no doubts in the reader's mind that the right culprit had been arrested. I know that in real life things are rarely so neatly tied up, but it makes for more satisfying fiction reads to know that justice has been served to the right person. I do hope to read future books by this author. ( )

Character, rather than plot, drives this mystery. The mystery is tragic and compelling, but some of the most satisfying parts of the novel have nothing to do with the central crime, but explore how various characters deal with loss and the transience of the people we love. The translation must be pretty good; the English text is fluid and precise. ( )

A fast-paced, gripping crime novel about the brutal slaying of a young woman from India who came to a small town in Norway to join her new husband. Her husband, a quiet, fifty-year-old man, fails to pick her up from the airport when his sister is suddenly hospitalized. By the time he returns home, she is already dead. Konrad Sejer, a recurring character in Fossum's novels, and his protege, Josef Skarre, investigate but are hindered by the closed and reclusive nature of the townspeople. Fossum's book ably details the effect the murder has on many people of the town, from the grieving widower to a young witness. The story also leaves a small question open as to whether the man arrested for the crime was in fact the perpetrator of the crime. A well written and nuanced story.

This review is based on the German translation of the book. ( )

http://2manybooks2read.blogspot.com/2... ( )

A lonely man in Norway, entranced by a photo of an Indian woman in a book, travels to India to find a wife - and he does. But when she travels to Norway after wrapping up her affairs, he is unable to meet her at the airport because his sister is badly injured in an accident. When he hears a foreign woman has been beaten to death he tries to pretend it's not his wife. Inspector Sejer has to find out what has happened in a close-mouthed community. A psychological and moody exploration of a small town.