Anna Jansson

Leichenschilf is the first volume in the Kristoffer Bark series. It took me a moment to 'warm up' to this crime thriller. I was particularly disturbed by the fate of Inspector Bark, which was more than obsessive and took up a lot of space, which made me feel at first how the protagonists and the course of the plot were interlinked.
Five years ago, his daughter Vera disappeared without a trace at Lake Hjälmar on her hen night. Her body was never found. Since then, Bark has been constantly searching for her or her trail, driving everyone around him mad. Vera's girlfriend also disappeared at the same time, but was found dead. Now a corpse appears on the lake shore. Who is she? What does she have to do with Vera's disappearance?
Even after all these years, Vera's fiancé is not making a good trap. Could he have something to do with Vera's disappearance or the body that was found?
Questions upon questions that kept me guessing what had happened in the last five years.… (more)

If like me, you are seeking other Swedish crime thrillers, I recommend skipping this one. It takes most of the book to understand the two lead characters (Detective Inspector Maria Wern and her friend/co-worker Erika Lund, a forensic technician), probably because this is Book #11 in a series. Maria stops to defend a young boy being viciously attacked by a trio, and is rewarded by being stabbed with a syringe filled with blood. The police are making no progress on this
case, when Maria is called to a crime scene where a beheaded woman, dressed as a bride, is found. Then, a neighbor is found hanged in another cop's home, with the connection being a psychiatrist, who is dating Erika. Figured out the killer about 75% of the way through, after an incorrect guess about 60% through.… (more)

I had some difficulty following the real thread of the story. I think that may have actually been a matter of the translation. There are odd and abrupt breaks, at least to me.

A bird flu begins with the arrival of a "strange bird" in a pigeon-fancier's yard. The owner copies the information on the leg band and discovers that it came from Belarus. How did it get to the island of Gotland, in Sweden?

The bird dies. Then the rest of the birds die. It is the beginning of a pandemic of bird flu. Early on, however, Detective Inspector Maria Wern is called in for the murder of an unidentified man. She is shortly pulled between that investigation and the health of her son, who has contracted the virus.

The story weaves among a wide cast of characters, whose presence in the book makes sense toward the end. And thus we get to know DI Wern a bit in this first English translation of this series.… (more)

Detective Maria Wern is called upon to solve some bizarre murders; in the process she senses a connection to an attack on herself. She and the rest of the team struggle to find motives and means.

We meet an interesting nurse, interesting detectives, and others in their lives. The characters kept me reading, even as I tried to suss out what was going on.

This is the second book I have read that takes place on Visby, on the island of Gotland, country of Sweden. This time I didn't have to go hunting on Google for images. I remembered the wall, the character of the town. I found the characters here compelling enough to seek out others by this author.
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