The Tenant

This novel is set in Copenhagen and starts with a brutal murder: A young student is killed in the flat she shared with another girl. The murder seems to be connected to the elderly woman who owns the house and lives upstairs, or rather to something she wrote. Jeppe Kørner and Anette Werner, two very different characters, are assigned to the case, but there is no trace of the killer and they are at a loss.
Although the murder is a bit too brutal for my reading tastes, I loved everything else about this novel: The characters, the style, the composition. I could not stop reading and it simply never got boring, but not in a cheap, page-turner type of excitement. I really cared about the story. The only thing I criticize is that in the end, show more things became a bit too far-fetched in my opinion, and I would have wished for a simpler solution.
The Copenhagen setting is well done, too, I loved the descriptions of the city and the mentioning of streets and places, but it did not overshadow the plot or feel artificial.
I highly recommend this novel and will definitely continue with this series. show less

The Tenant is an excellent mystery from Denmark that opens with a shocking murder of a young woman, a tenant in a house in Copenhagen. The murder is discovered by another tenant, an elderly man who nearly dies himself from shock. Esther de Laurenti, the owner/landlord is a retired academic who lives on the third floor and is writing her first mystery novel. It soon becomes clear that in some way the murder is centered on her, particularly after a second murder follows soon after.

Jeppe is the lead investigator on the case. He’s not at his best, still recovering from a painful betrayal and divorce. He usually relies on intuition, but it seems not to be working this time. Perhaps the oxycontin and acetaminophen for his backache is show more dulling his thought processes. Nonetheless, careful police procedure and the process of tossing ideas and theories back and forth among the other investigators advance the case. Perhaps he is not firing on all cylinders, but when someone confesses, his intuition kicks into high gear.

I enjoyed The Tenant very much. It has the diligent procedural rigor expected of Scandinavian police procedurals. It also has the elements of the grotesque that put the noir in Scandinoir. The mystery is complex. The resolution is satisfying, though as grotesque as the murder. It is fair so that readers will perhaps identify the killer a few pages before the detective. There are enough examples of error to make the detectives realistically imperfect. There might be a bit more of Jeppe’s internal thoughts, but maybe that’s the oxy. The translation is excellent, so much so that it never felt translated. I look forward to more novels from Engberg.

The Tenant will be released on January 14th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.

The Tenant at Gallery| Scout Press | Simon & Schuster
Katrina Engberg on Instagram

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2020/01/07/9781982127572/ show less

Die junge Studentin Julie wird tot und von vielen Schnitten im Gesicht verunstaltet in ihrer Wohnung aufgefunden - vom Täter fehlt erst einmal jede Spur. Doch als ihre Vermieterin, die emeritierte Professorin Esther, ein von ihr verfasstes Manuskript vorlegt, in dem sie den Mord bereits Tage zuvor geschildert hatte, scheinen alle Spuren auf eine Person hinzudeuten. Doch nicht sehr lange ...
Berlinsge, die älteste dänische Tageszeitung, hat dieses Buch einen 'Thriller, der einen packt und nicht mehr loslässt.' genannt. Tja, mir ging es leider nicht so. Keine Frage, es ist gut geschrieben, ohne dass jedoch ein spezieller Engberg-Stil erkennbar wäre. Doch die Geschichte plätschert so dahin - es ist die ausführliche Schilderung der show more Polizeiarbeit, wie sie KrimiliebhaberInnen wohlbekannt sein dürfte, ohne große Überraschungsmomente oder verblüffende Wendungen. Zudem ist der erste Hinweis auf den Täter derart offensichtlich, dass ich mir fast sicher war, es könne nur eine falsche Fährte sein. Ein Thriller soll 'ein beständiges Spiel zwischen Anspannung und Erleichterung' sein - davon ist bei diesem Buch leider nur kaum etwas zu merken.
Auch die Figuren sind wenig bemerkenswert: ein einsamer Kommissar, gerade verlassen von der Ehefrau und kurz davor, sich Süchten jeglicher Art hinzugeben (Harry Hole lässt grüßen ;-)); die fitte Kollegin, nicht ganz perfekt (die Speckröllchen), aber beinahe :-); und natürlich ein unsympathischer Kollege, der in einem der Folgebände (das Ganze ist als Serie angelegt) sicherlich mit diversen Intrigen zur Höchstform auflaufen wird.
Zuguterletzt die Auflösung des Falles. Die war immerhin durchaus überraschend, was jedoch bei Weitem nicht ausreichte, mich mit der gesamten Geschichte so zu versöhnen, dass es noch für vier Sterne reichen würde. Zudem empfand ich die Erklärung des Mordes derart unglaubwürdig (ja, Manipulation ist eine mächtige Kraft, ich weiß. Aber so???), dass ich das Buch fast schon unzufrieden zuschlug.
Fazit: Ein gut geschriebener, mäßig spannender Krimi, den man nicht unbedingt gelesen haben muss. show less

A brutal murder in a building owned by an author who is writing a book with a similar story line causes her to be the main suspect.

Julie and her roommate Caroline live in a building owned by Esther de Laurenti, the author. Julie is murdered, and the murder has the entire police force baffled.

Nothing like this has ever happened in her building, and Esther can’t understand it.

The clues all seem to point to Esther, though, and especially since the murder scene and situation are similar to her book, but is it really Esther? There are a number of possible suspects.

The victim and her family had a few secrets of their own, but would someone murder for those secrets? And what all-around, complicated secrets they turned out to be.

The show more detectives, Anette and Jeppe, are on the case and seem to be relentless in their efforts to solve this crime. This detective team is very likeable and definitely add to the story line.

Many other things happen that will keep you reading every chance you get, and you will be thinking about the characters and the situations even when you aren't reading.

Ms. Engberg’s writing flows nicely and keeps the story line moving and the interest high with all of the what if’s and possibilities.

Be aware that there are some upsetting situations and graphic descriptions.

THE TENANT is a book for those who enjoy being kept on the edge-of-your seat.

I hope to see more of this detective team and Ms. Engberg's books.

Are you a good enough detective to solve this crime? 4/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. show less

A page-turner, I read it in two days, so the author did something right. The detectives were unique, if not especially likeable, the premise was interesting, involving a crime novel and a baffling, contradictory clues. But the final solution was very complex and I didn't really believe it; nor did I believe the denouement. That just left me shaking my head, it seemed so impossible.

Also, the translation wasn't great. There were multiple instances of words or phrases being used in ways that weren't quite right. I've read enough books in translation without these kinds of errors that this one really stood out. Phrases like "turning the candle off" instead of putting it out.

I would read another book by this author, because it definitely had show more narrative drive and was pretty interesting until the end, but not with this translator. show less

An elderly gentleman, living in a small boarding house in Copenhagen, notices the back door to ‘the girls’ apartment is open. He steps in, calling to them to make sure everything is all right. Instead, he trips over Julie’s mutilated body, falls into it and suffers a heart attack.

The unlikely detective team of Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner (apparently their names rhyme in Danish) are assigned to the case. They regard each other with suspicion as Jeppe is returning to duty after a long bout of depression and addiction to pain killers. Anette is in a stable relationship; she is the opposite and a foil to Jeppe.

In an odd twist, the landlady of the house, Esther de Laurenti, aspires to be a mystery writer. Her novel features a young show more protagonist whom she has openly based on Julie. However, Julie’s gruesome murder also mirrors the murder in Esther’s manuscript which she has only shared with a very small writers group of two other people.

A second, unforgettably dramatically staged murder of a man known to all the tenants occurs, increasing the heat on the detective pair.

I enjoyed the detective work, and the back stories of the detective team. Although their stories didn’t affect the events of the mystery itself, I recognize that they are being introduced as the centers of this series.

Not quite as ‘Nordic noir’ as some of the other Nordic mysteries that I have read, the two murders are gruesome and do give an overall darkness to the story.

I would definitely continue with this series, based mostly on my interest in the two detectives. show less

3.5 stars

This is book #1 in a series set in Copenhagen featuring Danish detectives Jeppe Kørner & Anette Werner. There are 3 more that follow, not yet translated.

It all begins with a body. In this case, a young woman named Julie Stender is found horribly mutilated in the apartment she rents from landlady Esther de Laurenti. Violent murders are rare in this city & the resulting media frenzy doesn’t help Jeppe & Anette as they begin to dismantle Julie’s life in search of their killer.

It’s a very character driven story with a large cast. Fellow tenants, friends, family, co-workers…we meet them all as police investigate everyone with a possible tie to Julie. Of particular interest is her landlady, a retired professor who just show more happens to be writing a novel with a scene that is disturbingly similar to the murder of her young tenant.

I’m a big fan of Scandinavian mystery/thrillers & this has that distinctive nordic vibe. It’s not a fast paced procedural. Instead, there is a subtle tension that gradually builds as Jeppe & Anette scratch each name off their list of suspects. The story is complex & guessing the killer’s identity will have you swinging from one character to the next.

The 2 MC’s have a comfortable relationship. They support & pick on each other like siblings & it was a pleasant relief not to have the stereotypical romantic angle so often present in the genre. Jeppe is still reeling from his divorce & perhaps a tad too dependent on pain killers. I found his character better developed while Anette remained more of an enigma. She was harder to read & her reactions seemed a bit OTT at times. Her dialogue is riddled with exclamation marks but I’m not sure if this was down to blips in translation or if her character really is that excitable.

I enjoyed this but was left with the feeling it was a better book in its original language. Some of the dialogue felt stilted & unnatural to North American ears & the narrative was abrupt at times. Effectively translating a novel is such a tough job & navigating western idioms & word usage must be a nightmare. So I’m a little jealous of Danish readers because there’s a good story here. The MC’s & the dynamic between them is compelling & I’d like to pick up book #2 to get to know them better. show less