Call Me Princess

The hot list of crime writers right now includes many from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland and Denmark. Here's another author from Denmark to add to your list.

Call Me Princess marks Sara Blaedel's North American debut.

Assistant Detective Louise Rick of the Copenhagen P.D. is called in on the case of Susanne Hansson - a woman who has been brutally sexually assaulted. As Rick delves into the case, she discovers that Susanne met her attacker through an online dating site. Susanne's not the only victim of this online Lothario. He know how to hide though - he's left virtually no clues.

I enjoyed the character of Detective Rick and her interactions with her fellow officers. Blaedel has filled the department with an overbearing superior, a show more quiet family man partner and a publicity seeking chief. They were all comfortable if not original characters. The foray into Louise's personal life was a solid secondary story line. I did not like the best friend, newspaper reporter Camilla at all. She came across as a user of people. The interactions between her and Louse just never rang true as a best friend situation.

Blaedel has peppered her story with lots of red herrings. Many of the male characters seemed they could be the perpetrator at one time or another - the ending provided a good twist.

All in all, a solid police procedural utilizing current events as a effective plot device. It was an easy read - one that I was happy to pick up. For me, enjoyable but not outstanding.

Blaedel has an interesting background. She founded the first publishing house dedicated to crime fiction in Denmark. She was then inspired to write her own detective novels which have landed on the Danish bestseller lists. She has been voted the most popular novelist in Denmark in 2007, 2010 and 2011. show less

Characters have lots of character, and real life issues. Assistant Detective Louise Rick based in Copenhagen is dedicated to her job at the expense of her personal life, just like many, many of the fictional males cops I read about. She is warm, thoughtful but doesn't take guff from people.

She and her team are working hard on a very demanding case. Requires lots of tedious man hours, and outside-the-box thinking, as well as dealing with victims, their families, and troublesome colleagues.

Her friend Camilla Lind, an oustanding journalist is ambitious, driven and will do anything to get a story. She definitely is a challenging friend and keeps Louise on her toes.

Good timing and dialog, but while plot is frightening as all get out it is show more dry and tiresome. But...already requested the next book in this series. show less

This is the second book I've read in the series regarding a Danish crime detective, Louise Rick.

I'm hooked on this series. Mystery books are usually not my genre, but increasingly, I'm embracing this field.

When women who are using online dating sites for meeting men, unfortunately, some obtain more than they thought, including rape and bodies that are badly beaten. When one of the victims dies, the stakes are higher for Louis and her team mates to quickly find this brutal sociopath.

Surprised at the information, people readily post on dating sites, there is an in depth look at the safety of posting your photo and personal information which can possibly draw the wrong kind of person.

Fast paced, interesting, well written, I plan to show more continue to as many of the books I can obtain that are on the market and translated from Dutch to English. show less

Call Me Princess by Sara Blaedel is the first book in her Louise Rick police procedural crime series. Set in Copenhagen, this first entry involves the case of a serial rapist who meets and sets up his victims by meeting them at on-line dating sites. I listened to an audio version of the book as read by Alice Barrett Mitchell who I thought did a very good job with the vocals.

While there was nothing particularly outstanding in this story, it was a good solid procedural that came across in the audio version well. There is a good balance between the police work and the main characters’ home life with her friends and co-workers. The rape/violence towards woman angle was handled well and the author’s descriptions of the on-line world show more seemed accurate. As it lent itself so well to the audio medium I fully intend to continue listening rather than reading this series. show less

BLUE BLOOD (aka CALL ME PRINCESS) is the debut novel in the Detective Louise Rick series from Danish writer Sara Blaedel. Blaedel is a million copy best-selling author, voted Denmark's most popular novelist three times since 2007, and an international success story.

BLUE BLOOD reads like a traditional police procedural, focused on who perpetrated the crime, and not a lot on why. The initial crime, the vicious beating and rape of a young woman, quickly becomes even more worrying with the sadly preventable death of a second victim, but it does provide the focus - an increasing number of cases that revolve around the internet dating world.

Given the police procedural styling, I was looking at three specific elements - plot / investigation show more and then characterisations. BLUE BLOOD takes the reader into the world of internet dating and the possible perils, and it uses many of those aspects to have a red hot go at raising some tension. Although, to be honest, the none too subtle way in which potential dangers are raised for Rick, as well as best friend, journalist Camilla did make this reader dubious. Whilst there is a team, and a hierarchy, and a bit of tension between teams chucked into the mix for reasons that I couldn't quite fathom, the main core of the investigation becomes a solo hand pretty quickly. Which didn't actually work that well, as it created a problem with interactions between Rick and the rest of the team that was never really resolved. In fact, most of the other police characters remained very much bit-parts, and somehow floated off to the side. Which leads therefore to characterisation. The focus is very much on the Rick, who is the sort of lead character that is either going to annoy or fascinate. She's an odd combination of intensity and vagueness. Her attempts at victim consolation weren't particularly convincing, and whilst she's obviously driven to resolve the case, there are some things that she seems almost criminally dumb about. Not the least of which is the rapid, and obvious collapse of her personal life, that on one hand she seems quite matter-of-fact about and on another devastated.

All of which makes it sound like I didn't really like the book. Which isn't exactly true. Cutting the requisite slack for a debut book in a series, and some heavy lifting in the character establishment phase as a result of that, there's more than enough in BLUE BLOOD that makes me want to get the next book in the series. The series doesn't feel like it's going to shape shift into the darker, more psychological stylings of my preferred Scandinavian material, but as a general, police procedural styled novel, I don't mind the occasional prickly, difficult, unpredictable female central protagonist at all. Especially as it would appear that the next book, FAREWELL TO FREEDOM is tackling human trafficking, a topic which is increasingly being explored in crime fiction worldwide.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/blue-blood-sara-blaedel show less

This is Blædel's American (or English-language) debut, which is unfortunate, because this novel is the second in Blædel's series featuring Danish detective Louise Rick. By page 44, I noted on GoodReads that I was feeling a disconnect with the characters and I wondered if it was because I was coming in midseries -- so I feel slightly vindicated that is, indeed, the case.

The novel opens with a graphic, detailed rape so I knew immediately that this wasn't going to be my kind of book. I was expecting a little more nuanced plot, but instead, the crime is straight-forward: a man is raping women he meets online. I wasn't wild about the writing style (or translation, I'm not sure which): despite the detailed scenes of violence, the rest of show more the book detailing the investigation felt very vague and aloof. I didn't connect with the lead character, Detective Louise Rick, her bestie Camille, or anyone else in the story. Louise had interesting potential: she displayed a mixture of empathy and impatience with the victims, which felt real to me, and I would have liked to learn more about her. Sadly, despite the foreign locale, so much of the story felt familiar, from our heroine's failing romantic life to her tension with her supervisor. I didn't get a sense of Copenhagen or Denmark, either: the story really could have been set anywhere in the US.

In the end, not a favorite for me, but something must have grabbed because now, about a week or so later, I'm still wondering about some parts of Louise's life and I've been searching for info about the possible next English-language translation in the series. show less

A brutal rape and beating, online dating and a criminal investigation, these are the primary components in Call Me Princess by Sara Blaedel. Although this story doesn't provide extreme graphic descriptions of the rape, it does start with a graphic description of the beating. This was just a bit off-putting but it does set the tone for the story. All at once we're forced to view a situation that puts us off balance while immediately becoming sympathetic with the victim and despising the perpetrator. We're brought back to an even keel when introduced to police inspector Louise Rick. Louise is called out to investigate and feels for the victim as she walks her through the initial interviews and physical examinations. Louise continues her show more investigation and quickly realizes that this is a serial rapist finding his victims online. Regrettably the next victim is murdered before the rapist can be caught.

While Louise battles for her victim and pursues her investigation she must also deal with co-workers, family, friends and her live-in significant other. Louise is also concerned for the safety of her best friend Camilla because she's made a foray into the world of online dating and is meeting her new "friend" at her home. Camilla is a journalist familiar with the hazards of online dating but feels she's savvy enough to know when someone is trying to take advantage. As the police continue their investigation they realize that the only way to catch the rapist is perhaps to catch him online using Louise as bait.

All of the characters, dialogue and scenes in Call Me Princess seem quite realistic and credible. The investigatory process and politics were actually quite interesting to read about. Ms. Blaedel starts the story off with a jolt and continues with a high-energy criminal investigation. Call Me Princess is a good suspense read with lots of intrigue and heartfelt emotion. show less