Black Lies, Red Blood: A Mystery
The fifth book in Eriksson’s Ann Lindell police series (following The Hand That Trembles, 2011) sticks to its procedural format but also lets the reader into more of Lindell’s personal life. For the most part, the Uppsala, Sweden, homicide detective keeps busy with her demanding job and young son. Letting journalist Anders Brant into her life is a big step for her. Making it all the more distressing when his phone number is found on a homeless man’s murdered body. Hoping that there’s a logical explanation for the connection, Lindell doesn’t tell her fellow offices about her relationship with the reporter, who claims to be out of town on a story. Instead, she buries herself in work, taking on the cold case of Klara Lovisa, a teenage girl who disappeared on her sixteenth birthday. Lindell knows the girl is most likely dead, but when the body is found, it is a watershed for the grief that has been overwhelming her since Anders left. Eriksson, nominated five times for Sweden’s best crime novel award, effectively combines procedural and psychological detail in this involving mystery. --Karen Keefe