Room No. 10
A seedy hotel room in Gothenburg, Sweden, is the site of two crimes, 20 years apart, in Edwardson’s latest well-executed, if a bit overlong, crime novel featuring Chief Inspector Erik Winter. When Paula Ney is discovered hung in room 10 of the Hotel Revy, her parents are despondent—and perplexed about the mysterious note found near her body. Inspector Winter suspects the elder Neys of holding back critical evidence about their daughter. Meanwhile, Winter flashes back to the decades-old case of Ellen Borge, who checked into the same room at the Revy and disappeared without a trace. Winter reopens the Borge case and becomes increasingly convinced that the two women fell prey to the same man. As he pursues clues, the weary Winter eagerly anticipates his upcoming leave of absence, in which he will vacation with his wife and children in the balmy south of Spain. Police-procedural fans will savor this meticulously detailed offering by Edwardson, a three-time winner of the Swedish Crime Writers’ Award for best crime novel. --Allison Block