I seem to be mystery binging this year. I feel like I've read more mysteries in the past three months than I read all last year (not quite perhaps, but I'm well on my way to surpassing last year's numbers). I've finished two in the last week, and I had planned on writing about them both today, but the post got a little long, so I've split things up. Besides they are vastly different in terms of author, plot, and setting. So check back tomorrow for part two.
First up, though, is Mari Jungstedt's The Inner Circle (in the UK it's titled The Unknown) set in contemporary Sweden on the island of Gotland. It reminded me a little of Icelandic author, Yrsa Sigurdardottir's Last Rituals, which I read last month. My reaction to The Inner Circle is very similar to how I felt about the Sigurdardottir book. I liked the characters and feel like the series has some very good potential, but felt only tepid about the mystery in general. I love mysteries, but I've never been too thrilled about stories involving 'ritualistic killings'. Somehow this type of murder just seems clichéd these days. Both cultures are rich in Viking history and legend with lots of mythological stories to draw from, so it's not surprising the authors would want to take advantage and tell a story of contemporary society and weave into it aspects of Scandinavian cultural history. Still, give me a nice, ordinary murder any day and I'm happy. All the better if it is complex and multilayered.
I'm getting ahead of myself, however. The Inner Circle is Jungstedt's third mystery featuring Inspector Anders Knutas. I don't think it's always necessary to read mysteries in order, but I felt a little like I was coming in on a conversation already in progress without anyone telling me what I'd missed. I don't mind if the mystery aspect of a novel is weak, if the characters are strong and interesting. Luckily Jungstedt seems to do strong and interesting characters. I only wish I had known more about them and their relationships before picking up this book.
Inspector Knutas is a middle aged detective. He has two children and a wife who is a practicing midwife. Knutas is prone to bouts of depression and sees a psychologist, but this story is set in the middle of a warm and sunny summer, so despite feeling like he needs to get things off his chest, he'll have to wait until the fall for his next appointment. Instead he's dealing with some strange incidents. First a mutilated horse is discovered, and what's worse the head is missing. Then a lively, attractive young student working on an archaeological dig is found murdered. Not just murdered, but strung up and her blood drained. She was supposedly having a secret affair with a mystery man. Her killer, perhaps? You see where we're going here? As the summer passes, Knutas is stuck in the city while his family relaxes in the country, and he feels like his investigation is going nowhere--false leads and unlikely suspects--the days pass and nothing happens but more brutal murders.
What's interesting in this mystery is a secondary storyline concerning Johan Berg, local newscaster and his pregnant girlfriend, Emma. Again, they're carryovers from Jungstedt's previous two novels. Detectives and press are willing to work together to a point, but Knutas is afraid Johan is revealing too many details to the public, and Johan is off doing a bit of his own detective work apart from the police. It will all come to a clamoring, tragic finish. The mystery will be solved, but Jungstedt manages to leave the reader with a cliffhanger nonetheless.
The mystery was interesting, but what I enjoyed more was seeing how the characters interact--detectives and press--two groups you don't expect to work especially well together. Jungstedt herself worked as a radio and television journalist, so she writes from experience. I have it on good authority her previous novels are good reads (and the murders seem more run-of-the-mill), so I'll go back to the beginning and start over. It's also worth noting that Tiina Nunnally (of Kristin Lavransdatter fame) is Jungstedt's translator. First Iceland, then Sweden. Where next? Maybe more Harry Hole in Norway?