Helene Tursten

Maud is an irascible 88-year-old Swedish woman with no family, no friends, and... no qualms about a little murder. This funny, irreverent story collection by Helene Tursten, author of the Irene Huss investigations, features two-never-before translated stories that will keep you laughing all the way to the retirement home. Ever since her darling father's untimely death when she was only eighteen, Maud has lived in the family's spacious apartment in downtown Gothenburg rent-free, thanks to a minor clause in a hastily negotiated contract. That was how Maud learned that good things can come from tragedy. Now in her late eighties, Maud contents herself with traveling the world and surfing the net from the comfort of her father's ancient armchair. It's a solitary existence, and she likes it that way. Over the course of her adventures—or misadventures—this little bold lady will handle a crisis with a local celebrity who has her eyes on Maud's apartment, foil the engagement of her long-ago lover, and dispose of some pesky neighbors. But when the local authorities are called to investigate a dead body found in Maud's apartment, will Maud finally become a suspect?

An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good

Don't let her age fool you. Maud may be nearly ninety, but if you cross her, this elderly lady is more sinister than sweet. Just when things have finally cooled down for 88-year-old Maud after the disturbing discovery of a dead body in her apartment in Gothenburg, a couple of detectives return to her doorstep, ruining a perfectly good afternoon. Though Maud deftly dodges their questions with the skill of an Olympic gymnast a fifth of her age, she wonders if suspicion has fallen on her, little old lady that she is. The truth is, ever since Maud was a girl, death has seemed to follow her. In these six interlocking stories, memories of unfortunate incidents from Maud's past keep bubbling to the surface, each triggered by something around her- an image, a word-even a taste. Meanwhile, certain Problems in the present require immediate attention. Luckily, Maud is no stranger to taking matters into her own hands . . . even if it means she has to get a little blood on them in the process. *Includes cookie recipes*

An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed

One night Detective Inspector Irene Huss is called to the scene of an apparent suicide. The dead man landed on the pavement in fornt of his luxurious aprtment. A wealthy financier, he was connected through an old-boys' network to the first families of Sweden. But the society suicide' turns out to have been a carefully plotted murder. As more murders ensue, Huss tangles with motorcycle gang members, skinheads, immigrants and neo-Nazis, a cross-section of Sweden's Disaffected, until ultimately she discovers which of the suspects actually killed the Swedish millionaire. And why.'

Detective Inspector Huss

Marlaine Delargey

Snowdrift

David Downing

Part of a human torso washes up on a beach near Gothenburg, Sweden, so mutilated that its gender can only be established by DNA testing. A similar crime remains unsolved in Denmark. Detective Inspector Irene Huss is dispatched to Copenhagen to liaise with the police. A third and a fourth victim are discovered, both of them known to Huss. She fears the killer is tracking her, killing people with whom she is connected.

The Torso

"The first installment in Helene Tursten's brand new series featuring the strong, smart Detective Inspector Embla Nystrom. From a young age, 28-year-old Embla Nystrom has been plagued by chronic nightmares and racing thoughts. Though she still develops unhealthy fixations and makes rash decisions from time to time, she has learned to channel most of her anxious energy into her position as Detective Inspector in the mobile unit in Gothenburg, Sweden, and into sports. A talented hunter and prize-winning Nordic welterweight, she is glad to be taking a vacation from her high-stress job to attend the annual moose hunt with her family and friends. But when Embla arrives at her uncle's cabin in rural Dalsland, she sees an unfamiliar face has joined the group: Peter, an enigmatic young divorce. And she isn't the only one to take notice. One longtime member of the hunt doesn't welcome the presence of an outsider and is quick to point out that with Peter, the group's number reaches thirteen, a bad omen for the week. Sure enough, a string of unsettling incidents follow, culminating in the disappearance of two men from a neighboring group of hunters. Embla takes charge of the search, and they soon find one of the missing men floating facedown in the nearby lake, his arm tightly wedged between two rocks. Just what she needs on her vacation. With the help of local reinforcements, Embla delves into the dark pasts of her fellow hunters in search of a killer"--

Hunting Game

The Glass Devil

In this thrilling mystery set in rural Sweden, Detective Inspector Embla Nyström must solve a murder case and find two missing children before the small town takes matters into their own hands. When a little girl disappears a few weeks before Christmas, suspicion falls on the last person she was seen with: the mentally disabled teenage boy who gave her a ride home after school. Complicating the matter is the fact that detectives can hardly get a word out of him. When a second child disappears and a police officer is found dead, tensions in the small town of Strömstad reach an all-time high. Meanwhile, 28-year-old Detective Inspector Embla Nyström has just returned to work and is still recovering from her recent brush with a killer, which left her unable to get back in the ring to defend her title of Nordic light welterweight champion. As she hunts for the missing children, Embla can't help but think of the case that has been haunting her for years: the disappearance of her childhood best friend. Could the incidents be linked? With the passing of each dark winter day, the odds of finding the children alive shrink, and desperation mounts. Their parents want answers and will stop at nothing to get them.

Winter Grave

Äldre dam med onda avsikter

Investigating the arson murder of a young ballerina whose stepfather died under similar circumstances when the present-day victim was a child, Detective Inspector Irene Huss confronts the disturbing possibility that the ballerina was responsible for the original crime. By the author of The Golden Calf.

The Fire Dance

When a new lead breaks in the cold case that has long haunted Swedish Detective Inspector Embla Nyström, the truth she’s been seeking about her best friend’s disappearance may finally be revealed—if it doesn’t kill her first. One winter night, 28-year-old Detective Inspector Embla Nyström receives a phone call that sends her reeling. It’s been fourteen years since her best friend disappeared from a nightclub in Gothenburg, but Embla recognizes her voice before the call abruptly disconnects. Embla is thrilled to learn Lollo is still alive, but before she can dive into the case, she gets another phone call—this time from a relative. A man has been found shot dead in one of the guest houses he and his wife manage in rural Sweden. Could she come take a look? When Embla arrives on the scene, she receives another shock. The dead man is Milo Stavic, a well-known gang member and one of the last people seen with Lollo. And, as Embla soon learns, the same night that Milo was shot in the guest house, his brother Luca was also killed. Why, after all these years, is someone targeting the Stavic brothers, and where is the third brother? With help from a handsome local detective and his police dog in training, Embla launches an investigation into the three Stavic brothers, hoping it will bring her closer to finally finding Lollo and putting an end to her terrible nightmares.

Mick Herron

Stuart Neville

Cara Black

Peter Lovesey

A Collection of Soho Crime Christmas Capers

The Usual Santas

Irene Huss is a former Ju-Jitsu champion, a mother of twin teenage girls, the wife of a successful chef, and a Detective Inspector in the Violent Crimes Unit in Göteborg, Sweden. And now she's back in the gripping follow-up to Detective Inspector Huss. One nurse lies dead and another vanishes after a local hospital is hit by a blackout. The only witness claims to have seen Nurse Tekla doing her rounds, but Nurse Tekla died sixty years ago. Irene Huss of the Violent Crimes Unit has the challenge of disentangling wandering ghosts and complex human relationships to get to the bottom of this intriguing case.

Night rounds

The Golden Calf

"Goteborg, Sweden: A high-speed chase of a stolen BMW takes a chilling turn when the two police officers involved witness a gruesome hit-and-run. When they finally recover the abandoned vehicle, search dogs are unable to trace the thieves, but they do uncover an entirely different horror: the half-naked corpse of a young girl in a nearby root cellar. As Detective Inspector Irene Huss and her colleagues struggle to put the pieces together, they discover a disturbing connection. The man whose car was stolen--a retired officer from the force--is none other than the victim in the hit-and-run. Could it be a strange coincidence? Or is something larger at play? Meanwhile, the hunt for the girl's killer leads Irene into the dark world of sex trafficking. An international criminal has arrived in Goteborg, and he'll stop at nothing to expand his sinister operation"--

The beige man

"He watches the women from the shadows. He has an understanding with them; as long as they follow his rules, they are safe. But when they sin, he sentences them to death. A woman is found dead in a cemetery, strangled and covered in plastic. A thorough examination of the corpse reveals that the killer left behind no evidence. But just a few days before her death, the victim received a flower, an unintelligible note, and a photograph of herself. Detective Inspector Irene Huss and her colleagues on the Geoteborg police force have neither clue nor motive to trace, and when similar murders follow, their search for the killer becomes increasingly desperate.

Who Watcheth

Hunting Ground

Kallt mord

Krimi. Jagten på en ung piges morder fører kriminalinspektør Irene Huss ind i et miljø, hvor man handler med kvinder, og et liv ikke har nogen værdi. Trafficking har forgreninger i hele Europa, og nu ser det ud til, at en af de mest hensynsløse alfonser befinder sig i Göteborg.

Helene Tursten

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