Although
a number of books in Edwardson's Inspector Erik Winter series have
been translated to English, I do not believe that Hus
vid världens ände (The
House at the End of the World) has
yet been translated.
Like
all the other books in the series, it is set in Sweden's
second-largest city, Gothenburg and revolves around Erik
Winter, a drinker of good whisky and a lover of the American
jazz saxophonist John Coltrane.
The
background is detailed and accurately painted: anyone with any
knowledge of Gothenburg can easily recognize the streets and the
buildings, visualize the parks, smell the markets. In this book,
Winter spends some of his time in Costa
del Sol, Spain, and it is obvious that Edwardson has walked the same
streets that Winter walks and that he has seen the same buildings and
felt the same sun on his face.
There
were not supposed to be any more books in the series; the last book
(Den sista
vintern
or The Last
Winter),
published 2008, was to have been just that – the last book. But now
Winter is back, unable to tear himself away from the job of solving
crime. A
couple
of his more
ambitious colleagues
may
have possibly wished that he had stayed away; yet, in the end, they
are all able,
if begrudgingly, to appreciate both
his
expertise and his experience.
The
crime – the gruesome slaying of three people – hits the reader in
the very first pages of the book. There seems to be no motive and
very few clues; suspects are pulled in for questioning; the reader
sides first with one possible theory and then with another. There are
so many possibilities – anyone could have done it.
As
well as being able to present credible characters with both strength
and weaknesses, Edwardson
also
has
the
ability to create, and then build on, suspense, letting drop very
small clues, while subtly offering several different scenarios. This
book, like all the ones that have gone before it, is intelligently
and carefully written; the reader knows that the all the small pieces
of the puzzle will eventually reveal the answer – there will be no
completely
unattached
surprises at the end of the book.
If
you are interested in giving him a go, the first Erik Winter book in
the series is Sun
and Shadow.
You may be pleasantly surprised.