The dark, both figurative and literal, and cold are palpable in this book.

2. After She’s Gone – Camilla Grebe

The second in the Hanne Lagerlind-Schon series, of two, it seems. After She’s Gone involves the investigation of a cold case which quickly becomes more in small town Ormberg, Sweden. The story is told through multiple perspectives, however, the series protagonist in Hanne who is a profiler with early onset dementia. She requires her notebook to survive because she really doesn’t want anyone to know she has dementia and she makes a lot of notes while she’s consulting on the cold case of a murdered girl alongside her on again off again partner, who then goes missing while Hanne ends up being led out of the forest by a local teenager, who totally keeps her notebook. Not helpful, Jake, even if he had his reasons (small town bullshit) to keep what he was doing when he found Hanne to himself.

Actually helpful is newer police officer Malin Brundin, who is not only from Ormberg, she also is the person who originally found the young girl in the cairn that is the subject of the cold case they’re all investigating and was able to join the task force. Malin knows the small town bullshit of the area well, including how the refugees and asylum seekers who were re-homed to the area are being received by the locals, an uninspired reception from many that is also a part of the cold case. The stories of Malin, Jake, and Hanne do come together well and After She’s Gone was a quick and solid mystery. A lot of the Scandinavian crime novels that are translated seem to be set mainly in major cities and this one was not, which added to a lot to the story. It was more personal for two of the narrators, in particular Malin, who both want to escape the insular mindset and needs to use what she knows about it to solve the cold case.

 

Twiglet and Pammy demonstrate their strategy for getting through any cold winter in a small place.