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From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

Faceless Killers (Kurt Wallander, #1)

Henning Mankell,

Steven T. Murray (Translator)

Start date: September 15, 2025

Finish date: October 6, 2025

Discussion: Buddy reads

Why we're reading this: After finishing the Martin Beck books, we're trying out another Nordic noir series.…more
[close] After finishing the Martin Beck books, we're trying out another Nordic noir series.

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Showing 2 of 468 topics — 9,047 comments total

Buddy reads

* Starting/joining in with buddy reads
By Judy · 1334 posts · 372 views

last updated 1 hour, 50 min ago

* White Nights by Ann Cleeves (Shetland #2) (August/Sept 25)
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last updated Sep 04, 2025 12:17PM

What Members Thought

May 08, 2008 Nancy Oakes rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery-series-first-novel, translated-crime-fiction, crime-fiction, crime-fiction-scandinavia

Two elderly people living next door to friends they've had coffee with every day for the last 40 years wake up one night and hear a scream for help. The man goes over to their friends' home to find a veritable bloodbath and calls the police. Assigned to the the call is Kurt Wallender, and he discovers that the woman is still alive and before she dies, she says only one word: foreign. As Wallender gets more into the case, he realizes that he is going to have to play this very carefully amid risin ...more

9 likes · Like · see review

Jan 10, 2011 Tracey rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery

I can't help but wonder if I would have enjoyed this book without Kenneth Branagh's careworn face in my mind's eye. Faceless Killers is a grim story – you wouldn't expect a cheery romp to be called Faceless Killers, after all – and the voice (whether the translator's or Mankel's) is spare and disengaged. The murders are particularly horrid, the landscape is bleak and growing colder, and so for that matter is Wallander's life. His wife has left him and he doesn't understand why and wants her back ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Jun 07, 2017 Stephanie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: crime-thriller

Excellent book. I felt kindof bad for the detective as his life seemed to be imploding during this case. Story was laid out well with no dragging.

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Oct 10, 2010 Nanosynergy rated it liked it

Shelves: translated, series, fiction-2000-2019, mysteries-thrillers-espionage, reviewed, 2011read, sweden

First in the Wallander series. Drags and wanders in parts, but promising enough that I plan to read the second book in the series. Always wonder how much is lost in translation.

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