The Dark Heart: A True Story of Greed, Murder, and an Unlikely Investigator

by Joakim Palmkvist

The True Story of Pinocchio’s Nose by Leif G. W. Persson.

All she knows is that it is better to have the means to defend yourself than to find yourself in need of a weapon and have nothing at hand.

It takes about three minutes to die of asphyxiation, though it is only a matter of seconds before the circulation is affected. The brain’s oxygen supply is cut off. The world goes dark. You kick and convulse while your life is slowly extinguished. Perhaps it feels like drowning, but with another person on top of you, fingers wrapped around your throat.

the neighborhood is dead silent; even the birdsong from the birch trees at the end of the garden sounds muted. As if the world is holding its breath.