The February 2013 read-along is for Helene Tursten

[Ken, Moderator (U.S.A.)]

The February read-along is for Helene Tursten. Any of her 5 books is our read. They are (2003) Detective Inspector Huss, (2006) The Torso, (2007) Glass Devil, (2012) Night Rounds, or her latest (2013) The Golden Calf.

[Sharon, Moderator (Netherlands)]

The Golden Calf is on pre order so will start on receipt.....love her books and read them all. Glad TGC is almost here....

[Ken, Moderator (U.S.A.)]

You might want to read, Detective Inspector Huss, The Torso, Glass Devil, and Night Rounds before you read the Golden Calf. That's the order they come in, however, you would need to know that Irene is a judo champion, her husband is a chef, and she has two twin daughters.

[Sharon, Moderator (Netherlands)]

IMHO these books are so much better in order.

[Fiona]

Just downloaded Detective Inspector Huss, looking forward to reading it.

[Stephanie]

Goody! Detective Inspector Huss is sitting unread on my bookshelf. Can't believe I haven't started this series yet. I will probably start it over the weekend.

[Richard]

I will have to read Detective Inspector Huss this month and compare reviews

[[deleted user]]

I pre-ordered Golden Calf on Kindle. Haven't read anything by Helene Tursten yet. Looking forward to this.

[Ken, Moderator (U.S.A.)]

The Golden Calf is the only book I haven't read (in English) from Helene Tursten, waiting for my number to come up from the library, should be soon. Meanwhile, I have Blessed are Those Who Thirst and then I will be current with Anne Holt.

[Carol]

Am reading The Torso which is better than the first book but compared to Arctic Chill which i am also reading, the writing is a bit less sophisticated and the story line slow.

[Florence]

So happy to hear that a new Helene Tursten is on the way! She is one of my favorites, and Irene Huss is a great protagonist--she's intelligent and a little bit of a super hero with her martial arts, and she's also someone you could imagine having coffee with.

[[deleted user]]

I'm up to Chapter 5 on The Golden Calf. Really enjoying it so far.

[Mary]

While I love dysfunctional, angst-ridden Scandi detectives, I find Inspector Huss wonderful.

[[deleted user]]

I finished reading the Golden Calf. All in all, I enjoyed it and will read the others in the series at some point. I gave it four stars. Would have gone five but I had my reasons. This was my review.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13...

[Ken, Moderator (U.S.A.)]

Finally got The Golden Calf from the Library, Harwood Heights was the nice library to send it to me. I'll have to google map it. I was on the library list in January for this book. Feb. 20th so 10 more days. Be done with it tomorrow. 8 days ahead.

[Carol]

Finished xThe Torso and am now reading Night Rounds both of which are about the same in terms of character development and plot with the latter being better than the former. Other than the fact that this lady and her cohorts seem to drink coffee continuously , and the author describes their meals and eating habits a lot, the crimes are interesting but not complex. I never feel as tho I feel the protagonist 's thought processes altho she does eventually come up with the crime solution. I would like a bit more insight into her so that I could feel more empathy with her.

[[deleted user]]

Carol wrote: "Finished xThe Torso and am now reading Night Rounds both of which are about the same in terms of character development and plot with the latter being better than the former. Other than the fact th..."

I felt the same way reading The Golden Calf. Good point.

[Anne]

One of these days I'll be able to join the read-along. I put all of the Tursten's books on my mooch list at Bookmooch but haven't seen one come up yet!

[Ken, Moderator (U.S.A.)]

Finished The Golden Calf and really like it. She put a lot of extra touches into it. But it gave the flavor that Huss has a life of an ordinary women. Sammy getting into a fight with a police dog. What would you do?

[Florence]

Kenneth wrote: "Finished The Golden Calf and really like it. She put a lot of extra touches into it. But it gave the flavor that Huss has a life of an ordinary women. Sammy getting into a fight with a police do..."

I love Sammie! He's one of my favorite aspects of her books. He seems to get into a fair bit of trouble throughout the series, which feels like real life to me.

[Sue]

Started at the beginning and have finally finished Detective Inspector Huss. Really enjoyed it. The story twisted and turned, and there was a woman dealing with a family (not always easy) and work. Added to this were the prevailing sexual attitudes of the time but also some very tender moments. Excellent beginning to the series.

[Carol]

Finished all the series so far but still feel like I don't know much about who the protagonist really is. I know she has a spouse who is a chef and she has twins and a dog. But who is she? What drives her? What are her foibles. That is still missing. Hope the Author fleshes her out a bit more. I feel like I knew harry hole and Erlander but not her

[Anna]

Carol, I thought Huss is just a very bland type of person. I actually didn't think of her driving forces while reading the books where she's at, or if anything, it seemed like all she wanted was some very quiet and private life with her family, with some generic frustrations of a down to earth Swedish middle-aged modern woman. Like solve the crimes so she could be home with her husband sipping some wine, watching some movies in TV, and trying to enjoy the time with her kids before they, like good Swedes, will probably move out of her house when they turn 18.