Killer's Art

Mari Jungstedt apparently has quite a reputation as a Scandinavian noir writer. Of course there is a policeman as a main character, Anders Knutas, but a journalist for Swedish TV, Johan Berg, also plays a major role in solving the mystery. Set primarily on the island of Gotland, in the medieval town of Visby, this centers around art, homosexuality, and revenge. Like seemingly all Scandinavian literature, the weather is also a major player, for it is the dead of winter when, following a successful artist launch, highly respected Visby art gallery owner, Egon Wallin, is found murdered and hung from the tallest gate in the ancient city wall. Seemingly all efforts to find the killer hit dead ends, even though investigations uncover stolen art works hidden in Wallin's house and paperwork is found revealing that Wallin had secretly sold his gallery to a company fronting for his major competitor in Stockholm.  Then, a stolen scupture from Wallin's gallery is left behind at the site of a major art theft in Stockholm, that seems to tie the two events together. Still the authorities are stymied. Meanwhile, Johan, having finally convinced his woman friend, Emma, who is also  the mother of his child, to marry him,  pursues his own theories to find the killer. And apparently he gets too close because his infant daughter is kidnapped.
This is a tense, atmospheric and tightly drawn plot. The only thing I found a bit distracting were some long-ish thought processes on the part of Johan about how much in love with Emma he is and how ready he is to change his life. It's good to know what a character is thinking, and, of course, the upward trajectory of his relationship makes the ending all the more shocking, but it could have been done with less space. Emma is revealed, for example, in a much more succinct manner. It is clear that much has come before and that there is lots more going on in several of the relationships than is available in this one book (this is the 4th in the series featuring Detective Superintendent Knutas). Certainly recommended for fans of Scandinavian crime fiction. Reviews: The Independent, and Publishers Weekly.