Murder in Malmö – Torquil MacLeod

A gunman is loose in Malmö and he’s targeting immigrants. The charismatic head of an advertising agency is found dead in his shower. Inspector Anita Sundström wants to be involved in the murder investigations, but she is being sidelined by her antagonistic boss. She is assigned to find a stolen painting by a once-fashionable artist, as well as being lumbered with a new trainee assistant. She also has a lot to do to restore her professional reputation after a deadly mix-up in a previous high-profile case. Then another prominent Malmö businessman is found murdered and Sundström finds herself back in the action and facing new dangers in the second Anita Sundström Malmö mystery.

Murder in Malmö follows hot on the footsteps from Meet Me in Malmö, which I enjoyed a great deal, though the ending of Meet Me (hinted at in the synopsis above) left me surprised!  In Murder, Anita has been assigned to investigate a stolen painting by a prominent artist whilst her colleagues are dealing with the rather more juicy murder of a Malmö businessman. I’d highly recommend reading Meet Me first though, as there are certain elements in Murder which are better experienced knowing the first story.

Naturally, as the cases progress, the tangled yarns of plot slowly unravel and Anita is soon back in the thick of the action…

i’ve read a lot of Nordic Noir (or, as a friend on twitter put it, Noirdic crime) recently, from Iceland (Ragnar Jonasson’s splendid Snowblind), to Norway ( Gunnar Staalesen’s ecological thriller We Shall Inherit The Wind) and now onto Sweden, though Torquil MacLeod hails from Edinburgh, making him the first non-Scandinvian author! His writing shows a  clear familiariarity with and fondness for Malmö and all things Swedish and the locations throughout the book are very evocative – as with Ragnar’s book, you almost feel that if you were put down in the centre of Malmö, you’d be able to make your way around (and certainly find a good Swedish coffee!)

I really liked the main character, Anita Sundström. She’s great in the first book, but her character really seems to grow and shine more in her second outing. Her backstory is interesting and her interactions with the other members of the mostly-male police squad feel authentic, though sometimes unpleasant. There’s a well-balanced cast in both books and the major players, good and bad, all work well together as characters, though not necessarily as colleagues.

The mysteries and murders are also tautly plotted – there’s a lot going on and a veritable smörgåsbord of supporting characters and suspects. It’s one of those books where you find yourself just wanting one more chapter, then realising it’s 1am…

I’m looking forward to Anita’s next adventures in Missing in Malmö and Midnight in Malmö. Luckily they’re coming later this year in paperback, and out now in ebook.

Thanks to Linda at McNidder & Grace for the review copies of Missing and Murder. As always, the opinions in the review are entirely mine.

MURDER IN MALMÖ by TORQUIL MACLEOD
Published by MCNIDDER & GRACE CRIME
www.mcnidderandgrace.co.uk

BLOG TOUR 9-24 August 2015
#blogtour #murderinmalmö
@mcnidderandgrace @LindaMacFadyen

9 Aug – The Welsh Librarian       http://thewelshlibrarian.blogspot.co.uk
10 Aug – Reading Room With A View        http://reading-room-with-a-view.blogspot.co.uk
11 Aug – Northern Crime        http://northerncrime.wordpress.com
12 Aug – http://ravencrimereads.wordpress.com        http://ravencrimereads.wordpress.com
13 Aug – http://crimeworm.wordpress.com        http://crimeworm.wordpress.com
14 Aug – Off-the-shelf book reviews        http://off-the-shelfbooks.blogspot.co.uk
15 Aug – Liz Loves Books        http://lizlovesbooks.com
16 Aug – The Book Bag        http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/
17 Aug – Euro Drama http://eurodrama.wordpress.com
18 Aug – espressococo        https://espressococo.wordpress.com < YOU ARE HERE. HELLO! 🙂
19 Aug – Blue Book Balloon        http://bluebookballoon.blogspot.co.uk
20 Aug – Café Thinking        https://cafethinking.wordpress.com
21 Aug – Claire Loves to Read        http://claireh18.booklikes.com
22 Aug – Mystery People        http://mysterypeople.co.uk
23 Aug – Crime Thriller Girl        http://crimethrillergirl.com
24 Aug – La Crème de la Crime        https://lacremedelacrime.wordpress.com

Author: dave

Book reviewer, occasional writer, photographer, coffee-lover, cyclist, spoon carver and stationery geek. View all posts by dave