Viveca Sten Murder Mysteries #4-8

 

Viveca Sten is a top selling Swedish author who has set her books in the city of Stockholm and the hundreds of islands that compose the Stockholm archipelago. I review Book one last month (Still Waters) and since then I have read and enjoyed several more of her Sandhamn mysteries. They have interesting characters, they evoke Swedish society, and especially the nature of life on the islands that I had never heard of before.   I was going to wait until I read the full series before putting up more comments, but I think I need to move on to some other unfinished books by other authors that are waiting in the wings. So take a peak at my thoughts on four more of her books. 

In #4 Tonight You’re Dead a sadistic drill sergeant in the 1970’s abuses a group of recruits in the Swedish Coastal Guard.  Sten never quite manages to explain why the killer wants to murder all the members of the platoon when the real villain is the Drill Sergeant who trained them. Detective Andreeson is not even fully recovered from his last case before he has to find this villain. I never did get a full l understanding of the whole issue.  All told a bit disappointing that is only partially redeemed by Nora, Detective Andreeson’s childhood friend, finding a new lover to replace the hyper-controlling husband she has divorced.  Her move to independence still seems to be inspired by Ibsen’s Nora in A Doll’s House.

Book #5 titled In The Heat of the Moment and is also disappointing. The death of a young Midsummer Night party goer and drug addict seems to go nowhere with most of the prime suspects seeming to be rich, hapless, drunken  kids. Detective Andreeson and his crew don’t really solve anything as the resolution appears to happen to them rather than through their investigative efforts. Nora’s affair with Jonas, her new squeeze, is put on hold as her ex-husband Henrik seems to have had an unexplained attitudinal turn around after the young woman that engendered his divorce takes a runner on him .

The critical societal issue of adolescents who steal, party, drink themselves into stupor, take drugs, and have constant sex while their moneyed parents remain unconscious and generally unconcerned, not grappled with in any serious way. It is just depicted. I give this one a bare two stars.

In Harm’s Way (Book #6) gets back on track.  A crusading journalist is found dead in the snow just a few yards from the saving comfort of the Sailor’s Inn on the island of Sandhamn.  Motive is key here and Andreeson and his cohort dig into the past to find that the victim’s estranged husband has been in a fight with her over the guardianship of their daughter.  Deeper digging into the growing problem of conservative political thought and anti-immigrant sentiment in Sweden also begins to impact the case and ultimately leads to an exciting conclusion. In a clear reversal the appealing secondary plot line dealing with Andreesen’s friend Nora’s marital and workplace issues finds her new relationship with lover, airline pilot Jonas, seesawing between the new more caring former husband Henrik. It is clear that there is more to come there.  

Book #7 In the Shadow of Power continues to show some back on the track power. It is a year after Book #6 and Detective Thomas Andreesen is having doubts about his career. He has had an offer to join a private security firm and is torn between more money and regular hours and his gut feeling that he is doing an important job for society.  Nora and flyboy Jonas are now living together and have a blended family including all of their children from former marriages. 

Enter the specter of a prosperous business tycoon with anger control issues, a drug habit, and an overall abrasive personality. He has amassed his fortune in other climes and is now looking for a big killing in Russia that will finance his huge new mansion to be built on the island of Sandhamn.  The long-time residents of the island do not take kindly to this noueau riche bully.  

In spite of their disapproval of the man and his project, the locals all turn up at his gala housewarming party. The mystery deepens when a fire reduces the property’s guest house to rubble and turns into murder when an unidentified charred body is found in the ashes. That brings both Detective Andreeson and long time Sandamn resident Nora into the picture. Before this knot is untied there is plenty of excitement and violence. This one rises to a four out of five on my scale.  

Book #8 In the Name of Truth finds Nora in the throes of a major legal case and looking forward to wedding Jonas. Meanwhile, Thomas, who has re-united with his former wife, Pernilla, is having conflicts along the same lines that ended Nora’s marriage to Henrik. It is the modern question of which spouse’s job is more important, which job takes more time away from family responsibilities, and how does pay differential impact everything?    

Into this difficult personal dilemma pops a possible abduction of a young boy from a Sandhamn sailing camp. Thomas is mucho distraught because the boy is about the same age as his daughter.  The story cycles between Nora’s court case and the potential kidnapping until the two cases begin to show connections to each other.  Although the coincidences seem a bit too strained at times, the characters remain interesting and the ambience of the Swedish islands and their watery surroundings evoke an emotionally compelling presence.

Sten’s work is uneven at times, but since you can read them for a song or even borrow them free on Kindle, I have no problem in recommending that you dip into them.