Helene Tursten

"Maud is an irascible 88-year-old Swedish woman with no family, no friends, and... no qualms about a little murder. This funny, irreverent story collection by Helene Tursten, author of the Irene Huss investigations, features two-never-before translated stories that will keep you laughing all the way to the retirement home. Ever since her darling father's untimely death, Maud has lived in the family's spacious apartment in downtown Gothenburg, Sweden,...

When a nurse is murdered and another disappears during a hospital blackout, Detective Inspector Irene Huss of the Violent Crimes Unit struggles with a report by the crime's only witness, who claims she saw a nurse who died sixty years earlier.

"He watches the women from the shadows. He has an understanding with them; as long as they follow his rules, they are safe. But when they sin, he sentences them to death. A woman is found dead in a cemetery, strangled and covered in plastic. A thorough examination of the corpse reveals that the killer left behind no evidence. But just a few days before her death, the victim received a flower, an unintelligible note, and a photograph of herself. Detective...

"It's May and the snow has hardly melted in Goteborg, Sweden, but things are heating up quickly for Detective Inspector Irene Huss in the Violent Crimes Unit. The body of a teenage girl is found in the woods, naked and horrifically scarred. Then there's the mummified body that is discovered bricked up in a chimney on a demolition site, not to mention the city's ongoing problem with gang violence. With the sudden influx of cases and one detective out...

"Just when things have finally cooled down for 88-year-old Maud after the disturbing discovery of a dead body in her apartment in Gothenburg, a couple of detectives return to her doorstep, ruining a perfectly good afternoon. Though Maud deftly dodges their questions with the skill of an Olympic gymnast a fifth of her age, she wonders if suspicion has fallen on her, little old lady that she is. The truth is, ever since Maud was a girl, death has seemed...

"The first installment in Helene Tursten's brand new series featuring the strong, smart Detective Inspector Embla Nystrom. From a young age, 28-year-old Embla Nystrom has been plagued by chronic nightmares and racing thoughts. Though she still develops unhealthy fixations and makes rash decisions from time to time, she has learned to channel most of her anxious energy into her position as Detective Inspector in the mobile unit in Gothenburg, Sweden,...