I finished Henning Mankell’s Faceless Killers this morning. I’ve come to the conclusion that mysteries are the perfect summer read. They’re captivating and funny, sometimes interesting but always shocking in some way. They are rewarding in the way that Law and Order is rewarding. Thanks to JKS for recommending the book—I couldn’t put it down, just like the other mystery I read lately.
Oh, and I gave up on the quest to read the “classics” of literature, in this bloody heat, it’s impossible.
So, Faceless Killers finds Ystad (in Sweden) police inspector Kurt Wallander trying to solve a very difficult case. Two elderly farmers are attacked late one winter evening. The husband bludgeoned to death and his wife left for dead with her head in a noose. As the woman expires in the hospital, the last word she utters is “foreign”, over and over again. This sends Wallander, a rough and ready cop with a broken marriage and an even worse case of insomnia, on a crazy ride to find the killers. It’s a solid book that intertwines the mystery with the ins and outs of Swedish politics, in terms of how the country deals with immigration. Now I’m going to have to look up the rest of the books in the bloody series. Mysteries are even more addictive than chick lit.