William Leith15 November 2012
The Winter of the Lions
by Jan Costin Wagner
(Vintage, £7.99)
Wagner, a German with a Finnish wife, writes about Finnish detectives with a beautiful simplicity; he really captures the Scandinavian vibe. It’s cold, ordered, plain, simple. Then the simplicity is shattered. Our cop hero Kimmo, having lost his wife, finds himself falling for a woman who tells him she’s a prostitute and that she’s been raped. His life has been turned on its axis, and now it’s turning again. And then a man is stabbed to death while he skis. This calls for Kimmo’s colleague, Patrik, a forensic expert. But Patrik is already there, Kimmo is told. He’s the dead guy. Very dry.
