26. Shadow Woman by Ake Edwardson

August in Gothbenburg, Sweden means the hedonistic Gothenburg Party.  While people are partying during the weeklong celebration, there is also growing ethnic tension in the area.  When a woman’s body is found in a local park, with a strange symbol drawn on a draw near her, Chief Inspector Erik Winter has little clues to go by.  He knows that the woman has had a child, but when a neighbor reports a woman and her small daughter missing, the investigation takes a sudden twist.  Where is the dead woman’s daughter?  And how does her death tie into a bank robbery in Denmark that happened years ago?

While the popularity of the Stieg Larsson books have more and more people reading Scandinavian mysteries, Ake Edwardson has been writing and winning awards in Sweden for a number of years.  He is one of my favorite Swedish authors because of his complex stories and beautiful settings.  The Shadow Woman is the fifth book in his Erik Winter series to be translated into English, but the second book in the series (an unfortunate occurrence that happens frequently to translated books).  This psychological mystery is enhanced by the stark Swedish setting, and slowly builds tension throughout the book.  For a review of an earlier Erik Winter mystery, check out my review at http://tcpl.org/sarah/2007/03/13-never-end-by-ake-edwardson.html.  For readers of Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson.