Paul Humphreys rambles on....

Paul Humphreys rambles on....
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Tuesday November 28, 2006

A new/old Henning Mankell book

The man who smiled has just been published but in fact is an older book in terms of Inspectors Wallender's history compared to others that have been available for ages. The deaths of two lawyers one an accident, the second clearly murder are puzzling the police these two are father and son. Wallender is currently on extended sick leave as a result of depression having shot a criminal in a previous book. Before the second person is murdered the victim visits Wallender and pleads with him to investigate his fathers death. Guilt felt by Wallender for not having followed that up which results in the son's death is what sends him back to work again. It is soon clear to Wallender who is guilty of the crimes and also of two attempted murders that take place soon after. He has to work hard to get permision from his chief and the Swedish equivalent of the Crown Prosecution service to allow him to investigate this high flying businessman. The book is good up to this point but there is a slightly farcical ending where Wallender tries and succeeds in stopping this businessman leaving Sweden for good and out of reach of the Swedish law. A good holiday book to read though.

( Nov 28 2006, 12:00:02 AM PST ) Permalink

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