I loved this book! This is the first book I've read by this Author but I will be reading more. The setting is in Sweden which is such a refreshing change. The history of the characters was spot on, not too much info., but just enough to establish a personality. The story had great flow all the way to the conclusion. This may just be an under the radar hit!

I love Viveca Sten's mysteries and I found all of them enjoyable, entertaing and interesting.
This was no exception.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC

4 and 1 /2 stars

Jeanette Thiels is a world-famous journalist; traveling to all corners of the world reporting on corruption. She receives a phone call that sends her fleeing to Sandhamn Island. She barely makes the ferry and is not feeling well. She checks into a hotel near the harbor. In her room, she can’t find her laptop. She knows she packed it! She is feeling worse; stomach pains rack her body. She decides to make the appointment she has made for dinner in the restaurant. She heads out into the worsening winter storm and collapses. There, she dies.

Thomas Andreasson is on the case. He goes to inform Jeanette’s ex-husband Michael of her death. He says everything was fine. Jeanette was always gone so he has sole custody of their daughter Alice. Alice walks in and reacts badly to the news. From Jeanette’s other friends, Thomas learns that that is not the case. Michael was controlling and mean to Jeanette; always shouting.

Nora Linde is Thomas’ occasional partner in his investigations. She works at a bank in the legal department. She was given a special assignment to vet the companies who want to do a deal with her bank. At first, she is very excited. When she digs into the material, she finds something odd. She takes it to her immediate boss and he shrugs it off with a little sexual harassment to go along with it.

Meanwhile, Thomas, Margit and Aram are getting almost nowhere with the investigation into Jeannette Thiels’ death. The pathologist confirms that it was murder, but all their leads are getting them nowhere. The interviewees are hiding something.

Thomas and Margit do something stupid and Aram does something dangerous.

All of the sudden, Thomas puts some of the puzzle together. In an exciting chase scene, Thomas grabs ahold of the by then injured culprit.

Meanwhile, Alice is along in the house when someone comes in and starts to search the house. Alice has discovered what her mother was hiding. She rushes about looking for a place to hide. Confronted by the person who killed her mother, she is locked in the bathroom while the home is set on fire.

The only thing disappointing about this book was that there wasn’t enough of Nora and Thomas investigating together in it. The subplot about Nora and her bank was intriguing, but I wasn’t so interested in it. The book was very well written, plotted and, especially, translated by Marlaine Delargy. I like Thomas and appreciate his relationship with Pernilla and Elin. The other characters in the book were interesting, especially Pauline and Moore – who were pure evil. They were characters you love to hate. Ms. Sten’s descriptions of the Swedish winter were picturesque and enthralling. The reader can feel the bitter cold seeping through their bones. There were enough twists and turns in this book to keep the reader guessing, in spite of the reveal of the bad guys late in the book.

I want to thank NetGalley and AmazonCrossing for forwarding to me a copy of this wonderful book to me so that I may read, enjoy and review it.

I must say that Viveca Sten actually outdid herself writing this book. Nora Linde had Christmas and New Years at her house on Sandhamn Island with her sons Adam and Simon and for Christmas her ex Henrik. While there, a journalist, Jeanette Thiels dies, frozen to death outside her hotel. Detective Inspector Thomas Andreasson was told to investigate this woman's body on Sandhamn. As it unfolds it turns out after the autopsy she had died from a rare poison found in her intestines. We meet her ex husband, Michael Thiels and his daughter Alice, who is really upset hearing of her mother's death. She's so upset she blames her father for her death. We meet others in Thomas's team including Margit Grankvist, Staffan Nilsson (forensic technician), Aram, Karin, Sachsen, and the Old Man, the boss.
Mean while, Nora had been given a project that put her under Jukka Heinonen, as a lawyer showing how Finland and Sweden had merged and now they were selling their branches in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Nora didn't like the deal because it involved receiving monies through banks that were legal but questionable. She's set up a meeting with her boss which didn't go right.
Aram had another idea that he wanted to bring up and that was that the 'New Sweden' was by far the group that the immigrants hated and were in the way of progress. The people in the administration of it were by far the subjects in Jeanette Thiels papers.
These were by far the main focus of the story and were discussed in depth with all the trimmings that Viveca could come up with that made your gray cells ask questions. I won't spoil it for you but what a good read this was, I gave it 4 stars out of 5.

Thank you NetGalley and AmazonCrossing for the eARC.
Really liked it, an excellent read.
Sweden's best-known foreign journalist is found dead in Sandhamn outside the restaurant she tried to reach Christmas Eve, found frozen solid the next day. Thomas gets the case and, once it's decided it was most probably murder, the first suspect is the woman's ex-husband. The couple had a contentious relationship as they were fighting over custody of their teenage daughter.
In the meantime Nora is spending the holidays on Sandhamn with her two boys and has a surprisingly pleasant visit from her ex-husband. She's awaiting her boyfriend's return on New Year's day, which is confusing enough, but when there's s problem with her work she is devastated by the possible consequences. Should she consult her ex or wait for her lover? She desperately needs someone to talk to...
I love this series and await the next one impatiently! Highly recommended.