After having read some not so good police procedurals lately, I was hoping to find one that would blow me away. I really enjoyed the premise of an inspiring author’s, Esther, work in progress encouraging a killer to start on their spree. At first it’s not really apparent to anyone this is what is happening, but when that part of the story kicked in, it got more interesting.

There were lots of suspects and red herrings, and although I knew certain people were playing parts in the murders, Engberg leaves some very easy to spot clues as to this, at first I was thinking it would go in a completely different direction. The way that the wrap up went was also pretty easy to see after about halfway through the book, but Engberg still had me guessing a bit and I didn’t see how all the pieces fit together until the conclusion. Because of that, The Tenant kept me turning the page because I wanted to find out the actual reason for the murders. But at the same time I felt it was a slow read because of the characters.

I didn’t particularly enjoy the two Detectives, Korner and Werner. Korner was depressed for about the first half of the book, and that I can totally see with his situation and having to deal with the scum of the earth, but then he does a complete 360 and is a sex crazed man who starts to turn into a stalker. It was such a harsh difference and I didn’t feel as if it added anything to the story. If the women that he was obsessing over had turned out to be the killer I could have looked past it, but not the way it stands in the book.

As for Det. Werner, she was just extremely passive aggressive and whiney. Neither are traits that I enjoy in a person, but definitely not in what should be one of the strong female leads in a book. And almost the entire detective team seemed to hate each other or were just angry people, which really doesn’t make for an enjoyable read. It is so hard to empathize with characters if they have no redeeming traits or if you don’t see yourself in them, and unfortunately that was the case with The Tenant. If I don’t care about most of the characters, it’s hard for me to care about a book.

The Tenant is the debut crime-fiction novel from Katrine Engberg.

"A young girl is brutally murdered in her apartment. An intricate design is carved into her face. Copenhagen detectives Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner are assigned to find the killer. They discover an unfinished murder mystery written by the landlady that describes the murder - they find unwanted babies - and a tangle of relationships between everyone involved with the victim. And when the killer strikes again, the pressure increases to catch him before he kills again..."

The first half of this book took a bit to get going and to feel like you knew enough about the characters to get the story. If you enjoy crime fiction, especially Nordic crime fiction, much of this will be familiar. There's a different feel to how crimes are handled and solved. There are some specific Danish words that didn't translate that would be nice to know (How about something in the acknowledgments?) The two main detectives make a good team - Jeppe is dealing with his recent divorce and depression and Anette is not afraid to be honest with him.

There are a lot of moving pieces here - sometimes it feels like the story is careening out of control a bit. But Engberg pulls it together and gives us some unexpected twists and a wild ending. Crime fiction fans will want to read this one.

Someone not only killed Julie, they carved things in her face. What an odd murder. Or is it? Detectives Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner untangle a very strange case in this interesting Danish noir. Julie's landlord Esther has written a murder mystery which details a case much like Julie's. She's shared this on line with her writer's group, which expands the list of suspects for not only Julie's murder but others as well. Jeppe is the classic tortured detective- and he's better fleshed out than Anette. This is gross initially but it's not too twisty. Loved the atmospherics of Copenhagen. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I'd like to see more with these two (and more about Anette).

This is an excellent murder mystery by #Katrina Engberg, that was translated for the American market. Set in Copenhagen, it provides a wonderful, picturesque background, for a gruesome, twisted serial killer, out to exert revenge. The detective team is very diverse, with unique personalities, that kept the plot interesting and moving along.
This isn’t your cookie cutter murder mystery, easy to predict the direction and its outcome. It keeps the reader guessing, as the plot thickens and more is revealed. A talented and creative new author for the American market, and I anticipate and look forward to more from her.
My thanks to #NetGalley #ScoutPress #SimonandSchuster and the author for my ARC. All opinions are mine, independently. Definitely a worthwhile read!

The Tenant is an excellent mystery from Denmark that opens with a shocking murder of a young woman, a tenant in a house in Copenhagen. The murder is discovered by another tenant, an elderly man who nearly dies himself from shock. Esther de Laurenti, the owner/landlord is a retired academic who lives on the third floor and is writing her first mystery novel. It soon becomes clear that in some way the murder is centered on her, particularly after a second murder follows soon after.

Jeppe is the lead investigator on the case. He’s not at his best, still recovering from a painful betrayal and divorce. He usually relies on intuition, but it seems not to be working this time. Perhaps the oxycontin and acetaminophen for his backache is dulling his thought processes. Nonetheless, careful police procedure and the process of tossing ideas and theories back and forth among the other investigators advance the case. Perhaps he is not firing on all cylinders, but when someone confesses, his intuition kicks into high gear.



I enjoyed The Tenant very much. It has the diligent procedural rigor expected of Scandinavian police procedurals. It also has the elements of the grotesque that put the noir in Scandinoir. The mystery is complex. The resolution is satisfying, though as grotesque as the murder. It is fair so that readers will perhaps identify the killer a few pages before the detective. There are enough examples of error to make the detectives realistically imperfect. There might be a bit more of Jeppe’s internal thoughts, but maybe that’s the oxy. The translation is excellent, so much so that it never felt translated. I look forward to more novels from Engberg.

The Tenant will be released on January 14th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.

The Tenant at Gallery| Scout Press | Simon & Schuster
Katrina Engberg on Instagram

I love Scandinavian films, books, and television series. A great new year surprise was the novel, The Tenant, by Katrine Engberg. This procedural cop thriller located in the heart of Copenhagen presented the perfect book for me. Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner, two opposite personality types, are long-time partners, assigned to a very horrible crime. A young woman murdered in her apartment is shocking even to the two seasoned detectives.

The building's owner, Esther de Laurenti, lives on the top floor. Esther is a recently retired literature professor and has lived in the building all her life. A tenant, old Gregers Hermansen, accidentally found the victim, another tenant, Julie Stender. The story immediately jumps into overdrive when Gregers collapses at the gruesome sight, and the police arrive.

The long list of unlikable characters pile up and leave me without a hint of who could have murdered Julie. I enjoyed the patience Jeppe and Annette have for each other, and the bread crumbs KE drops around for the reader. The Tenant is an excellent crime novel and study of the human foibles that follow us throughout life. Everyone makes mistakes when they are young, but unfortunately, some receive punishment beyond what they deserve.

I read this book in one sitting and recommend it to all Danish crime lovers and lovers of good writing! Thank you to the author, Gallery/Scout Press, and NetGalley for this ARC.

THE TENANT • Katrine Engberg • ⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery/Scout Press for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Abridged Synopsis: When a young woman is discovered brutally murdered in her own apartment, Copenhagen police detectives Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner are assigned to the case. A link between the victim, Julie Stender, and her landlady, Esther de Laurenti is soon established. When Julie turns out to be the murder victim in an unfinished mystery novel that Esther has been writing, the link between fiction and real life grows both more urgent and more dangerous. Is Esther the culprit—or just another victim, trapped in a twisted game of vengeance?

What Worked: The premise of this book was interesting. Imagine writing a murder mystery where the victim is loosely based off of someone you know, only to realize weeks later that someone committed a murder based off of what you had written!? It has the potential for a great thriller. Also cool and unique? The story takes place in Copenhagen!

What Didn’t Work: The execution. While the idea was cool, the story itself seemed to drag on while simultaneously being all over the place. Maybe the translation is to blame, but the writing fell flat for me. I was never surprised, shocked, or had that “I can’t put this book down; I need to know what happens!” feeling that is evoked by a good thriller/mystery. I cannot honestly say I liked any of the characters, and the ending was lackluster as well. I will say though that I did not consider DNFing this book because I still cared to find out who the killer was, which should count for something.

What ultimately docked this book down to a 2-star read for me though was Korner. He is a boring, unlikeable and pathetic central character. Boy was he weird with women too (*and I don’t think he was supposed to come off that way)! When we were not reading about the case/murder, Engberg decided to focus on his sex life for some reason, and it was so cringeworthy (not steamy, just BAD) that I had to take breaks to message a friend who was also reading this book about it. These parts seemed to be written by a male who had never actually had a sexual experience before…Anyway these occurrences in no way progressed the storyline and was not an enjoyable side plot.

TLDR: This was not the thriller for me. The characters were too stereotypical/lame, the plot felt slow and never thrilled me, and the ending was lackluster.

Disclaimer: I also am not a fan of Riley Sager’s books so maybe give this one a try anyway because I may just be picky about thrillers/crime focused mysteries. Engberg is an international bestseller whom many seem to love so I may be in the minority here!

(**This review has been posted to both my Goodreads account and Instagram under the username/handle: lets.get.literate)

This is a debut Nordic thriller novel translated to English by Katrine Engberg, an international best seller. I love the Scandinavian crime fiction novels - so gritty and suspenseful. I was so excited to able to read this!

Tiny Synopsis: Two detectives, Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner, are struggling to solve a violent crime in which Julie Stender was murdered in her apartment with a pattern carved onto her face in the same vein as a paper cut-out art. There is also a mysterious link to the landlady Esther and how close she is to the story being a crime writer herself. The killer wants revenge. Korner and Werner are on a roller coaster ride to find out who is guilty or involved whether they know it or not.

My Review:⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 / 5 stars


I enjoyed this. I love the way Engberg writes this novel - you immerse yourself into Copenhagen and the moodiness of the story. I felt the loneliness of the Korner and his indifferent partnership with Anette. The crime committed against Julie Stender really irked me to the core and after reading so many crime novels - that’s quite a feat. I wouldn’t say it was too gory or descriptive - but just enough so you know what was going on and implied. The ending was the only thing that was a bit lackluster for me -without giving away spoilers. I felt the book kept a constant pace throughout which is nice for a build up at the end but I was left a bit unsatisfied. I am still looking forward to reading other future novels from Engberg though -

I recommend checking out this well-crafted crime fiction.
I will be checking out more from Katrine Engberg in the future. However, it was only a 3.5 star read for me. It would have been a 5 star read but some of the male character's point of view was hard to read.
Full Review to Come!

4* plus! I thoroughly enjoyed this debut mystery by Danish author Katrine Engberg and thank the publisher for providing me with an arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

In the house in Copenhagen owned by retired professor Esther de Lauerenti, one of her tenants, a young woman named Julie Stender, is found brutally stabbed to death. Officer Jeppe Korner is assigned the lead in the case along with his partner Anette Werner and the Homicide team.

Everything about this case is complicated. It seems that Esther has been writing a murder mystery in her retirement, basing the story on Julie, her past, and the building they live in. And now it seems the murderer has used this story as the template for his own killing. But who had access to the story?

Jeppe is a typically flawed male character, who seems to have trouble setting his personal problems aside to get on with the investigation. He and his partner Anette are an odd couple who irritate each other endlessly but seem to be a good match as a team. I am looking forward to reading more in this new series by Engberg, a very talented suspense writer.

The Tanant is the first novel in Katrine Engberg’s Korner/Werner series. Much of the series is out already, but this is the first one translated to English (that I know of). It’s a Scandinavian crime novel with undeniable flair and character development.
A body has turned up in Copenhagen. This isn’t the first murder the city has seen, but it is their most grisly case in recent times. Worse still is the mystery surrounding her potential killer – and their motive for doing so.
Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner are perhaps the two most unlikely partners you’ll ever find. But they do their jobs well, especially in regards to solving the murder of a young local woman.

“Is it one of my girls? That can’t be right. No one dies in my building.”

Warnings: As with many a murder mystery, The Tenant covers a couple more graphic subjects. In this case it’s mostly to do with the murder itself, which can get slightly graphic, both in description and implication. There are also mentions of stalking, mental health issues, underage relationships (past tense), and other things along those lines.

I’ll be honest with you here; I didn’t quite know what to expect when diving into The Tenant. I had never read a Scandinavian crime novel, and thus really had no foundation to base any expectations off of.
That being said, I really enjoyed The Tenant. Katrine Engberg did a delightful job of bringing us a unique set of characters and scenarios to read and enjoy. Honestly, the writing itself was exceptionally done – full of lush details and descriptions.
Speaking of, whoever they got to translate must be very talented. I never once would have guessed that The Tenant was translated, had I not known it going into it. In fact, it seemed like they not only carried over Engberg’s intent, but much of the descriptive nature as well.
There was something very…human about the characters in Engberg’s story. Our lovely detectives, Jeppe and Anette, were flawed, but that made them all the more approachable. These were not perfect action heroes, and while that sometimes resulted in them getting into cringe-worthy situations, on the whole, I think it elevated the novel that much further.
As for the mystery itself? The description of this novel hints at it being another murder mystery based on a novel (written by one of the main characters, naturally). That sounds like a common trope, I know. But honestly? Engberg did something different here, and it was fun seeing the different course this change created. It wasn’t at all the trope I was expecting/fearing.
I’ll admit that there were some parts that were slightly predictable or otherwise cleaned up too nicely. But that was okay with me. Sometimes it’s nice to have a cozy mystery novel, right? And in this case, it did balance out the darker elements that Engberg wrote into her story.
I’m not sure if the rest of this series has been translated yet, but I’m sure that it will be in due time. I enjoyed Jeppe and Anette’s characters enough to make me eager to get my hands on the next one though! So I’ll be keeping an eye out for more.

I received a copy of The Tenant from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I would give this book 2.5 stars.

The Tenant has all of the elements that typically grab my interest and keep me enthralled by a book and yet, this book just never seemed to grab me. I picked it up and put it down several times before finally finishing it a month and change after I first began reading it. I felt as though I slogged through it and it never seemed to fully hold my attention. It may have simply been that I didn't particularly like any of the characters and it felt like there was no real tension in the story, but unfortunately it simply didn't do it for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery/Scout Press for the opportunity to review The Tenant.

This was a great mystery. I flip flopped a few times on who I though did the deed. A very twisted web of characters. Well written and well thought out. I enjoyed having the book from a variety of point of views of not just the detectives but a couple of the characters as well. At times I got a little annoyed with Jeppe and his pining over his divorce, but I guess that was in there for character development, though I think not needed.

Is an Unfinished Novel the Blueprint for Murder?

Julie Stender, a young woman newly arrived in Copenhagen, is found dead in her apartment with an unusual design carved in her face. Esther di Laurenti, the owner of the building, is shocked by the murder particularly because it mimics the plot of a novel she’s writing. She has only shared the novel with her on-line writer’s group; could one of them be the culprit? Esther, a retired professor, also loves wine, perhaps to excess, and dinner parties. These sometimes get out of control. Could one of these somehow have precipitated Julie’s death?

Jeffe Korner and his partner, Annette Werner are given the case. They’re an odd couple, but they appear to interact well to solve crimes. Jeffe is a rather sad, sensitive character. He’s recovering from a divorce and is still hurting. Annette, in Jeffe’s estimation, is a bulldozer. She’s much bolder and more straightforward than he is.

This is a dark Nordic mystery. The plot is complex with multiple murders and potential suspects entering the narrative. I found the pace a little slow, but other Nordic mysteries have the same tempo. However, the appearance of more bodies and the slowly building solution to the mystery kept me reading.

The translation was well done. It never felt stilted. The setting was perfect for the characters. It created the dark atmosphere appropriate for this twisted story.

If you enjoy a dark police procedural with an interesting background, you may enjoy this book.

I received this book from Scout Press for this review.

I enjoyed this new series. I have not read much Danish crime and this held its own. The pairing between Jeppe and Anette is a good one with lots of depth. The mystery got a bit complicated but was interesting overall. I look forward to reading more in this series.
I was given a copy from Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

3*.

I started this one on the plane from JKT to NRT en route to the US with hopes I would get through it and many more before the new year. I did not. I did not reach my Goodreads goal for the first time in 5 years. I will blame the stress of the last minute international move, and not my lack of attention span.

The Tenant is the first book by Katrine Engberg that I've read and I did enjoy the writing and the Swedish suspense genre in general. It is the story of a murder of a young girl, that happens in a 3-flat in a town in Sweden. I know next to nothing about Sweden so it was interesting but not affecting. The story is told by the overwrought, emotional detective who has his own issues, The mystery revolves around the Landlord, an older academic who throws "wild parties" (according to her elder male tenant who accidentally discovers the body if they young girl who lives just below him).

I enjoyed it but didn't LOVE it.

*with thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for this honest review.

A Scandinavian thriller told with numerous plots twists and multiple story lines. A police procedural that will keep you guessing up until the end. This was a fun read that was hard to put down.

**I received an electronic ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review of this book.

Really enjoyed this read.

Well written, and I felt the flow of the storyline was just right. I enjoy Police / Detective procedural and this didn’t disappoint. The two main detectives were what I felt the “yin/yang” to one another and complimented their ability to team up. I love when the lead detectives may not necessarily “get along or enjoy each other’s company” yet they are able to maintain professionalism and work together when the chips are down. How it should be.

It was a quick read for me, again flowing just the right speed. Nothing too complicated, and a great book for the end of the day.

Thanks for the opportunity to read this one!

I was excited when I received The Tenant. The Scandinavian thriller genre is new-ish for me but one I’ve been playing with for a while. The premise had me hooked unfortunately I fell off the hook fairly early on.

There were sections of the novel that had my full attention, more towards the last quarter but overall I’d describe this one as a very, very slow burn with little pay off. The mystery itself is nothing earth shattering, in fact by the end I didn’t care so much about who but how messed up the characters were. These are flawed characters but I never connected with any of them, which makes it tough to really sink in.

Many readers will love The Tenant but for me it was slow and I never connected. I may recommend it to someone looking for a slow burn mystery but there are so many out there that I don’t know if this one will remain at the top of my mind.

Thank you Gallery Scott Press & NetGalley for providing this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book started out interesting but slowed down towards the end. I struggled to finish the book. I’ve read a few Scandinavian crime books and and intrigued by the differences from US crime novels. It was no different with this book. I like reading about the differences and I enjoyed this part of the book. I found some of the characters uninteresting which made it difficult for me to get invested in the story.