The main character Hannah Swenson returns to her hometown Lake Eden, Minnesota after her father’s death. She opens the coffee shop “The Cookie Jar” where gossip travels as fast as can be expected in a town of 3,000 residents. One morning she finds a delivery driver killed in the alley behind her bakery with one of her cookies in his hand. To save her cookies’ reputation she starts investigating the murder. Bill, her police brother-in-law, appreciates her assistance.

Surprisingly Bill leaves most of the investigation to Hannah and she is the one who discovers a second murder victim at the company where the first victim was employed. Bill does not even argue when she refuses to reveal the identity of a woman who was with the first victim shortly before his murder. I find this a bit too unbelievable.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder is the first book in a series. Each book also contains cookie and/or dessert recipes. It is a cozy mystery, buy I doubt that I will read another Hannah Swensen novel. However, I will definitely try some of the recipes found in the book.

The 13th Hannah Swensen mystery Apple Turnover Murder will be released on February 23, 2010.

Our Lady of Pain, written by Elena Forbes 2008, is an English police procedural that takes place in London (Southwest in London) This is Forbes second novel with police detective Mark Tartaglia and his Side Kick Sam.  

Police procedurals can be more or less realistic when it comes to how the detectives solve their cases but you can tell that Forbes really tries and succeeds (at least I´m fooled) She speaks about this in this interview withCurled up with a good book.

Forbes also has the good taste to let the character be realistic. They all have both good and bad sides  which makes them feel like real persons and not “heroes”  which made me take in the characters better.

The case in this book is macabre and there is a gloomy mood in this book but not too much so it gets depressing.  I´m still not sure what I think of the end but I really enjoyed reading this book. Maybe it´s because she writes about London in a way that it almost becomes a character.  I so wanted to move to London (or at least visit it)  after reading this book. I actually used google map to find out where the victim was murdered, where the police station is and so on.   

The first book in the serie is “Die with me” In the Summer her third novel about Mark Tartaglia, ”Evil in Return” will be released and I´m looking forward to it!

Deckarhuset.se (TheCrimeHouse.com in swedish) has been up and down the entire weekend. This is due to some technical problems at our web hosting company. They are aware of the problem and are working hard to solve it. Hopefully the site will be up and running again soon!

It should be working again now

I have never been to a mystery convention, but maybe I will take this opportunity. Unfortunately the Forensic Science Day has already sold out, otherwise I think that could have been really interesting.

Left Coast Crime is an annual mystery convention sponsored by mystery fans, for mystery fans. The 20th Left Coast Crime Mystery Convention will be held in Los Angeles, California, March 11-14, 2010. The convention’s theme, BOOKED IN LA, highlights the special place of Los Angeles in the mystery noir literature of the early 20th Century.

The convention will feature panels of experts speaking about mysteries as a literary genre, awards to recognize outstanding books and people, special outings, and a booksellers’ room. About 200 mystery authors will be in attendance, as will representatives from publishing companies and booksellers. 

The Guests of Honor will be Jan Burke (author of the Irene Kelly mysteries) and Lee Child (author of the Jack Reacher series).

Those already registered are eligible to also register for Forensic Science Day. This pre-convention event will be at the California State University Los Angeles campus. The program will include a tour of the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center, a crime laboratory serving the LAPD and LA County Sherriff’s Department.  

Registration information can be found at the convention website.

This is a real page turner and sensation thriller. Someone kills newlyweds around Europe and sends a postcard with the murdered victims on them to journalists in the town where the murder takes place.

It´s not hard to figure out that Liza Marklund has created the character Dessie. Just as Annika Bengtzon, the head character in Lizas crime novels, Dessie is a journalist. Patterssons creation is Jacob, an american FBI agent whose daughter was one of the Postcard Killers victim.  Jacob is of course out for revenge and on hunt for the killer/s

I liked Dessie but had a harder time with Jacob. Jacob could be replaced with numerous FBI agents or police detectives I’ve read or seen on a criminal TV-Serie and I would have liked him. But in Sweden he seemed “too much” What’s interesting is that as soon as Jacob was on American grounds I bought his character on a whole different level. It will be very interesting to see what Americans think of the Swedish character Desire.

This is a thrilling Page Turner that gives you great entertainment while reading it but Is it the best I’ve ever read? Far from it, for that it takes more then thrills and sensations.

This book is available in Europe from this Tuesday (January 27th) but will not be released in the USA until summer.

The unemployed journalist Maria Allende and her family move into a house in the outskirts of Stockholm. When Maria finds blood in the kitchen she decides to find out more about the couple that lived in the house before them. She discovers that the husband is in prison because he allegedly killed his wife. Before the sentence he worked as a police officer who, despite beating his wife repeatedly, got to keep his job. Maria realizes that the story about the previous owners could be her ticket to getting another job and digs deeper than she probably should have done.

At the same time the police are investigating a death where a young man is found hanged in the attic of his girlfriend’s family. The case ends up on the table of prosecutor Madeleine Edwards and it becomes apparent that it could be an honor killing.

Katarina Wennstam’s goal with Dödergök seems to be to start a debate about violence against women and crimes that often go unpunished. The book brings up society’s deepest prejudices and I desperately want to like this book. I almost stopped reading after a few pages, but decided not to give up. However, I cannot put my finger on what it is that I dislike about it, other than the criminal’s monologs.

I stumbled on the free online game Fictional Detectives Trivia:

“Elementary, my dear Watson!”
…or is it? Mysteries in books, films, and television have beguiled us for our entire lives, and behind every mystery is a detective who will get to the bottom of it! We’ve put together a mystery of our own for you; call it The Curious Case Of The Fictional Gumshoes. So, here: take this magnifying glass, and this deerstalker hat…there! You’re on the case…with Fictional Detectives Trivia!

If you are looking for a few minutes of entertainment it is ok, but it is a one time thing, since the same questions reappear if you try to play a second round.

I´ve just read Deon Meyers “Dead at Daybreak” Deon Meyer is an South African Crime Writer. The style is Suspense/Hardboiled.

Zapotek van Heerden is an ex cop who is in really bad shape and now supports himself as a Private Detective. It´s obvius that something in the past made him a drunk and a very cynical man but exactly what made him into this angry and resentful man isn´t revealed until the end.

This book have two stories. The first is about a case he is hired to solve. The other is the story of Zapotek van Herdeen. The book changes every second chapter between these stories. This could be a problem, I´ve read plenty of books where memories and stories from the main person have taken away focus from the ”real story” but not in this case.  The Story of Zapotek is just as interesting as his case.

An antiquedealer is tortured and murdered and his testament who was in his safe is stolen. The case is very trhilling and gives you the chills. I really liked the two female characters in this book but I won´t reveal anything about them or more of the case since it will spoil the the reading experience.

Deon Meyers is doing a fantastic job and I will definately read his other books.

Christine Haldeman-Spegel is found brutally murdered in her apartment at Östermalm in Stockholm and at first she seems like a typical upper-class girl. Axel Hake is responsible of the murder investigation and tries to find out who she really was and what secrets her family may have been hiding.

Östermalmsmorden is the first part in Lars Bill Lundholm’s series about Axel Hake. Lundholm uses opposites very successfully in this book – rich and poor, good and evil, lies and truth, beauty and ugliness. I really recommend the book and will definitely read the rest of the books in the series.

I´ve just read Tana French second novel, about Cassie Maddox, who is  just being released in Swedish. (Her first novel was “In the Woods”)

Cassie Maddox, a former police infiltrator, works at the domestic violence department when she gets a call from a colleague to come and see a murder victim. It turns out that the victim (Lexie) looks exactly like her. To find out what happened they decide to let the collective which the victim lived with  to believe the victim didn´t die, but is in a coma. Cassie, being an ex infiltrator, takes her place. Is the killer one of the persons in the collective? Or maybe someone from the victims mysterious past? And will Cassie manage to fool everybody that she is Lexie?

I´m not going to say anything more except this. If you have ever read Donna Tartts “The Secret Story” you will get some of the same feelings that you felt reading that book. It´s not the same high standard, but what is? The Secret Story gave me one of my top 10  reading experience and everything close to that book is good. This is a well written suspense novel with a lot of interesting characters but the most important character in this book is a house.

This Book is a review copy from the Swedish Publishing Company Albert Bonnier