Viveca Sten’s Sandhamn Series

I made the mistake of reading Viveca Sten’s criminal novels in the wrong order and I started with the third novel ”Basically without Guilt.” I recently read “In the Calmest Waters” and “In the Inner Circle.” All the novels are part of the series mainly set at Sandhamn in Stockholm’s archipelago. Detective Thomas and his childhood friend the lawyer Nora and her family are the main characters.

In the first novel “In the Calmest Waters” a dead man has floated ashore in the middle of the busy tourist season and the police is about to dismiss the case as an accident, but when the man’s relative is found murdered shortly thereafter it is evident that they are dealing with a murderer.

In the second novel “In the Inner Circle” the vice president of the Royal Swedish Sailing Society is murdered right as the sailing race Gotland Runt begins. When another of the society’s members is killed panic spreads. Will the police catch the killer before another member is killed?

The sad part about starting in the wrong end is that I knew how some of the personal relations would develop and the author’s language and the intrigues have developed with each novel, so it felt like taking a step back in terms of quality. But it is not Viveca Sten’s fault that I read them in the wrong order and the novels do get better and better.

Original titles in Swedish: “I de lugnaste vatten” and “I den innersta kretsen”