It is unfortunately often the case that translated crime fiction series are published in England and the United States out of sequence. This is also the case with Death Angels (Original title: Dans med en angel, published in 1997) too – it is the fourth novel in the Chief Inspector Erik Winter series published in English, but it is actually the first book in the series (and Åke Edwardson’s third novel). The series takes place in Gothenburg.

In Death Angels readers familiar with the series meet a younger, unmarried Erik Winter. However, he is still Chief Inspector. Winter was the youngest detective ever to be promoted to such an elevated position. And he is pretty much the Erik Winter we have come to know in the later books: A bit remote and contemplative, a loner, quite a bit of a snob, likes expensive brands and jazz, slightly philosophically oriented.

In this book the youngish Chief Inspector teams up with Scotland Yard to solve a mysterious case of parallel killings of young British and Swedish tourists. It involves young men murdered in extremely horrible ways, with blood on walls. Strangely Englishmen are killed in Sweden, and Swedes in London. The killer, dubbed Hitchcock, appears to have filmed the butchery. This is evidenced by traces of a tripod stand in the victims’ blood at the scenes of the crimes. Possibly the plan is to distribute the recordings as snuff films.

Winter sends his people searching wide and deep. Strip clubs seem to a possibility for finding people who might know something. A female stripper named “Angel”, whom one of Winter’s detectives investigating strip clubs gets in touch with, seems to be a person that knows more than she tells. And then a thief who breaks into a house finds a sack full of clothes that have lots of blood on them.

Death Angels is well constructed police procedural. The story is a little slow in taking off. It is not quite as good as Edwardson’s later novels in the series, but we have to remember that it is the debut book in the series. And as such Death Angels is very good opening to a series that has improved over time. The novel is also smoothly translated. And the ending is very interesting, with some very neat twists in the tale.

Links to books by Ake Edwardson at Amazon US, Amazon UK, and Amazon CAN.

Sun and Shadow is the first book (translated to English) in Ake Edwardson’s crime book series about Swedish detective, Chief Inspector Erik Winter (see also our reviews of the other books by Ake Edwardson). Erik Winter is a very interesting and intriguing, somewhat withdrawn character. He is a bit of a snob, jazz fan and fond cook, and loves Italian clothes. But he is also considerate and philosophical, and the youngest policeman of his rank in Sweden. However, Winter is not a lone wolf, he is part of a team, and in the book the sense of teamwork and group effort is something Edwardson is good at portraying.

In Sun and Shadow we are introduced to swingers in city of Gothenburg in Sweden. A couple entertains a stranger in their Gothenburg flat, a man who plays death metal music and doesn’t behave quite as expected. He kills them and leaves their apartment with the music still playing.

For more than a week a newspaper boy has watched his deliveries piling up behind a front door. The loud music playing inside the flat seems odd and the boy becomes increasingly afraid. The police are contacted.

What greets Chief Inspector Erik Winter and his team when they arrive appears as a grotesque stage setting. There are some clues, but they are hard to follow. Erik Winter feels that the murderer is providing them with a riddle of nightmares, of good versus evil, of sun and shadow.

Then another couple is killed. The same murderer has hit again. The murder has taken place very close to Erik Winter’s home, and his pregnant girlfriend is nervous. And she is also scared by mysterious phone calls. Also, the investigation unearths a possible link between the murders and the police force. So now even friendly faces are not to be trusted, and, when the killer strikes again, Winter is in a race against time.

The writing in Sun and Shadow is excellent. The plot is interesting and full of twists. Edwardson leaves a number of clues to his readers, but still the solution is a surprising. Overall, Sun and Shadow is a well-rounded and exciting crime-novel.

You can order Ake Edwardson’s books about Erik Winter, from Amazon US here: Ake Edwardson books.
Or, order Ake Edwardson’s books about Chief Inspector Erik Winter from Amazon UK: Sun and Shadow: An Erik Winter Novel, Never End, or Frozen Tracks