Killer's Art - Softcover

Mari Jungstedt has previously worked as a reporter on Swedish national public radio and television. She also had a brief career as a fashion model in New York City. Her novels featuring Superintendent Anders Knutas and the journalist Johan Berg are set on the island of Gotland, where Jungstedt resides during the summer months. Six titles have been the basis for Swedish movies. Mari Jungstedt lives in Stockholm, Sweden, and has two children.

The fourth book in the Anders Knutas series, this brooding thriller is set on Sweden’s largest island, Gotland, a place that has such a palpable creepiness about it that it almost becomes another character in the story. Egon Wallin is a successful art dealer about to embark on some serious lifestyle changes. But those plans are thwarted when he is murdered and left to hang on Dalman Gate in downtown Visby, a historic town in Gotland. A woman out for an early-morning stroll finds the body, and the press are there almost as quickly as the police, somewhat hampering the investigation. A famous Swedish painting called The Dying Dandy has been stolen, and there seems to be a link between the theft and the murder. There is an underlying theme about the media and corruption that pervades the story, adding additional depth, but the virtuous journalist Johan Berg helps balance things a bit. This is excellent Scandinavian noir, as first popularized by Steig Larsson, and a beautifully written addition to the genre. --Stacy Alesi