THE NIGHT OF THE FIRE

A pair of arsons and a handful of murders lead investigators into the dark world of young Swedish neo-Nazis.

Upon retiring from the Violent Crimes Unit, veteran detective Ann Lindell leaves Uppsala for a rural cottage where she plans to make cheese. But when an anonymous caller warns police that “someone may die,” Lindell’s successor, Sammy Nilsson, decides to consult her. In the interim, a rural school attended by many Afghan refugees is burned to the ground, and some students go missing. Was this the subject of the anonymous call? As usual, Eriksson folds the lives of his engaging detectives into the mystery. A disillusioned Sammy contemplates separation from his wife, Angelika, and deals with his erratic new partner, Bodin, while Lindell rekindles a friendship with her ex, Edvard. Eriksson’s nuanced portraits of suspects and witnesses add depth and texture. Villager Gösta Friberg recognizes one of the arsonists, and a couple of others have strong suspicions. Falsely telling Sammy that she can’t identify the caller, Lindell decides to probe on her own. Soon after she questions Gösta and others, a dead badger is left gutted in her bed. When she goes to the city to question Justus Johsson, the man on the tape, he advises her to investigate young Swedish Nazis. Then there’s a second fire at a farmhouse owned by suspected Nazi Daniel Mattsson. A female corpse is discovered inside the burned house, but where is Mattsson?

The heroine’s eighth case uses a clever whodunit to treat contemporary issues with complexity and compassion.