Just Finished Reading: The Blood Spilt by Asa Larsson (FP: 2004)

Lawyer Rebecka Martinsson is a mess. Barely functioning several months after she was forced to kill in self-defence, most of her work colleagues consider her a write-off or a basket case. Only her boss and her best friend are even trying any more. So when the chance came up to return to her home town of Kiruna, where her traumatic experiences took place, Rebecka had to be bullied into going as her bosses secretary and general dogs-body. Torn between running away and hiding and staying in an area she knows very well indeed Rebecka does both – by hiding at the edge of town on ‘holiday’ in an attempt to get her life back on track. It’s not long, however, before she discovers than a new priest has been murdered in a ritual fashion. Matilda Nilsson, found hanging in her own church, was loved and hated in equal measure by her new flock. Seen as a saviour by her female congregation she is seen as a trouble maker (or worse) by her male flock and by the male hierarchy she has to deal with on a daily basis. The suspect list is a long one including a few that Rebecka befriends during her stay.

It’s not long though before more bodies emerge and another priest goes missing under suspicious circumstances. Everything seems to be linked to Matilda and her women’s Bible Study group and their animosity to the local hunters but which one would gain most from Matilda’s death and why are more people becoming suspicious of Rebecka and her motives for staying in town?

After enjoying her first book in this series (The Savage Altar) I was really looking forward to this one. As a great fan of good characterisation I had hoped for something as gripping as her earlier work. Actually this was even better which pleased me a great deal. Rebecka is a great character, smart, complex, thoughtful, inquisitive and much else besides. I felt more than once that I would like to meet her in real life and that we’d get on with each other well. But I honestly squealed with joy at another characters appearance – Anna-Maria Mella, the head of the police investigators, who was heavily pregnant in the first novel and is now back part-time after her maternity leave. Along with her police partner Sven-Erik Stalnacke they made a superb team as they tried to figure out exactly what was happening and began to uncover, with the help of Rebecka, some of the darker goings-on in this seemingly peaceful small community. As will all of the best books of this type the cast of supporting characters (at least 10 or so) are fully fleshed out individuals who you get to know, understand, like or dislike (as the author intends) as the plot unfolds and you try to piece together the clues that (hopefully) point you at the murderer before to author reveals the truth.

This one kept me guessing to the very end. It wasn’t a rabbit pulled out of the hat (how I hate that type of so-called mystery) but it did come as a nice surprise (which in hindsight made perfect sense). But Rebecka, still recovering from the events in the first novel, did not come away unscathed and I’m quite worried about how she was left at the end of things. I’m just going to have to read the third book (soon-ish) to see if she’s going to be OK. She’s a tough cookie so I’m guessing she will be. Don’t you just love it when you actually care about fictional characters that much? I know I do. Heartily recommended for any crime fans and for those who just want a bloody good read (pun intended).

Translated from the Swedish by Marlaine Delargy

[2015 Reading Challenge: A book set in a different country– COMPLETE (26/50)]