The Whisperer by Karin Fossum

First Line: She wasn't beautiful, and she was of course perfectly aware of it.

Ragna Riegel is a woman most people don't even notice, but she's used to it. Unable to speak above a whisper, she insists on a life of order and routines, but when she finds a threatening letter in her mailbox, everything changes. There are more letters spaced out over time, and Ragna's life begins to spiral into a nightmare. Threatened by an unknown enemy, paranoid, unable to sleep, and isolated from everyone else, Ragna's nightmare ends in a death ... but she is the killer, not the victim.

When Inspector Konrad Sejer begins his interrogation of Ragna Riegel, he's certain it's an open-and-shut case. But is it?

Karin Fossum's The Whisperer is a fantastic character study that allows Inspector Sejer to do what he does best: listen. Ragna Riegel is a tough nut to crack, but the presence of Sejer's dog, Frank, helps lower some of the woman's defenses as the book alternates between the voices of Ragna and the inspector.

It's really not crystal clear through most of the book exactly why Ragna is in jail, and while these two characters talk, the reader is asking himself questions. What did she do? Prison for life? Murder? Could she really kill anyone? The more I read, the more I felt as though I were falling down the rabbit hole with Ragna, and I think a little of her paranoia rubbed off on me, which is a mark of some excellent storytelling.

The only thing I have to complain about is that the story drags badly at about the half- to the three-quarters mark. The lag time may not bother anyone else and that's fine, but if you're the type of reader who likes everything to be resolved by book's end, you're probably not going to like The Whisperer because it has a twist at the very end that sends your mind off to the races again-- and you're left wondering. You're left with questions, not closure.

I loved that twist at the end. In fact, I think I was expecting it. Karin Fossum had me thinking about the madness that can be found in everyday life, and she reminded me to question assumptions-- and that is a valuable reminder.

The Whisperer by Karin Fossum
Translated from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson.

eISBN: 9781328612939

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt © 2019

eBook, 336 pages

Police Procedural, #13 Inspector Sejer mystery

Rating: A-

Source: Net Galley

Eva's Eye by Karin Fossum

First Line: It was a Wendy house.

A mother and daughter are walking by the river when they discover a man's body in the water. The mother doesn't want to get involved, but her young daughter insists that something must be done. The mother-- Eva-- goes to call the police, but when she gets to a phone, she calls someone else instead. The body is found anyway.

Inspector Konrad Sejer has two baffling cases on his desk that must be solved. The man, Egil, died as the result of a violent attack, but he's been missing for months and any trail has long gone cold. The second case involves the murder of a prostitute whose body was found just before Egil went missing. Nothing but dogged police work will solve the two cases, so Sejer knuckles down and begins piecing the slender clues together. It's not too long before he begins to realize that these two cases may be connected after all.

I have often bemoaned the fact that American publishers have the annoying tendency to release European mystery series books out of order. This was done in the case of Karin Fossum's excellent Inspector Sejer series. Eight books were published before Eva's Eye, which is actually the first. For once I'm glad that they weren't published in the proper sequence. Konrad Sejer is one of my favorite police officers, but if I had been introduced to him with this book, I doubt if I would have continued with the series.

The reason for this is because Eva's Eye has everything to do with the character of Eva Magnus and little to do with Konrad Sejer. Everything revolves around Eva's eye: her art (in which Sejer seems to be the only person who sees something meaningful), her young daughter Emma, how Eva views her life... everything. Eva Magnus is a fascinating character who grabs the focus of the book and runs away with it. As is also seen in The Murder of Harriet Krohn, Fossum seems to like to focus on a different character from time to time.

In comparison Konrad Sejer is merely interesting.  If I'd read this book first, I would have admired Fossum's characterization of the title character and given a passing nod to Sejer's determination to solve these two puzzling cases-- but there just didn't seem to be enough about this oftentimes brilliant man to warrant my coming back for more.

All this makes it sound as though I did not enjoy the book. On the contrary-- I enjoyed it a lot. As the story gradually unfolds and I learned how deeply involved Eva is in every facet, I had to know more about this self-absorbed woman. At book's end I could only shake my head in disbelief (and admiration) at how well Fossum put this intricate plot together. And-- having already become familiar with Sejer, his personality and his deductive methods-- I could only admire him, too. I'm just glad I didn't read this book first.
 

Eva's Eye by Karin Fossum

Translated from the Norwegian by James Anderson

eISBN: 9780547738772

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt © 2012

eBook, 292 pages

Police Procedural, #1 Inspector Konrad Sejer mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

The Murder of Harriet Krohn by Karin Fossum

First Line: Dearest Julie, Do you read my letters?

Desperate to pay off his gambling debts, Charles Olav Torp ("Charlo") does the only thing he can think of: rob an elderly woman of her money, jewelry and silver. It's a robbery gone horribly wrong. Sure, Charlo's got enough cash to pay off his debts and to curry his teenage daughter's favor by buying her the horse she's always wanted, but Harriet Krohn-- the elderly woman with the money, jewelry and silver-- will always be dead. 

Charlo's got to live with that woman's murder on his conscience. He's got to turn his life around and become the good person that he knows he really is. After all, the only reason why his life became such a mess is that he can never catch a break. Charlo doesn't have much time left to change his life because he left behind one clue at the crime scene, and Inspector Konrad Sejer-- who's successfully solved each and every one of his cases-- is working that one item for every scrap of information it can provide. Charlo's feeling lucky, but it doesn't pay to underestimate Konrad Sejer.

Anyone who picks up The Murder of Harriet Krohn and expects to read a typical Konrad Sejer police procedural is in for a rude shock. This seventh book in the series is told from the killer's point of view. At the beginning, this is a successful ploy as we get to see just how messed up Charles Olav Torp's life is, how he's ruined his relationship with his 16-year-old daughter, how far he's willing to go in an attempt to straighten everything out-- and ultimately how self-deluded he is. Harriet Krohn isn't particularly sympathetic as a murder victim. She's abrasive, judgmental, and wrapped in a thick batting of entitlement. No, this book is all about Charlo... and the Sejer-sized shadow that looms ever larger in the background.

I've read the other books in Fossum's marvelous series, and as Charlo committed robbery and murder, I mentally cataloged each clue that he left for Sejer and his team to find. As certain things were released to the press, I smiled because I knew the inspector was closing in, and it certainly was interesting to see an interrogation through the killer's eyes. But Charlo just wasn't the right character to carry the entire weight of the narrative. Perhaps if he were an intelligent sort of killer capable of playing cat and mouse with a worthy adversary like Sejer, but he isn't. Charlo isn't particularly smart; he's self-centered, whiny, and pathetic, and after a while all his whining, all his complaints, all his justifications have gathered enough strength to pull a reader's interest right down into the dust. 

It wasn't until I'd had time to digest this book a bit more that I felt a chill moving up my spine. Most criminals are exactly like Charles Olav Torp. They're not very smart. They can never accept responsibility for their own actions. They whine and complain. The Murder of Harriet Krohn may be Karin Fossum's warning to us all: Be careful. There are many more Charlos out there than we can ever realize, and they're all bringing their clouds of disaster with them. To share.
  

The Murder of Harriet Krohn by Karin Fossum

Translated from the Norwegian by James Anderson

ISBN: 9780544273399

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt © 2014

Hardcover, 256 pages

Police Procedural, #7 Inspector Konrad Sejer mystery

Rating: B-

Source: Amazon Vine 

Calling Out for You by Karin Fossum

First Line: The silence is shattered by the barking of a dog.

Fiftysomething bachelor Gunder Jomann has worked hard and never taken a risk his entire life. The entire village of Elvestad is shocked when he travels to India for two weeks, but when he returns and tells people that he got married there, the village is almost stunned into silence. On the day Gunder's Indian bride is scheduled to arrive, the battered body of a woman is found in a meadow on the outskirts of town, and it is up to Inspector Konrad Sejer to probe deeply into a village's secrets to identify the woman and to find the killer. 

To my chagrin,  I discovered it has been four years since I last read a book written by Karin Fossum. That is much too long a time between books. Fossum's Inspector Sejer is one of the best detectives in all of crime fiction, and I was reminded of this time and again as I read Calling Out for You.

The mystery is an engrossing one, and it takes Sejer quite a lot of patient teasing out of facts before he can even begin piecing things together. Too many people have secrets in Elvestad. Too many villagers believe that there's no way any of them could brutally beat a woman to death. And since no one could possibly have done anything wrong, there's no need to tell the police of the odd thing they happened to see the evening of the murder. It's an ironic fact of village life: live in one and your life seems like an open book, but it is possible to keep secrets all the same.

As rock solid as the mystery is, it is the power of Fossum's characterizations that pull this reader down into her story. The solid, dependable simplicity of Gunder Jomann and the sheer strength of his longing seep deep down into your awareness. The steadfast, cheerful, loving personality of Poona Bai is absolutely perfect for Gunder. Love has come to two very unlikely people, and I couldn't be happier for them. Fossum brought Poona to life in a few short pages, and what ultimately happens is heartbreaking.

It takes a detective like Inspector Konrad Sejer to solve this case. From the very first book in this series, I've admired Sejer because he listens to everyone. In solving murders, everyone is of value, and Sejer tends to rely on people that everyone else tends to ignore-- the old, the developmentally disabled, the homeless.... Sejer has a tender side that we are allowed to glimpse-- from the steadily declining health of his beloved old dog to his instructions to his team about the disposition of the murdered woman's belongings. This man has been on the job for a long time, but it hasn't knocked the compassion out of him. In many ways if I found myself living out life as a member of a homicide team, I'd want to be a member of Sejer's.

If you love tightly plotted mysteries that aren't always neatly tied up by book's end, if you love rich character studies that stay with you long after you've finished reading the book, if you love police procedurals with heart, I have a suggestion. Karin Fossum's Inspector Konrad Sejer series. It's marvelous.

Calling Out for You (APA The Indian Bride) by Karin Fossum

Translated from the Norwegian by Charlotte Barslund

ISBN: 9780099474661

Vintage Books © 2006

Paperback, 400 pages

Police Procedural, #5 Inspector Konrad Sejer mystery

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased from The Book Depository. 

REVIEW: When the Devil Holds the Candle

Title: When the Devil Holds the Candle
Author: Karin Fossum
Translated from the Norwegian by Felicity David
ISBN: 0151011885/ Harcourt Books, 2004
Mystery, #4 in the Inspector Konrad Sejer series
Rating: B+

First Line: The courthouse. September 4, 4 P.M.

Inspector Sejer seems to be coming out of his funk a bit. He has a new lady in his life to come home to when he's finished dealing with crime for the day. While his attention at work is focused on a mugging and a youth who shot his girlfriend in the face, his partner, Jacob Skarre, deals with a woman whose son has disappeared.

The missing boy, Andreas, is quite a piece of work. He and his best friend, "Zipp" prowl the streets by day and by night looking for purses to snatch so they have drinking money. Zipp is socially inept, and Andreas is his only friend. Andreas is handsome enough to have women falling at his feet, but he's a secretive sort and very content to hang out with Zipp. Everything changes for them one night when they follow a sixty-year-old woman home in order to rob her. Irma Funder turns out to be much more than they bargained for.

This third book in the series to be translated into English is more of a psychological thriller than a police procedural. The reader is privy to all as the pages turn and slowly reveal the characters of Andreas, Zipp and Irma. All three are victims. All three are trapped in some way. All are fascinatingly macabre. I often felt as though I were a victim myself, trapped in the hall of mirrors in a fun house with these people.

Fossum pens a chilling tale of how lives lacking supervision, employment and love can be twisted and forced over the edge into disaster. Although I didn't finish this book with an exclamation of "Wow!", the hairs on the back of my neck still prickle, and my heart still bleeds at the waste of lives the author portrays. Is it any wonder that Fossum, with her thoughtful, compassionate policeman, is one of my favorite authors?