A middle-aged woman is found dead in a cemetery, strangled and carefully taped up inside a plastic sheet. When the "Package Killer" strikes again, Detective Inspector Irene Huss and her colleagues on the Göteborg, Sweden, police force know they need to move quickly.
But as far as they can tell, there are no connections between the two victims except for their age. Is the Package Killer targeting middle-aged women, or striking at random? Could there be a sinister connection between the crimes and the vandalism that's been happening at Irene's home? When her chef husband and grown twin daughters start facing harassment, too, Irene's urgency to solve the case surges. But interdepartmental strife is causing problems among the officers. Can the Göteborg police force get its act together before more women die?
The ninth entry in the Irene Huss series, Who Watcheth is an engaging mystery with a very likable heroine. With a writing style reminiscent of Camilla Läckberg or Henning Mankell, Helene Tursten offers a detective with a nuanced and compelling personal life, as well as a dark and intriguing mystery.
For readers who haven't tried one of the many popular Scandinavian crime writers yet, Helene Tursten is a great introduction: Who Watcheth offers lots of suspense and a vivid Swedish setting, but not a lot of violence. Anyone who's ever struggled with office politics or worried about the safety of their kids is sure to relate to Detective Inspector Irene Huss. --Jessica Howard, blogger at Quirky Bookworm