Night watchman Mickel Cardell is woken on an autumn night in 1793 by two children who tell him that they have discovered a body in the lake. Expecting an animal carcass or some other refuse, he gamely peels his face off the sticky bar-room table and goes to investigate. When Cardell wades into the putrid stew of butchers' scraps and muck and fishes out a mutilated corpse, he sets off an investigation that will take him, along with idealistic lawyer Cecil Winge, into poorhouses, drawing rooms and bordellos, and across the spectrum of Stockholm society.
The Wolf and the Watchman was named Best Debut Novel of 2017 by the Swedish Academy of Crime Writers, and author Niklas Natt och Dag shows a remarkable talent for breathing life into his setting and characters. With a handful of details, he paints a gritty and visceral picture of life in the teeming streets and back alleys of late-18th century Stockholm. Main characters Winge and Cardell are a fascinating juxtaposition of reason and emotion, and Cardell is an especially compelling figure, equal parts clownish drunk and damaged soldier. The setting, characters and an intricate plot are woven together in a nonlinear structure that flits in and out of flashbacks and multiple perspectives. It shouldn't work, and yet does spectacularly, deepening characterization and sharpening individual voices. This is an excellent debut by a talented new author. --Judie Evans, librarian