Parrish Lantern's Casebook

This book starts with the murder of Halland, who is gunned down yards from his home. The police turn up to arrest his wife Bess, as it appears with his dying words he had accused her of the crime. If you, like myself, are going “Ok, another Nordic crime thriller”, check out the publisher’s name. Yep Peirene Press, and past experience has taught me that this won’t follow the usual genre rules, that at the very least there will be an interesting twist and I’m pleased to say they haven’t yet let me down.Although there’s a murder, a gun and a dour seeming inspector, this book focuses on Bess and how the bereavement acts as a catalyst causing her to reassess her friends, family and ultimately her life. We follow Bess as she careens from pillar to post, sometimes drunk, sometimes bemused, whilst attempting to understand, to come to terms with Halland’s death and all that has come to light because of it.Last year I read a book by Shuichi Yoshida and this reminds me of that, although both tales differ considerably, in both there’s a murder at it’s centre, a black hole around which everything turns and yet it is the effect of this crime on the individual that becomes the focus of the story, the crime is merely the matrix that allows this focus. As with the other book The murder of Halland is the type of thriller that gives the genre a great name, it’s intelligent, thought provoking, it asks questions, whilst doing so in a manner that doesn’t give you a list of pat, generic answers, leaving you to ponder any answers for yourself.Why Peirene chose to publish this book: http://parrishlantern.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/a-scandinavian-whydunit.html