Hidden in Snow by Viveca Sten Translated by Marlaine Delargy #AVirtualCrimeBookclub

The Åre Murders Book 1

The splendor of the Swedish mountains becomes the backdrop for a bone-chilling crime.

Book blurb

On the day Stockholm police officer Hanna Ahlander’s personal and professional lives crash, she takes refuge at her sister’s lodge in the Swedish ski resort paradise of Åre. But it’s a brief comfort. The entire village is shaken by the sudden vanishing of a local teenage girl. Hanna can’t help but investigate, and while searching for the missing person, she lands a job with the local police department. There she joins forces with Detective Inspector Daniel Lindskog, who has been tasked with finding the girl. Their only lead: a scarf in the snow.

As subzero temperatures drop even further, atreacherous blizzard sweeps toward Åre. Hanna and Daniel’s investigation is getting more desperate by the hour. Lost or abducted, either way time is running out for the missing girl. Each new clue closes in on something far more sinister than either Hanna or Daniel imagined. In this devious novel by the bestselling author of the Sandhamn Murders series, discover what it will take to solve a case when the truth can be so easily hidden in the coming storm.

My thoughts

Hidden in Snow has been made into a television series the Åre Murders on Netflix which I had watched some time ago so hadn’t immediately recalled and was why I kept thinking that I knew this story!

Stockholm police officer Hanna Ahlander’s work life is going nowhere. She had tried to get a fellow officer to be brought to justice over his wife’s death but the department closed ranks and since then Hanna has been treated as a pariah by colleagues especially her boss. She has been given an ultimatum and suspended/sacked and has gone to her sister’s house in Åre to try and sort things out including the fact that she has been drinking heavily.

Hanna becomes intrigued with the situation of the woman who comes to clean her sister’s lodge and also gets involved with the search for a missing teenager. Hanna has been involved with many cases of abuse and feels that something is amiss with the cleaner.

Hanna is asked to join the team. Hoping nothing happens to spoil her acceptance of the offer (such as the fact that she is likely going to be sacked from her position in Stockholm) she begins to work in Åre. She has valuable skills and good instincts. She hits it off with her new boss Detective Inspector Daniel Lindskog.

Whilst working the case of the missing teenager she is also looking into the cleaning company trying to find out what the problem is for the cleaning lady.

The geography of the setting and the weather associated with being in a mountain setting is in itself almost a character in the story and plays a role in the investigation. I do love a snowy setting.

As each of these storylines unravels the connections between what is going on in the cleaning firm and Hanna going missing are nicely brought together. The investigation is slow moving at first but picks up pace as we get closer to the resolutions to each of these issues.

This was a good story and an enjoyable read.

Book: Purchased

The Virtual Crime Book Club

The Virtual Crime Book Club

The Virtual Crime Book Club is hosted by Rebecca Bradley, author of the D I Hannah Robbins and D I Claudia Nunn series as well as standalone novels.

Rebecca is a great host and often gets the authors to come along and chat with us. You can find out more on Rebecca’s website.

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Information

Published: Amazon Crossing | 2022 | ISBN13: 9781542037495 (paperback) |

Previously published as Offermakaren by Forum in Sweden in 2020. Translated from Swedish by Marlaine Delargy. First published in English by Amazon Crossing in 2022.

Buy: Amazon | Hive | Bookshop.org (affiliate link)| Your local bookshop | Your local library

Translator

Marlaine Delargy lives in Shropshire in the United Kingdom. She studied Swedish and German at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and she taught German for almost twenty years. She has translated novels by many authors, including Kristina Ohlsson; Helene Tursten; John Ajvide Lindqvist; Therese Bohman; Theodor Kallifatides; Johan Theorin, with whom she won the Crime Writers’ Association International Dagger in 2010; and Henning Mankell, with whom she won the Crime Writers’ Association International Dagger in 2018. Marlaine has also translated nine books in Viveca Sten’s Sandhamn Murders series.

Author

Viveca Sten is the author of the #1 internationally bestselling Sandhamn Murders series, which includes Buried in Secret, In Bad Company, In the Name of Truth, In the Shadow of Power, In Harm’s Way, In the Heat of the Moment, Tonight You’re Dead, Guiltless, Closed Circles, and Still Waters. Since 2008, the series has sold more than seven million copies, establishing her as one of Sweden’s most popular authors. Set on the island of Sandhamn, the novels have been adapted into a Swedish-language TV series shot on location and seen by ninety million viewers around the world. Viveca lives in Stockholm with her husband and three children, but she alternates between Sandhamn in the summer and Åre in the winter, where she writes and vacations with her family.

For more information visit www.vivecasten.com.

ALSO BY VIVECA STEN

Åre Murder Series

Hidden in Snow | Hidden in Shadows | Hidden In Memories | Hidden in Lies | Hidden in Mercy

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