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Overview
When perpetual bachelor Gunder Jomann goes to India for two weeks and comes home married, the town of Elvestad is stunned. On the day the Indian bride is supposed to arrive, the battered body of a woman is found in a meadow on the outskirts of town. None of the "good people of Elvestad" can believe that anyone among them would be capable of such a brutal murder. But in his quiet, formal way, Inspector Konrad Sejer understands that good people can commit atrocious deeds, and that no one is altogether innocent—including the café owner who knows too much, the girl who wants to be a chief witness, and the bodybuilder with no outlet for his terrible strength.
Another brilliantly conceived, dark novel from one of Europe’s most successful crime writers.
Synopsis
When perpetual bachelor Gunder Jomann goes to India for two weeks and comes home married, the town of Elvestad is stunned. On the day the Indian bride is supposed to arrive, the battered body of a woman is found in a meadow on the outskirts of town. None of the "good people of Elvestad" can believe that anyone among them would be capable of such a brutal murder. But in his quiet, formal way, Inspector Konrad Sejer understands that good people can commit atrocious deeds, and that no one is altogether innocent—including the café owner who knows too much, the girl who wants to be a chief witness, and the bodybuilder with no outlet for his terrible strength.
Another brilliantly conceived, dark novel from one of Europe’s most successful crime writers.
The Washington Post - Richard Lipez
My mother-in-law always reads the last page of a mystery first. This is unusual. Most mystery readers find the fear and apprehension that comes with artfully delayed resolution perversely enjoyable, even thrilling. But The Indian Bride, a new mystery out of Norway—stolid, pretty, unexciting Norway—is so heart-stoppingly suspenseful that it was all I could do to keep myself from catapulting instantly to the bang-up final chapter.
Editorials
Richard Lipez
My mother-in-law always reads the last page of a mystery first. This is unusual. Most mystery readers find the fear and apprehension that comes with artfully delayed resolution perversely enjoyable, even thrilling. But The Indian Bride, a new mystery out of Norway—stolid, pretty, unexciting Norway—is so heart-stoppingly suspenseful that it was all I could do to keep myself from catapulting instantly to the bang-up final chapter.—The Washington Post
Publishers Weekly
Fossum may not be well-known outside a select circle, but that could change with the publication of this outstanding contemporary police procedural, the fourth Inspector Sejer mystery to be translated into English (after 2006's He Who Fears the Wolf). Insp. Konrad Sejer is faced with a baffling crime when the battered body of a woman surfaces in a field outside the town of Elvestad. She's soon identified as Poona Jomann, the new wife of Gunder Jomann, who traveled to India in search of a life partner. Gunder's sister's injury in an auto accident kept him from meeting his bride at the airport, leaving her to travel to their new home alone, a journey that ended in murder. With a skill few can equal, Fossum deftly paints the provincial inhabitants of Elvestad, coupling those poignant word portraits with a whodunit and an insightful but fallible detective. The ending is not one most readers will expect, but it perfectly suits the tale of sad, little lives and the tragic consequences of chance. (July)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business InformationEntertainment Weekly
"Fossum is a master at drawing finely detailed suspects. The results: an irresistible page-turner that's like a Nordic Sherlock Holmes story, with characters by Bergman and blood by Tarantino. A-" -New York Times
"[It] takes...subtle thought to interpret a cafe owner's surliness or a schoolgirl's eagerness to be a murder witness. What it takes is a writer like Fossum, able to see into the soul of an entire village."—Marilyn Stasio
Booklist
"Showcases the crisp prose and unsettling scenarios that have made Fossum one of Europe's most successful crime novelists. Like a Scandinavian winter, this potent psychological thriller chills right to the bone." (starred)Publishers Weekly
"Outstanding...With a skill few can equal, Fossum deftly paints the provincial inhabitants of Elvestad, coupling those poignant word portraits with a whodunit and an insightful but fallible detective." (starred)Washington Post Book World
"Heart-stoppingly suspenseful...terrific...[Sejer and Skarre] make such an agreeably civilized pair that if I had to be a crime victim and could chose the locale, I would pick Norway....Fossum is a master at probing the plague of guilt that infects a community in which just about everyone has something they think they need to hide..."Library Journal
On the day that Gunder Jomann's bride is to arrive from India, his sister is involved in a life-threatening auto accident, and Gunder can't leave her side. So he sends a taxi to pick up his new wife, but she is not at the airport. That night, a woman is murdered in a meadow outside of Elvestad. Everyone is shocked, but the villagers, suspicious of outsiders, are unwilling to help the police, and Inspector Sejer has only gossip to lead him in the investigation. Placing her small Norwegian town under a microscope in her fourth mystery to be translated into English (after When the Devil Holds the Candle), Fossum painstakingly details her characters' lives and how they handle adversity. Comparable to the works of Henning Mankell, this novel packs a punch and ends unexpectedly. Fossum lives in southeastern Norway. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ3/1/07.]
—Jo Ann Vicarel