Sunday, July 14, 2019

The Dying Detective – An Unrelenting Sleuth and a Cold Case


"Make the best of what you’ve got, don’t complicate things unnecessarily, and hate coincidence."



Swedish crime author Leif GW Persson is a retired professor of criminology (and a renowned psychological profiler in Scandinavia). His fictions have won the Best Swedish Crime Novel Award three times and also the Glass Key Award (annual award given to crime novel authors of Nordic countries). The Dying Detective (published in 2010 and translated to English by Neil Smith) features his ageing sleuth Lars Martin Johansson, once head of the National Criminal Police and known as the hero-cop who could see around the corners, but now retired and bored of his passive existence. The 67-year-old Johansson’s beloved wife, Pia (twenty years younger than him) works at the bank, while he roams around the city chatting with his retired colleague and best friend, Bo Jarnebring, and business-minded big brother, Evert.

Early in the novel, when Johansson is about to bite into spicy sausage, he just bought from a hot-dog kiosk, he has a stroke. The alert police offers eating out at the hot-dog stand rushes him to hospital, where he is put under the care of Doctor Ulrich Stenholm, who is greatly concerned about his weak heart and high blood pressure. While the doctor advises Johansson to get more exercise and go for good, green food, she also kind of triggers Johansson’s dormant detective instincts. Dr. Stenholm tells Johansson about the 25-year-old unsolved rape and murder case of a 9-year-old girl named Yasmine Ermegan. The doctor is haunted by this cold case because she heard about some undisclosed details regarding Yasmine’s brutal murder, from her father in his death-bed. Johansson is immediately intrigued by the case, and calls his friend Jarnebring for help, who actually was in charge of investigation of Yasmine's murder case in 1985.

While lying in the hospital bed, Johansson goes through boxes of case files, piecing out all the little details surrounding the little girl's murder. His former colleagues at the force are happy that their former boss is on the case though the statute of limitations has run its course. The investigation is also related to Johansson’s physical and mental recovery. Upon returning home, he keeps up his appointment with physiotherapist and cardiologist although he has a tough time confirming to the strict diet. He sneaks up a meal stuffed with cream sauce, and furtively gulps a glass of vodka. He has to adjust himself by walking with the help of crutch, and put up with dizzy spells, random pains in the chest, etc.

A tattooed, impertinent care-taker, Matilda and a beefy helper, Max are appointed to take care of him. But Johansson uses them to run his errands on the case. Matilda helps Johansson with google searches, whereas Max drives him around for face-to-face interviews with people related to the case. Of course, Johansson finds the killer, but it only presents him with more problems and more stress. As Max says, his boss is a good man, but ‘an evil man was eating him from inside’.

The Dying Detective is the eighth book in the Johansson & Jarnebring series, which also briefly refers to the character of Evert Backstrom (a rude, irascible, and funny detective who is the chief character in a series of Persson’s novels). The title is a nod to Arthur Conan Doyle’s Mycroft Holmes, the smarter older brother of Sherlock who solves mysteries without leaving his armchair. The novel is painstakingly detailed, balancing between unsavory, chilling details of the case and daily routines of the old detective after a near-death experience. Persson includes ample dose of black humor and social commentary to not get overwhelmed by the somber mood. The writing is very smooth and the interplay between characters is mostly entertaining. The novel doesn’t boast any great, unpredictable twists, but the very effective characterizations give the narrative a unique flair. The themes of justice and truth are well-handled; Johansson’s commitment to law is particularly fascinating. Once the killer’s identity is revealed, the book loses a bit of momentum. Yet the intriguing lead character keeps us engaged throughout.  


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