"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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