The Man Who Died Like a Salmon

The grumpy old pensioner Martin Udde is found dead in his home in the subarctic rural community of Pajala, apparently murdered in spectacular fashion. The local police receive back-up from Stockholm as federal detective Therese Fossnes travels north to lead the investigation. Before long, the investigators zero in on a main suspect: Esaias Vanhakoski, who brazenly admits his loathing of Udde. Gradually, however, it develops into something more complex than a police procedural. It becomes a story about the encumbered love between Therese and Esaias, about mankind’s need for linguistic and cultural roots, and about what happens once they are uprooted.

Witty, serious, and imaginative in a delightfully inimitable mix, it is guaranteed to satisfy each one of Mikael Niemi’s many readers.