After successfullyâbut bloodilyâdismantling a complicated hostage situation at a bank in the suburbs of Stockholm, Detective Paul Hjelm is faced with the requisite investigation by Internal Affairs. It is a potentially career-ending inquiry, but he is plucked out of it by the National Criminal Police commissioner, who drops him into an elite task force of officers assembled from across the country to find an elusive killer with a sophisticated modus operandi and even more sophisticated tastes.
Â
Targeting Swedenâs high-profile business leaders, the killer breaks into their homes at night, waits for his victims, places two bullets in their heads with deadly precision, and removes the bullets from the wallsâa ritual enacted to a rare bootleg recording of Thelonious Monkâs jazz classic âMisterioso.â
Â
As Hjelm, his young, doggedly energetic partner, Jorge Chavez, and the rest of the team follow one lead after another in their pursuitânavigating the murky underworlds of the Russian Mafia and the secretive members-only society of Swedenâs wealthiest denizensâthey must also delve into one of the countryâs most persistent ills: a deep-rooted xenophobia that affects both the police and the perpetrator in a small nation that is becoming rapidly internationalized.
Â
The first novel in Arne Dahlâs gripping Intercrime seriesâwidely considered to be one of Swedenâs bestâMisterioso is a penetrating, dark, and absorbing introduction to this acclaimed authorâs world.