The Killer's Art
Anders Knutas series 4
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4.2 • 11 Ratings
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
'One of Scandinavia's best crime writers' The Times
It is a cold wintry morning in the picturesque port town of Visby when art dealer Egon Wallin's battered and naked body is found hanging from a gate in the town's old city walls. His was a very public death, but who killed him and why?
As Inspector Knutas begins his investigation, Egon's secrets quickly begin to come to the surface. He died on the eve of leaving his wife. Is his death a spurned lover's revenge? And when a painting by a new cause-célèbre artist is stolen from his gallery, more questions are raised.
Another theft and another death, this time in Stockholm, widens the search for the killer. As the police piece together the clues, one scandal is followed by another and Inspector Knutas will discover that beneath the patina of glamour, the high-society world of art collecting hides many secrets - some worth killing for.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The foggy island of Gotland provides the eerie, atmospheric setting for Jungstedt's beautifully written fourth novel featuring Det. Supt. Anders Knutas (after 2008's The Inner Circle). Before respected art dealer Egon Wallin can make some drastic personal and professional changes, he's murdered, his body left to hang from the top of the Dalman Gate in the medieval town of Visby. Knutas and his assistant, Det. Insp. Karin Jacobsson, get on the trail of a deranged and vengeful killer in a case that attracts nationwide attention. The seductive tale of The Dying Dandy, a legendary Swedish painting whose theft is linked to Wallin's death, adds depth. Knutas, a decent man, deplores the growing tastelessness of Swedish media as much as Jungstedt's other protagonist, ethical journalist Johan Berg, in a noir novel that exposes the vicissitudes of a society in which cheating the system has become the norm.
Customer Reviews
Turgidly written
What a dull cast of characters this lot are. Not a spec of humor or wit amongst the lot of them. Plus, a very unconvincing plot, rounded off with a hurried cod psychology ending.