Where Ravens Roost
(Detective Kjeld Nygaard, Book 1)
Karin Nordin
Available to pre-order from Amazon.
Karin Nordin’s debut thriller is set in Sweden and I am delighted that it is the first outing for the gloriously troubled Detective Kjeld Nygaard. I really do look forward to seeing where she takes him and his side-kick Esme in years to come.
The story centres around the return home of Kjeld Nygaard to the tiny Swedish mining town of Varsund that he escaped years before. His father, Stenar, leaves a rambling, incoherent message on Nygaard’s phone, claiming he’s witnessed a murder. Having not spoken to his father in many years, Nygaard is sufficiently concerned to take advantage of his temporary suspension (imposed after his last case went catastrophically wrong), to drive up north to investigate.
Arriving, he is confronted by a father suffering from Alzheimer’s, still obsessed with the shed-full of ravens he tends to daily, and no evidence that he didn’t imagine the whole episode. With the relationship between the two estranged men hardly improved by Stenar’s confusion, and frequent angry outbursts, Nygaard wants nothing more than to escape back to his life – such as it is – in Gothenburg.
And then he discovers a human tooth in the raven’s barn…
This is classic Scandi-Noir, the story set against the frigid, icy weather, and endless hours of darkness that make such tales so atmospheric. Nygaard is a well-rounded character with many flaws and a complicated relationship with his family. His father’s deteriorating mental condition is dealt with honestly and at times brutally, and the toll on his loved-ones described with sympathy and compassion. The old man’s obsession with his ravens is integral to the story and adds another disturbing layer; there’s something especially creepy about corvids that you just don’t get with a budgie!
The investigation has more than enough intrigue and twists to make it a satisfying and compelling read, and whilst it is fully resolved, leaves enough should the author choose to return to that setting.
As to the future? Well it is the first in a series, and Nordin has carefully built a cast of characters that will work even if Nygaard doesn’t return to Varsund for a couple of books. Throughout the novel, we are treated to hints at what actually happened to earn Nygaard his suspension, and I will be interested to see to what degree that features in later entries in the series. Aside from that, we are introduced to his partner, Esme and even though this isn’t a traditional police procedural as such – given that he is working an investigation for personal reasons, well-outside his jursidiction – we see hints at how they work together.
Although this is the first in the series, it doesn’t feel like it. It could almost be book three or four, and that’s a very clever decision by Nordin. It leaves her options to look both forwards and backwards. I have no insight into the author’s plans, but I look forward to seeing what comes next and I am excited that I was afforded the chance to join in right at the beginning!
Very highly recommended.
