THE BUTTERFLY HOUSE

4 stars out of 5

When I finished the first book in this series - The Tenant - I noted that Danish police investigator Jeppe Korner and his partner, Anette Werner, never seemed to really "connect" with each other. That's even more true here, when Anette, age 44, is on leave after the birth of her first child (an unexpected and, for her, not totally welcome event). Much of the book, in fact, deals with her reluctance to take on a motherly role and desire to get back into the throes and thrills of police work.

And there's plenty of work to go around, starting with the discovery of a woman's body in a downtown Copenhagen public fountain. Jeppe, fresh off a divorce and temporarily living with his aging mother, gets the case - with prodding from his boss to get it solved yesterday. Meanwhile, in another part of town - and unknown to the police - a nurse uses a syringe for what appears to be a mercy killing. 

The cause of the woman's death is exsanguination - accomplished by small cuts with an unusual weapon. Jeppe's team, which includes a co-worker love interest, are stymied - and pressure from the top isn't helping. When Anette gets wind of the murder, she looks for ways to put her investigative talents to work - all the while hoping she won't sacrifice her marriage in the process.

When yet another body turns up in a similar place and with a similar M.O., it's clear the first murder wasn't random. Are the victims connected in some way, and will there be more? That's for Jeppe and his team to find out (with a little surreptitious work from Anette that could lead to disaster). A fast-paced conclusion brings a couple of surprises as well as some tied-up loose ends, all quite satisfying to me. A solid entry in this enjoyable series - I look forward to reading more and thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for providing me a pre-release copy for review. Well done!

The Butterfly House by Katrine Engberg (Gallery/Scout Press, January 2021); 352 pp.