THE LAST GRUDGE

5 stars out of 5

I've read and enjoyed two other books in this series featuring Helsinki, Finland, police detective Jessica Niemi. This one begins as Jessica is on leave after being seriously injured in an attack; one hand still isn't functioning very well, and she's still plagued with mysterious and disturbing "sightings" of her late mother and haunted by a few other occult-type demons triggered by events in her past. In fact, for the first half or so of the book, she doesn't play a prominent role.

In her absence, the role of good cop pretty much falls to her friend and colleague Jusef Pepple, a competent and very likable character in his own right. He's called in when a very rich man is murdered in his very well secured home right under the ever-watchful eye of his longtime bodyguard Joonas Lamberg. Apparently a tyrant in the world of business, he'd just made a deal that would close a local factory and put some 3,000 employees out of work - so the lineup of possible suspects could stretch for miles. When Jusef and his team find a years-earlier photo of the victim and two other men, both of whose faces are scratched out, the motive becomes a little more clear.

But motive alone won't do it; given the security, means and opportunity to commit the murder appear to be nonexistent. So while Jessica continues to battle her demons on her own - occasionally conferring with Yusef when he begs her to help - the police scramble to figure out how anyone could have pulled off the murder in what was a scant window of time without being seen or heard.

Those details are the most I can provide without giving too much away, so I'll just say this is another entertaining entry into what I've come to know as a really good series. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read a pre-release copy. Well done once again!

The Last Grudge by Max Seeck (Berkley, February 2023); 448 pp.