THE SANCTUARY

4 stars out of 5

This book, the fifth in the series, begins with Danish police investigator Jeppe Korner on leave from the Copenhagen department and his partner, Anette Werner - and passing the time working in a sawmill on the nearby island of Bornholm while he tries to recover from losing the love of his life. Meanwhile, Anette is investigating the gruesome murder of a man who apparently died while being sawed in half lengthwise; one half has turned up in a discarded suitcase. The first obstacle, though, is identifying the body - which probably would be easier if they could locate his missing half. Also on the island, writer Esther de Laurenti is staying in the home of Ida Dybris, who has invited Esther to pen the biography of her late mother Margrethe, a noted anthropologist.

As might be expected, links begin to emerge between Anette's investigation and what's happening on the island, which means Anette must turn to Jeppe for help - which, at least at first, he's reluctant to provide. But even his surface digging forces him to realize that the island - and the people he works for and with - hold many secrets that some will go any lengths to keep that way. Following the story was a little hard for me just because there are a few too many characters for my mind to keep straight (even though I take notes along the way), but by the end I was "with it" enough to have enjoyed the whole thing just as I did the others in the series I've read (everything pretty much got sorted except for the meaning of the title). The ending wraps things up with a couple of surprises - one of which makes me look forward to the next book. Till then, I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review this one. Well done once again!

The Sanctuary by Katrine Engberg (Gallery/Scout Press, February 2023); 336 pp.

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.

THE TENANT

4 stars out of 5

This turned out to be an interesting book for

several reasons - not the least of which that it's set in Denmark, written by a popular Danish author and is the first of her work, I believe, to be translated for the U.S. market. It's also the first in a detective series, so I'll assume that if it does well here in the states, we'll have the opportunity to read more.

And that's fine by me. Up front, though, I'll say I never totally warmed up to either of the main characters - police investigator Jeppe Korner and his partner, Anette Werner - but then the two of them never quite seem to warm up to each other, either, so I don't feel too bad. They're very different personalities with very different backgrounds (Jeppe is recently and unhappily divorced while Anette's marriage seems on solid footing, for instance). But they at least tolerate one another professionally, and that's what's most important as the case takes center stage.

In an apartment building owned by a retired university professor turned fiction writer, an elderly tenant stumbles (literally) into the apartment occupied by two relatively young girls. One is gone and the other is home - but quite dead. She's been brutally murdered, and there's blood everywhere but no other clues. Jeppe and Anette must start from scratch, first interviewing the dead girl's roommate and her boyfriend, the building owner and her special, much younger male friend who is, shall I say, a bit of a weirdo.

The case grows even more complex as connections to other mostly nasty friends and relatives emerge and some of the dead girl's secrets are revealed. Learning that the novel the building owner is writing is more than loosely based on the life of the dead girl leads to the strong suspicion that life is imitating art (or that the elderly writer may even be the killer). Throw in a couple of other murders, and the plot, as they say, begins to thicken. In the midst of all this, love-starved Jeppe meets a tantalizing woman who rocks his world (an affair that, to my mind,  seemed totally out of place and added nothing to the plot, though perhaps it's a scene that will be revisited in a future installment).

The pace picks up complete with a twist or two as the ending nears, the killer is identified and all becomes as right with the world as is possible under the circumstances. In all, it's a solid start to a new series I think will get even better - so yes, I'm looking forward to proving myself right. Thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for offering me an advance copy of this one.

The Tenant by Katrine Engberg (Gallery/Scout Press, January 2020); 368 pp.