The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell

This book is about a Swedish judge who solves a mass murder that the police cannot because they are unwilling to look beyond the obvious solution. There's a lot of backstory to tie things together here, which I enjoyed, although I found the ultimate motivation of the murderer not entirely convincing. I thought the dynamics of betrayal were the most interesting part of the story.

Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell

This book is about people turning out to have mysterious pasts and to be almost unknown despite being a colleague or a family member. It's also about the long hand of history reaching out beyond expectation to address wrongs. I thought the mystery was pretty well handled--although the murderer is identified pretty quickly, there are a lot of layers of motivation and facts to untangle.

Before the Frost by Henning Mankell

This book features Linda Wallander's first case as a policewoman--before she's technically part of the Ystad police department. She works with (and occasionally against) her father as they struggle to put together a series of mysterious disappearances, attacks on animals, and murders. I really liked seeing Linda's personality develop (she's a lot like her father, especially in her disregard for certain departmental policies). The mystery was fairly well presented as well.

The Troubled Man by Henning Mankell

This book gives Kurt Wallander's last case before he slips into the fog of Alzheimer's. His daughter Linda has recently had a baby and her partner's parents go missing suddenly. Wallander finds himself unofficially working a case that contains tricky layers upon layers of treachery and betrayal. This book wraps up most of Wallander's loose ends in a really good mystery.

The Pyramid: The First Kurt Wallander Cases

The five short stories that comprise this book work together to show how Wallander became the detective we recognize throughout the series, both personally and professionally. We see his marriage to Mona begin and end in a series of snapshots, and we see him take on more responsibility through a case involving the murder of his neighbor to become a detective. We watch his detective skills improve (though the two shortest stories seem far more about his family life than his detecting). Overall an enjoyable collection.

Firewall by Henning Mankell

In this book Inspector Kurt Wallander investigates a series of deaths that seem at first to be unconnected, but later seem to be part of a crime with global financial implications. The crime itself seemed to take a backseat to Wallander here--his love life, his relationship with his colleagues, and his role at the police department. The crime wasn't entirely clear to me, even at the end. I don't mind this change of emphasis, exactly, but I would have liked a little clearer picture of how the crime hung together.

One Step Behind by Henning Mankell

The title of this book summarizes pretty accurately how I felt reading it--I really enjoyed the story, but I never felt like I knew anything about what was happening until the author was good and ready for me to know (which was ahead of Wallander at times, but never too far in advance). I felt like the mystery this time remained more mysterious than usual (I didn't have a great sense of why the killer turned out to be such a nut job). Still it was an enjoyable read.

The Half-Finished Heaven by Tomas Tranströmer

This collection of poetry is full of beautiful images. I particularly liked the blend between appreciation for the natural world and awareness of and engagement with urban spaces. I also found a lot of the poet's interest in music very revealing. An enjoyable collection that spans a venerable career.

The Fifth Woman by Henning Mankell

This murder mystery is like many of Mankell's: it has the mystery, but it also deals with the question of what the role of the police in civil society is. As in other books in this series, the murders are prompted by the murderer's sense that justice is not being done, and the victims are reprehensible. Still, Mankell (and Wallander, his detective) demonstrate a faith in justice and in the police to solve even the most carefully-planned and executed murders.

Sidetracked by Henning Mankell

This book shows the Ystad police department at a crossroads: Björn is retiring and, after Hansson fills in temporarily, a woman will arrive to take his place. Kurt Wallander finds himself in charge of a difficult investigation of a series of scalpings at this time. We get to watch the murders being committed as Wallander and his colleagues struggle to solve them. The mystery for me this time was not only could Wallander find the killer in time, but who was the killer and what was his motivation. I really enjoyed this book--it's one of the most interesting of Mankell's that I've read yet.

The Man Who Smiled by Henning Mankell

This book has all the parts for a great murder mystery: a man with no enemies who turns up dead, a cop who's good at his job but bad at his life, and lots of great detective work. These books are more interested in the psyche of Kurt Wallander and digging up how the police solve the cases than in tricking the reader (who knows from almost the first page who dies and why). A really engaging book.

The White Lioness by Henning Mankell

I found this mystery well done. I enjoy not only the Swedish setting, but also the cosmopolitan implications of the crimes Kurt Wallander must solve. In this one, a woman goes missing for apparently no reason, and Wallander quickly finds that there's a link between this Swedish murder, a former KGB agent, and an assassination attempt in South Africa, where Nelson Mandela has finally been freed from prison. This mystery deviates from Wallander's point of view--the reader knows more about what's going on than he does, so the mystery becomes more of will Wallander be able to stop a crime that's planned but hasn't happened in time than what happened to the missing woman. Overall, very enjoyable.

The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell

While this mystery starts with the discovery of two dead men in a fishing boat, it quickly becomes clear that its scope extends beyond Sweden's borders to Latvia, which is growing restive after having been a part of the Soviet Union since the end of World War II. When Inspector Wallander travels to Riga to investigate the death of a colleague he finds himself drawn beyond the official explanation in a land where he can trust no one and can't even speak the language. I really enjoyed this mystery--which was fully of twists till the very end.

Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell

In this mystery Inspector Kurt Wallender finds an old couple killed for apparently no reason in rural Sweden. But, as he continues his investigation, he discovers links to a secret double life and anti-immigrant sentiment that threatens to have explosive public consequences. This story had some great twists. I liked the way that the mystery had so many constituent parts.