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A review by hayesstw
The Root of Evil: An Inspector Barbarotti Novel 2 by Sarah Death, Håkan Nesser
4.0
After reading a couple of crime novels by [a:Håkan Nesser|161054|Håkan Nesser|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1223193653p2/161054.jpg], I've tended to avoid them because they are not so much whodunits as wheredunits: his locations don't seem to be able to make up their minds whether they are Dutch or Danish, and that bothers me all the time I am reading them. But this one, though it takes place in a fictional town, is identifiably Swedish, and very definitely a whodunit with a difference.
The nameless killer writes letters to a detective, naming his or her victims in advance. Some of the named victims have common names, and so the police struggle to find the killer's targets to protect them before they are killed. The killer also informs the media, which criticise the police for not putting more resources into protecting the named victims rather than catching the killer, who is always one step ahead.
Like many Scandinavian fictional detectives Gunnar Barbarotti is divorced, but unlike most he is not alcoholic, so the reader is not forever being distracted by his drunken escapades. The plot is complex, but quite believable, and no, I didn't work out who did it before the denouement.
The nameless killer writes letters to a detective, naming his or her victims in advance. Some of the named victims have common names, and so the police struggle to find the killer's targets to protect them before they are killed. The killer also informs the media, which criticise the police for not putting more resources into protecting the named victims rather than catching the killer, who is always one step ahead.
Like many Scandinavian fictional detectives Gunnar Barbarotti is divorced, but unlike most he is not alcoholic, so the reader is not forever being distracted by his drunken escapades. The plot is complex, but quite believable, and no, I didn't work out who did it before the denouement.