Camilla Ceder, Frosne øjeblikke (2009)

Denne svenske politikrimi er forfatterens debut.

En kold decembermorgen er Åke Melkersson på vej til sin sidste arbejdsdag inden pensionen. Han er nok lidt ukoncentreret, for undervejs ryger han af vejen i et glat sving og ødelægger udstødningsrøret. Efter en pludselig indskydelse drejer han fra alfarvej mod et lille autoværksted for at få problemet ordnet straks, men mekanikeren er ude af stand til at hjælpe nogen længere.

Åke beder sin nabo Seja give ham et lift, men Seja viser en noget overraskende interesse for den myrdede mekaniker. Hun påstår over for politiet at hun var med Åke, da han opdagede liget og giver sig til at fotografere det med sin mobiltelefon.

Og ind imellem får vi afsnit fra 1993, hvor teenageren My flytter fra sin dominerende mor og et spirende stofmisbrug til en højskole, hvor hun forelsker sig voldsomt i den lidt ældre – lige så dominerende? - Caroline, men ellers ser ud til at være på vej til at få styr på sit liv.
Kriminalkommissær Christian Tell og hans team kaster sig ud i undersøgelser og vidneafhøringer, men morderen har efterladt sig meget få spor. Selv om Tell er single og lidt reserveret, er han tydeligvis interesseret i charmerende Seja, mens det kan være svært at afgøre om Seja er mest interesseret i Tell eller i mordsagen.

Til trods for at opklaringen af sagen bliver lidt langtrukken og måske udpensles lidt rigeligt af og til, har Ceder skrevet en rigtig god og spændende debut, og miljøbeskrivelsen er også et stort plus. Jeg lånte bogen på biblioteket.


Camilla Ceder, Frozen Moment (2010)
This Swedish police procedural is the writer´s debut.

On a cold December morning Åke Melkersson is on his way to his last working day before the pension. He may be a bit unconcentrated as he skids in a curve and destroys the exhaust pipe. A sudden impulse makes him leave the main road in search of a small garage, hoping that he can get help immediately. The mechanic is not able to help anyone any more, however.

Åke asks his neighbour Seja for a lift, but Seja displays a somewhat surprising interest in the dead man. She tells the police that she was with Åke when he found the body and begins taking pictures of it with her mobile phone.

In between the solution of the case we get passages from 1993 when the teenager My moved away from her domineering mother and a budding drug problem to a folk high school. Here she begins to get a grip on her life, and soon she falls in love with Caroline who is a bit older but perhaps as domineering as the mother.

Inspector Christian Tell and his team plunge into an investigation of a murder with very few clues. Even though Tell is single and seems a bit reserved, he is clearly interested in charming Seja whereas it is difficult to decide if Seja is more interested in Tell than in the case.
Even though the solution is a bit protracted and unnecessarily detailed now and then, Ceder has written a very promising and exciting debut. The description of the remote environment is also a plus.

The book was a library book, and I read it for the Scandinavian Reading Challenge 2010 # 5