In Dust and Ashes: A Hanne Wilhelmsen Novel

At the start of Holt’s elegiac 10th and final novel featuring Oslo chief inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen (after 2017’s Odd Numbers), veteran police detective Kjell Bonsaksen, who’s about to retire, brings a possible miscarriage of justice to the attention of Hanne’s eccentric disciple, Henrik Holme. In 2004, Jonas Abrahamsen, whose marriage fell apart after the death of his three-year-old daughter in a car accident in 2001, was convicted of his ex-wife’s murder. Kjell believes that Jonas, who has served 12 years in prison, is innocent. Meanwhile, Hanne, a gifted and unorthodox investigator, suspects that the death of far-right activist Iselin Havørn is not the suicide it appears. Under Hanne’s guidance, Henrik gradually grows into maturity as a genuine humanitarian, while Hanne, despite her physical limitations due to a serious line-of-duty injury, digs into Havørn’s background, shedding light on right-wing European movements with their anti-Muslim “criminal, capitalist conspiracy” theories. For Hanne and Henrik, both convincing complex characters, all suffering comes down to the “good old sins”: money, sex, and revenge. Readers will be sorry to see the last of them. Agent: Niclas Salomonsson, Salomonsson Agency (Sweden). (May)