Hunting Game

Det. Insp. Embla Nyström, who appeared as a police intern in Tursten’s 2015 Irene Huss mystery, The Treacherous Net, is now with the Västra Götaland County Bureau of Investigation’s mobile police unit in this outstanding series launch. The line between Embla’s professional and personal life blurs during an annual family moose hunt, when she feels drawn to a new participant, Peter Hansson, who has just returned to the area. But the prospect of a relationship is threatened by the disappearance of two fellow hunters, Jan-Eric Cahneborg and Anders von Beehn. Shortly before, Cahneborg received a letter containing a bandanna and a slip of paper on which the words “I remember. M.” were printed, a message that sent him into shock. The reader is also aware that the identical message was sent to von Beehn, accompanied, in his case, by an empty BMW key ring. Murder follows. Embla is a refreshingly capable lead, whose situational ethics means that she doesn’t feel she must do everything by the book. (Feb.)