Cold Hearts

Like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, this entry in Staalesen’s long-running Norwegian crime series featuring Bergen detective Varg Veum (Consorts of Death, etc.) examines issues of class prejudice, misplaced trust, and self-righteous exploitation. Prostitute Hege Jensen, a former schoolmate of Veum’s son, hires the aging PI to find her friend and fellow prostitute, Maggi Monsen, who disappeared one night after turning down a customer. Veum discovers that Maggie was plagued by predatory pimps and potentially murderous johns, but Maggie’s sad tale proves as nothing compared to the harm done by well-intentioned busybodies whose interventions transform terrible situations into ones unimaginably worse. Under pressure, Veum can skillfully dole out violence, but the essentially humane detective prefers methods that involve dialogue and deduction, investigation and intellect—a welcome contrast to many in his line of work. (Nov.)