The Marco Effect: A Department Q Novel

In bestseller Adler-Olsen’s engrossing fifth Department Q mystery (after 2013’s The Purity of Vengeance), a high-level manager of a financially troubled Copenhagen bank embezzles funds intended for an African village’s relief. Meanwhile, a clever 15-year-old gypsy, Marco Jameson, desperately wants to escape from a life in which he’s forced to beg and steal by his tyrannical uncle, Zola, head of the local gypsy clan. On the night Marco attempts to flee, he discovers a buried corpse, much to Zola’s displeasure. Afraid that Marco’s discovery may be revealed to the police, the members of Zola’s clan decide to track Marco down. When Det. Insp. Carl Mørck, the head of Department Q, part of Copenhagen’s homicide division, resurrects a cold case, Marco crosses paths with Mørck and his colleagues. The resulting investigation takes all of them on a roller coaster ride through Copenhagen’s seedy underbelly. The interplay of personalities in the police department adds color. (Sept.)