Eva’s Eye

Originally published in Norway in 1995, Fossum’s entertaining first Insp. Konrad Sejer mystery is finally available in English (after 2012’s The Caller, the eighth series entry to be published in the U.S.). While walking along the riverbank of an unnamed small town, divorced artist Eva Magnus and her seven-year-old daughter, Emma, spot a dead body floating in the river. In front of the inquisitive Emma, Eva pretends to call the police, but instead calls her father. When the police discover that the body is that of a murdered prostitute who used to be a friend of Eva’s, suspicions arise. Eva’s transition from struggling painter and single mother to something new and unpredictable will delight fans searching for the next diverting Scandinavian mystery. While Eva steals the center stage from Sejer, her increasingly fraught decisions give this dark police procedural warmth despite the frigid environs. (Aug.)