Silence

Heavy on Nordic melancholy, Wagner’s slow-burning second novel featuring Finnish detective Kimmo Joentaa (after 2007’s Ice Moon) focuses on a possible link between a cold case and a present-day crime. In 1974, the body of 13-year-old Pia Lehtinen, who disappeared while riding her bike in Turku, was found after several months in a lake. Now another girl, 14-year-old Sinikka Vehkasalo, has gone missing, her bike and sports bag found near a cross erected in Pia’s memory. Joentaa and his team soon exhaust their scant leads and turn, unofficially, for advice to a recently retired police colleague, who’s convinced it’s the work of the same killer. Meanwhile, scenes from the life of Helsinki estate agent Timo Korvensuo, whose connection to Pia’s death—and potentially Sinikka’s vanishing—unspools at a leisurely pace. An unexpected conclusion helps compensate for the sometimes saggy plot, while Wagner’s take on grief seen through the dual prisms of time and circumstance will resonate with many readers. (Dec.)