Trouble

Set in 1953, Ivar’s stellar third mystery featuring Hella Mauzer (after 2020’s Deep as Death) finds Hella working as a PI after losing her job as the first-ever woman inspector in the Helsinki Homicide Unit. She’s surprised to hear from her former boss, Police Chief Jokela, who asks her to meet him at headquarters after hours when few people would be around. The reason for that timing becomes clear once Jokela specifies the sensitive help that he’s seeking—a background check on Johannes Heikkinen, a member of SUPO, the Finnish secret service, a candidate to become the head of homicide. Hella agrees on the condition that she’s given unfettered access to the files on the 1942 deaths of her parents, sister, and nephew, who were killed by an unidentified hit-and-run truck driver. From the prologue, readers know that Colonel Mauzer and his family were deliberately targeted and he recognized the driver just before being fatally struck. Hella pursues that cold case as well as disturbing discoveries from her look into Heikkinen’s history. Ivar balances the complex plotlines perfectly. Fans of multifaceted female leads will be riveted. Agent: Marilia Savvides, Peters, Fraser & Dunlop (U.K.). (Feb.)