- PUB DATE: January 19, 2023
- MARKET: Nordic Noir
- BINDING: Paperback B-Format
- PRICE: £9.99
- EXTENT: 224 pages
- ISBN: 9781913394-776
The third in the series featuring Hella Mauzer, to follow on the success of Evil Things and Deep as Death.
A Nordic Noir of the first-order set in Helsinki in 1953. A dark political thriller at the heart of the Cold War; a novel about ruthless ambition and betrayal, but also about the challenges of being a single professional woman in post-war Europe.
Helsinki, June 1953, at the heart of the Cold War. Hella, now a reluctant private investigator, has been asked by her former boss at the Helsinki murder squad to do a background check on a member of the Finnish secret services. Not the type of job Hella was hoping for, but she accepts it on the
condition that she is given access to the files concerning the roadside death of her father in 1942, at a time when Finland joined forces with Nazi Germany in its attack against the Soviet Union. German troops were sent to Finland, the Gestapo arrived in Helsinki and German influence on local
government was strong, including demands for the deportation of local Jews.
Colonel Mauzer, his wife and other family members were killed by a truck in a hit and run incident. An accident, file closed, they said. But not for Hella, whose unwelcome investigation leads to some who would prefer to see her stopped dead in her tracks.
My Review
Thanks to Anne of Random Things Tours for organising this blog tour and to the publisher for sending me a copy of this novel
As I’m writing this, it’s the evening of New Year’s Eve. Yes, I spent the last evening of 2022 reading a crime novel set in Helsinki in June 1953. Hella Mauzer has returned to her childhood home after 11 years, recovering from a previous attempt on her life, and this triggers her quest to find out who killed her family in 1943. At the same time, her former boss at the Helsinki police has a job for her. There’s a man he’s looking at as a potential head of the homicide squad, who currently works for the SUPO, the secret police. Something odd is going on and she has to find out what it is. In the process she discovers past crimes, and her need to bring justice for the victims, pushes her into dangerous situations.
During the investigations, Hella is having relationship problems. Her ex, Steve, keeps coming to visit and cooking, after telling her he’d divorced his wife. A neighbour keeps asking her out; she discovers on the second date that he’s a misogynist dick and loses interest in him. Also, her feet keep swelling up and she feels sick. And a Russian-speaking tramp keeps turning up at her house dropping off small parcels that make no sense to Hella.
At just over 200 pages, this isn’t a long novel, I probably read it in three hours, maybe less. I barely put it down except to eat my tea (I had ratatouille and saffron rice). I find Hella an interesting character. She has a back story that is woven into the novel and it really gives her depth. I think I need to read the first two Hella Mauzer books. Her relationship with radio host, Steve, is complex and fraught. They both obviously love each other, but their past keeps getting in the way.
The plot kept me engaged and guessing about who the murderer of the Mauzer family is. At one point I thought it was her ex-boss. Or possibly the man she is sent to investigate. And the inclusion of the Continuation War subplot was really satisfying. Bad stuff happened when the Finns were forced to ally with the Nazis to fight the Russians in 1943. I didn’t know about the Jewish refugees who ended up in Finland, and what happened to some of them. Lets just say the Gestapo were involved.
There are some really good red herrings and dropped clues, if you are looking for some of them. I picked up on some of them. The use of Cyrillic in some of the clues is *very important* to one of the subplots.
My first crime novel review of the year and I’m very impressed with it.
The author:
Katja Ivar grew up in Russia and the U.S. She travelled the world extensively, from Almaty to Ushuaia, from Karelia to Kyushu. She now lives in Washington, DC with her husband and three children. Katja received a B.A. in Linguistics and a master’s degree in Contemporary History from Sorbonne University.
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