The cover of this book a man alone in the snow says it all. Henning Mankell has given us a multilayered novel for Kurt Wallander’s final case. The story takes nearly two years to solve and it moves not only through Kurt’s life but around Sweden.

The main crime is a missing person case involving the future father in law of Kurt’s daughter Linda. He first gets interested in Hakan’s story at a family party, when later Hakan goes missing with his wife, Kurt decides to help the local police with some detective work of his own. With retirement looming he has more free time to pursue the case into the Cold War history of Sweden with submarines, spies and double crosses. It also allows Kurt to move through his life assess his feelings, the hopes and regrets of his actions, which lead him to the realisation of how alone he is now that his working life is drawing to a close. With a renewed interest in family life, building his relationship with Linda and his grandchild a new fear sneaks into the plot.

This is no BBC travelogue of long straight roads with photogenic grass blowing in the wind. This is Kurt trying to make sense of the twist and turns of his life as a detective, husband, father and friend. Now as he approaches retirement, will his epitaph be, he was a good detective, gave justice to the dead but neglected his family and friends in the pursuit of truth?

I have read most of Henning Mankell’s Wallander mysteries, this is an author in top form giving his most famous creation a wonderful send off and it is a sad but really good read.

Available as a book.

Available as a Spoken Word CD