This is the third volume in the crime series featuring Danish detective Konrad Simonson (Simon). Although it's rather long and leisurely, it opens with a bang: a school shooting. However, that proves not to be the main crime to be solved, but only the link to a connection with a postman who recently died in a fall. Simon is given the task to determine whether the postman's death was an accident or murder. Along the way Simon also looks into the disappearance 40 years previously of a teenage runaway from Liverpool named Lucy. And that's where, for me, a lot of the "fun" and merit of this book came in: repeated reference to Beatles songs and trivia. The runaway's name of course refers to Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, and the circumstances of her leaving comport with She's Leaving Home ("meeting a man from the motor trade"), with her parents still mourning and wondering what they did wrong 40 years later. And then Simon's girlfriend from the late 60's was named Rita, and she's involved with parking garages, so references to Lovely Rita the Meter Maid abound. And so on.

I'll probably read another in the series, though I'm not sure Beatles references will be enough to keep me reading. In general I'm not a huge fan of series (or at least those that go on too long), preferring to read new characters and new situations.

3 stars ( )

I wrote of review and somehow it didn't save so I'm going to make this brief. This is the third installment in the Konrad Simonsen series and it would have been better to have started at number one. However, this was the book recommended in the New York Times book review sectionon Scandinavian noir, a genre I love.

Simonsen, just back from recuperating from a heart attack, is given an easy assignment. Clear up the accidental death of a postman who fell down the starts of his apartment building. However, it is not clear cut, as the investigation progresses, because he had a penchant for teenage girls.

Associated with this investigation is the disappearance 40 odd years ago of Lucy Davidson, who actually knew the deceased.

The characters are OK, other than Pauline who is a pip. I found the book dragged a bit. There are another one or two Danish mysteries on the list, so I'll keep going. this isn't my favorite Scandinavian mystery by a long shoht. ( )

En dejligt nedepåjorden krimi, med troværdigt persongalleri. Til at begynde med syntes jeg det var hyggeligt med de mange Beatles-hentydninger, men det bliver for meget til sidst - titler, sange, steder, årstal, (Lonely Hearts Club Band, Liverpool, diamanthimmel, 1967-69, person på 64...) selv en kvinde med initialerne LSD optræder. Men godt at Beatles ikke nævnes med et ord.

Jeg synes der er en eller to tråde for mange. Ikke at det er besværligt at følge med, men det virker mere ambitiøst end det kan holde.

Det er et sympatisk træk at lade ensomhed, mobning, udstødelse, være et bærende tema, synes jeg. Respekt for det.

Og nu til noget helt andet: Kongens fald, som første gang jeg var igang med det, der senere er blevet kaldt det tyvende århundredes bedste danske bog, ikke var begejstret. Nu prøver jeg igen. ( )

'The Vanished' by the sister and brother team of Lotte and Soren Hammer is a finely woven accounting of two tales and justice was done to both. The story lines are intriguing, and it seems every time one or the other had reached what might have been its natural conclusion, a new angle was identified, propelling the stories in a new and interesting direction. The story was well-written, realistic, plausible and entertaining.

My only problem with the book as translated by Martin Aitken, was that too much of the phraseology had a distinct British flavor to it, which I found somewhat annoying over time. I understand this flavor may be the natural result, of course, of the fact that Aitken is British. I may be speaking from ignorance as far as common Danish phrases being closely resembling British English, but it was off-putting as I wasn't expecting that, and was instead looking for typical Danish phrases and colloquialisms to derive a sense that the dialogues were authentic. Perhaps Danish conversational phrases don't translate well or easily into other languages, but in the end I was looking for that feeling I was immersed in Copenhagen and the forms of speech typical of the Danish people, but I didn't get that.

Detective Superintendent Konrad Simonsen is a very interesting character and I look forward to reading the other books in the series, it is time well spent! ( )

http://bogbrokken.blogspot.com/2011/10/lotte-sren-hammer-ensomme-hjerters-klub.h... ( )