A good police procedural, although I guessed the final villain way before the end - it was how it came to be known that was interesting. Sad story, though. ( )

In einer eisigen Göteborger Winternacht stoßen Polizisten in einem alten Erdkeller auf die Leiche eines Mädchens. Offensichtlich wurde es über längere Zeit gefangen gehalten, missbraucht und brutal ermordet. Wer war die Tote, die niemand zu vermissen scheint? Die Ermittlungen führen Irene Huss ins Göteborger Rotlichtmilieu. Mit Hilfe ihrer Kollegin vom Dezernat für Menschenhandel kommt sie dem Kopf eines internationalen Mädchenhändlerrings auf die Spur, der sich gerade in der Stadt aufhält. Sie folgt der Fährte bis nach Teneriffa. Nach und nach deckt Irene Huss die Hintergründe dieses schmutzigen Geschäfts auf und bringt sich auf der Suche nach den Hintermännern schließlich selbst in höchste Gefahr. Aber wer hat das Mädchen tatsächlich auf dem Gewissen? Schleuser, Zuhälter, Freier? Noch ahnt niemand, dass der Mörder näher ist als gedacht …

Whilst looking for a couple of young car thieves who have knocked down and killed a retired policeman in a hit-and-run incident, the police stumble upon the body of a young girl. She's been murdered after sustained and brutal sexual abuse, in circumstances strongly suggesting human trafficking. Irene and her colleagues set out on what they fear will be a fruitless attempt to track down the gang responsible, in a complicated investigation that includes the craziest yet of Irene's famously disastrous foreign trips.

At the same time, Irene is having to come to terms with the life-changes that go with approaching middle age: her boss of many years is retiring at last, her daughters are making moves to fly away from the nest, her mother and dog Sammie are both getting very old and doddery, and even the ever-reliable Krister is feeling the tooth of time. But the final twist in the plot is probably Tursten's cleverest so far. Very neat! ( )

This is part of the ongoing Inspector Irene Huss series, but there’s no need to have read any others in the series if this is your first Helene Tursten novel. The scenario is comfortably familiar: a competent, middle-ranking detective in Sweden’s second city, stretches her investigative skills as part of the CID team while juggling her family life and personal relationships. Inspector Huss works the city streets where each night’s new snowfall is merely an everyday inconvenience, and where each morning begins with her running late for the daily briefing. Scandi crime, yes. Nordic noir, no.

A series of accidents, mishaps and murder reveal more than the expected number of bodies and a connection to sex trafficking networks which stretch from Estonia to the Canary Islands. The murder squad is stretched thin with this unusual activity, and Huss herself is sent south to liaise with her European colleagues… which puts her life in grave danger from the corrupt police and their gangster accomplices.

With all its social commentary, on the nature of prostitution, affirmative action, equality at work, the parental phase of empty-nesting and so on, The Beige Man is instantly identifiable as squeaky-clean Swedish. However it doesn’t flinch from detailing the explicit details of the gruesome condition of the young women ‘sold’ into slavery. Then author Tursten even answers her own question, in a clever resolution to the parallel plot-lines which neatly resolves three seemingly unconnected incidents.

The Beige Man is a well-plotted and professionally delivered murder mystery set in the modern world, with more than one foot in the camp of social conscience.
8/10

There's more on this book and other crime titles at
https://murdermayhemandmore.wordpress.com/2016/01/22/the-beige-man-solid-swedish... ( )

his is the seventh entry in the Detective Inspector Huss series, and is good enough to keep me on the alert for the eighth, due in English late this year. Irene Huss is still an engaging character. Indeed, I find more and more that her personal and family life is what keeps me reading, rather than the mystery. This time, Irene's daughters are leaving home, her mother is failing, her husband has had to cut back his work, and her dog is not well. She, however, continues to manage, and to remain relatively cheerful -- a bright spot in the general gloom of Swedish policiers. The mystery this time involves trafficking in young women, corruption, and a nearly fatal trip to the Canary Islands. The book may not be as gripping as the first two books in the series, but it is still a good solid detective story. ( )