Chris Ould

This is the first in a crime series set on the Faroe Islands. The detective is a British policeman who had left the Faroe Islands as a small child with his mother when she left his father. Now, his father, with whom he has had no relationship over all these years, has been found shot, and the British policeman, Jan, returns to the islands and is soon helping the Faroese police solve the mystery.
I did enjoy learning about the geography, history and culture of the Faroes, but I'm not sure I will continue on with the series. This entry did leave an open-ended question in that Jan had wanted to find out why his mother left his father, and the answer to that question is not disclosed by this book.
As far as I can tell, the author is not Faroese (he is a British TV writer) so I'm also not sure how authentic the Faroese elements are.

2 1/2 stars… (meer)

A cold case involving a body on the site of a former commune may have connections to the last days of Jan Reyná’s mother. I liked that this narrative thread continued through all three of the books in this series, and I did like the setting, particularly the interactions between the Faroese and the Danish. I also liked the plot line about Hjalti being forced to be acting inspector (to say he’s not thrilled is an understatement). But Jan’s mum’s story went in a really creepy direction (abuse, trauma, sick criminal) and I had to skip to the end to find out whodunnit because I didn’t want to wade through too much of it. (And then I ended up reading more than I wanted to because I didn’t skip far enough ahead.) If you’re planning to read this series, the first two books are much safer than the third; that is, there is less creepiness in those installments.… (meer)