Alexander McCall Smith, The Talented Mr. Varg

The endearingly-named Ulf Varg—"Wolf Wolf"—is a policeman, the head of the Department of Sensitive Crimes in Malmö, Sweden. The office is not very busy, and Varg and his colleagues are thus able to take a somewhat leisurely approach to solving the unusual and relatively minor cases that cross their desks. Varg is a good man, honest and thoughtful and humane in the way the author's protagonists tend to be. He likes Swedish art and dogs and his married coworker Anna—and that's a storyline that we'll surely be hearing more about in the books to come. The series has much in common with McCall Smith's other work. Ulf Varg is to a great extent Precious Ramotswe or Isabel Dalhousie transplanted to a different exotic locale (although I find Ulf more immediately likable than Isabel for some reason). So, sure, the books are a little formulaic. It just so happens that I really like the formula.