Henning Mankell, The Fifth Woman

Henning Mankell's The Fifth Woman isn't a prose masterpiece. The sentences are choppy and can be repetitive. (This may or may not be due to the fact that it's a translation.) And I can imagine that some readers may find it over-long and dull. But I really enjoyed it. The author takes you through the Ystad police department's investigation of a series of related murders. The case, which is headed up by Detective Wallander, is quite complicated, and the work is slow. Readers are taken along to every departmental meeting and told in detail about all the methodical, exhausting police work going on. There's nothing likely to get your heart rate up anywhere in Mankell's story. Still, I found myself very interested in following the detectives' business-like approach to solving the crimes. The case was interesting enough, in fact, that I was gripped by it despite having twice watched the Masterpiece Mystery episode of Wallander that was based on this book. (I'd forgotten how it all worked out.)