Deep as death :bHella Mauzer novels #2 / Katja Ivar.

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Title:

Deep as death :bHella Mauzer novels #2 / Katja Ivar.

Author:

Ivar, Katja

ISBN:

9781912242306

Publication Information:

London, England : Bitter Lemon Press, 2020.

Physical Description:

300 p.

Series:

Hella Mauzer Novels #2

Abstract:

Helsinki, February 1953. An unusually cold winter. Everywhere frozen sea and ice covered lakes. Police detective Hella Mauzer, whip-smart but much misunderstood, has just been fired from the police force and is now a reluctant private investigator. When a prostitute if found floating face-down in Helsinki Harbor it's not exactly a high priority case for homicide chief Jokela--so he passes the job to his former colleague Hella. Soon another call-girl narrowly escapes being driven into the harbor, handcuffed to the car by her client. In a port city flooded with refugees, who cares if a few young women go missing? Police inspector Mustonen, who views this as an opportunity to advance his career. A heartbroken Hella with a score to settle. They have yet to discover on thing: the most dangerous lies are those we tell ourselves.--back cover.

Subject Term:

Mauzer, Hella (Fictitious character) -- Fiction.

Women detectives -- Fiction.

Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Finland -- Fiction.

Helsinki (Finland) -- Fiction.

Genre:

Detective and mystery stories.

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library	Adult Mystery Fiction Book Paperback	120791002810782	M IVA	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

It all begins when a prostitute is found floating upside down in Helsinki Harbour - a low-priority job that gets passed back to Hella. It's beginning to look like a serial killer is at work when another woman narrowly escapes being driven into the harbour, handcuffed to the car by her client. What begins like a taut whodunit turns into something more tantalising as Hella turns her attention to different suspects, often to the consternation of the fascinating Inspector Mustonen, charismatic, ambitious and trying desperately to live up to the standards of his wife.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Ivar's disappointing sequel to 2019's Evil Things opens with a prologue set in 1935 in which a man causes a woman to slip into a frozen lake and drown by breaking the ice in front of her. When a prostitute's body is found floating in icy Helsinki Harbor in 1953, the police tell the madam of the victim's upscale brothel that it was likely an accident. Unsatisfied with this answer, the madam seeks help from private investigator Hella Mauzer, the first female homicide detective on the Helsinki police until her abrupt dismissal for disobeying direct orders. An attempt to drown a second prostitute suggests the first prostitute was murdered. Told from multiple viewpoints, the complex narrative fails to build much momentum. Hella's complicated personal life, in particular her married boyfriend dumping her, distracts. A provocative denouement and some evocative prose ("this was a city of softened greys and sunless mornings, of blurry shadows and damp drizzle") compensate only in part. Fans of Evil Things will hope for a return to form in the trilogy's conclusion. Agent: Marilia Savvides, Peters, Fraser & Dunlop (U.K.). (June)

Kirkus Review

The second volume in Ivar's trilogy about Finnish investigator Hella Mauzer shows her fighting crime just as ferociously even when she's an ex-cop. Bounced from the police force after the rocky road of Evil Things (2019), Hella can't imagine why her old boss, Chief Inspector Jon Jokela, recommended her to Helsinki madam Klara Nylund. The answer is simple: Because Jokela, who doesn't want to bother looking into the death of pregnant prostitute Nellie Ritvanen, would rather farm the job out to a private eye. Once Hella gets the bit between her teeth, though, she refuses to give up. Not when her apparent slowness in identifying Ahti Virtanen, a well-heeled politician's profligate son, as the obvious suspect earns a rebuke from Klara. Not when Klara is murdered herself. And not when Klara's successor brusquely terminates her employment. As Hella, who's just been dumped by Steve Collins, her married lover, tries to figure out her next move, the case attracts the attention of Chief Inspector Erik Mustonen, her old colleague, and Anita, the old friend who's just joined the Helsinki police as a trainee and moved in with Hella without waiting for an invitation. Ivar's sharp eye for both the institutional oppression of women in 1953 and her heroine's rabid willingness to push back against it adds an edge to the twists and turns as Hella's suspicions fall on a series of possible killers increasingly close to herself. The subzero temperatures of both the setting and the plot make other Nordic noirs seem positively balmy. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.