Calling Out for You by
Karin Fossum
pbk out July 05
(Harvill)
at £10.99
An unusual location for a whodunnit, as this is a novel translated from Norwegian,
being one of the 'Inspector Sejur mysteries' by a well-established Scandinavian
writer.
Gunder Jomann, a middle-aged salesman in agricultural machinery and a bachelor,
suddenly goes off to India to find a wife and within a fortnight has married Poona, the
waitress who served him in a Bombay restaurant.
He arranges for her to fly back to Norway in a few weeks and waits in fervent
anticipation for her arrival. On that very day, his sister has a road accident and is
taken unconscious to hospital, so that Gunder cannot go to the airport to meet his
bride.
She never arrives and turns up in a field, dead with severe head injuries. Inspector
Sejur has a long trek to try to discover the culprit, as no one in the little town wishes
to believe that anyone there could do such a thing and they are reluctant to offer any
information. The case drags on and really comes to no definite conclusion, perhaps in
a way more familiar to readers of continental European fiction than British.
Very well written and translated, this is a good solid investigative yarn, though as
said, perhaps the ending is a little unsatisfactory.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
Calling Out for You by
Karin Fossum
