The Inspector and Silence (The Van Veeteren series) - Softcover

'Nesser already has a slew of Scandinavian crime awards under his belt for his novels, which have received enthusiastic welcomes in nine countries. And as his reputation gathers momentum, it is only a matter of time before British fans will be learning how to pronounce his name (a good approximation is `Hawk Ann Nessair')... Inspector Van Veeteren is one of the most memorable of non-English coppers (and there's plenty of competition in that field). Van Veeteren, good-humoured, cultured and book-loving, is something of a contrast to the dour Scandinavian coppers we're so used to, and his sardonic take on the cases he deals with is echoed by Nesser's own off-kilter take on the crime genre: everything here is refracted though a mordant view of humanity and its foibles -- but one shot through with sympathy.' --Radio 4's Front Row

'The fashion for imported crime fiction is still booming with the Swede Hakan Nesser one of its most successful models.' --Literary Review

'Satisfying novel from a rising Swedish star... Van Veeteran [the detective], disengaged, thinking of retirement and wonderfully enigmatic, makes an enjoyable change from all those fictional police men who persist in taken their work home with disastrous consequences, and the slow pace - there's more introspection here than action - results in an intense read.' --Guardian Review

'The novel is as much about his [Detective Van Veeteran] thought processes and private pleasures as it is about a murder enquiry. The result it wry, thought provoking and often surprisingly funny.' --The Spectator

'The atmosphere of the small town, the mysterious fringes of the forest full of aspens and blueberries, are evocatively drawn. So is that particular contribution to Sweden to crime fiction: the contrast between the light summer nights and metaphorical darkness...The clarity of Nesser's vision, the inner problems of good and evil with which Van The Veeteran struggles, recall the film of Bergman.' --The Independent

'A satisfying novel from a rising Swedish star.' (The Guardian)

'The novel is as much about his [Detective Van Veeteran] thought processes and private pleasures as it is about a murder enquiry. The result it wry, thought provoking and often surprisingly funny.' (The Spectator)

'Van Veeteran is a reluctant and sometimes cynical genius "destined", in the opinion of Morse's creator Colin Dexter, "for a place among the great European detectives".' (London Review of Books)

'The fashion for imported crime fiction is still booming with the Swede Håkan Nesser one of its most successful models.' (Literary Review)