“With a few simple strokes on the keyboard, he could see the little people in their everyday lives over satellite. These superstitious and hardly intelligent creatures still believed in pure luck. It gave him a feeling of power when he could observe them. When weather was good he could even see their faces. Maybe this is what gave him the greatest pleasure.”

The Gotlandic myth about the White sea-lady has existed ever since Tjelvar lit the fire and the island rose out of the sea. The story is told about a young woman who drowned on her wedding night and who has since tried to lure men down into the underwater streams outside the west coast. The myth is brought up again an early morning just before midsummer, when a nurse is found murdered in the pavilion on the Tempel Hill in the Botanic garden. She is dressed as a bride.

Detective Inspector Maria Wern is investigating the case. It turns out to be an uneven struggle where the killer can observe every step the police takes. With an intelligent and a technical know-how which by far exceeds everything they thought possible an evil strategy is laid out. Evil is closer than they think.

370 pages

Rights

Denmark: People’s
Estonia: Eesti Raamat
Finland: Gummerus
France: Editions du Toucan
Germany: BookBeat
Italy: StorySide
Norstedts: Cappelen Damm
Poland: BookBeat
Russia: Atticus
Spain: StorySide
Sweden: Norstedts
UK/US: StorySide (WER)

Film rights

Warner Brothers Nordic (Eyeworks), Sweden

REVIEWS

“Jansson’s second book to be translated into English (after Strange Bird) is sure to be a hit with avid fans of Scandinavian crime fiction. Book clubs will find that this story provides many current and relevant topics to discuss.”
Library Journal / US

“Sophisticated depictions of human frailty, both among the police and civilians, make this a memorable read.”
Publishers Weekly

“Anna Jansson handles the crime novel’s now mandatory components very skillfully.”
Göteborgsposten / SWE

“There is something for everybody here because she brings up many different social problems and she is very good at that Anna Jansson.”
Swedish Television / SWE

“Full speed from page three already.”
Dalarnas tidningar / SWE

“Anna Jansson writes exciting, as usual, with interesting personal portraits and funny comments. You learn a lot about Swedish contemporary values when reading her.”
Dagens Nyheter / SWE

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