Strange things happen at Katthamra manor.

Admiral Hägg is on watch duty at four in the morning regardless of whether he’s alive or dead. In the forest with the twisted trees it’s easy to get lost because clocks stop running and compasses no longer work. This could be due to the gnome Bysen or the Little People Underground. Andreas Nilsson, 9 years old, thinks about these things and about the minesweeper Albatross as he rides his bicycle from the graveyard with a stolen skull securely fastened on his bike rack. Together with his brother he has discovered a secret, but his brother is buried at the cementary. The cause of death was drowning, or was it?

Detective Inspector Maria Wern spends the summer working on the island of Gotland to gain some peace and quiet and to get some distance from her divorce. Just before midsummer the police receive a report of a missing nine-year-old boy after a party at Herrvik’s fishing camp. The search includes the caves in the hills above Östergarn School. Throughout the years, school children have scratched their names on the wall in one of the caves. Maria Wern discovers two names, encircled by a heart. Old love never dies – or is that exactly what does happen to it?

296 pages

Rights

Denmark: People’s
Finland: Gummerus
Germany: BookBeat
Italy: StorySide
Japan: Tokyo Sogen
The Netherlands: Rode Kamer
Norway: Cappelen Damm
Poland: BookBeat
Spain: StorySide
Sweden: Norstedts
UK/US: StorySide (WER)

Film rights

Warner Brother Nordic (Eyeworks), Sweden

REVIEWS

“… an exciting, well written novel with keen-sighted depictions of moral conflicts and human shortcomings.”
Aftonbladet / SWE

“Anna Jansson is a prolific author and keeps getting better. When the plot is realistic and the environments authentic, the suspense acquires an extra spice.”
Hallandsposten / SWE

“I have to admit that I am fascinated by Anna Jansson and how she succeeds in growing both as an author and as a storyteller with every book.”
Kristianstadbladet / SWE

“Keen-sighted … Exciting and well written.”
Aftonbladet / SWE

“A deeply absorbing novel.”
Nerikes Allehanda / SWE

“Best right now! A great crime novel should apart from the intrigue and believable characters also have a clear undertone. It wants to tell more than just the story about a crime. A skill Anna Jansson does very well in this book.”
TARA / SWE

“Anna Jansson has a sharp eye… Her portraits of the main characters are sharp as an edge, whether they are middle age men on their way to lose grip or women who fight for children, family and husband.”
Oskarshamnstidningen / SWE

“Anna Jansson does not only keep the reader pinned to the story. She also masters the art of painting pictures with her language and to let the reader awfully close to her characters.”
SOLO / SWE

“It is a treat for many crime novel readers when Anna Jansson publishes her eight novel.”
Västervikstidningen / SWE

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