First look: New Wallander novella

It’s been three years since The Troubled Man – the most recent Wallander novel – was released in English. Although we’ve recently had the third series of Wallander on TV here in the UK, readers of the series have had nothing to keep them going. Yes, there are other Scandinavian authors you can turn to – Jussi Adler-Olsen or Jorn Lier Horst, for instance. But there’s nothing quite like a Wallander, is there?

But wait… and rejoice! For in my hand I’m holding a new Wallander book. It’s not a novel, but at 150 pages An Event in Autumn is certainly a decent sized novella. Never previously published, the story was originally written for a Dutch crime festival. It was also adapted for TV in the UK and broadcast with Kenneth Brannagh as Wallander in 2012. However this is our first chance to enjoy the story in book format. It comes out on 4 September as a hardback and an ebook from Harvill Secker.

An Event in Autumn sees our favourite Swedish detective moving house. Things are on the up, until he discovers the skeleton of a woman in the garden of the place he’s about to buy. His fellow officers and forensic experts comb the property for clues, and along with his daughter Linda, Kurt Wallander goes about investigating the woman’s death. The garden soon offers up further discoveries for the detectives leading them into some of the area’s darker secrets.

The book includes an essay by Henning Mankell on Wallander. On the last page he says his Wallander story has ended and that the detective is due to retire. “He will wander around in his twilight land with his black dog Jussi,” he writes.

It’s not 100 per cent clear that Wallander is done for, but it does seem likely. Such a shame, but at least we have An Event in Autumn to enjoy. Pre-order now on Amazon

Here’s a peek inside.

And this is what the back door looks like.