A Swedish crime novel that’s not Nordic noir? There aren’t many and Katarina Bivald’s The Woman Who Wouldn’t Die Quietly proves that Golden Age-style mysteries can work just as well on cold, dark, remote Swedish islands as they do in quaint villages or Mediterranean villas.
The Woman Who Wouldn’t Die Quietly isn’t the author’s first foray into cosy crime fiction. No less than four others preceded it, which are all available in the US but not in the UK as yet. Here we have another mystery set against a stark Scandinavian backdrop – an island called Tallholmen in the Stockholm archipelago. This is a story that balances family drama with some amateur sleuthing.
It’s like a classic mystery setup meets Succession when a wealthy family gathers for a lavish dinner to celebrate the 80th birthday of their matriarch, Margrethe Cullenberg-Franzén. Margrethe isn’t your typical grandmother. She’s a tall, almost ethereal-looking woman with translucent skin and white-blonde hair, a woman who has spent decades building her own art gallery empire while ruling her family with an iron fist. She’s hardly a reserved, quiet woman; she loves provoking people and speaking her mind no matter what the impact.
The dinner feels over-the-top, dramatic and, somehow, staged. The evening is filled with unfiltered arguments between siblings and hostility towards Margrethe. The setting is one we’ve seen many times before, yet it perfectly builds the right amount of tension; we just know something horrid will soon occur. And so it does. When Margrethe falls from a slippery cliff after dinner, it looks like an unfortunate accident involving an elderly woman who had been drinking in the rain and enjoyed standing on cliff edges. As you do.
However, her neighbours and last-minute guests, novelist Berit Gardner and visiting British police officer Detective Chief Inspector Ian Ahmed, are not convinced. Margrethe was familiar with the area, had updated her will just weeks prior, and was surrounded by relatives who openly despised her. The fact that she mentioned in confidence to Ian that she suspects someone wants to kill her might also be an obvious clue. When a second death occurs not long after, it becomes undeniable that someone is not a fan of the family. Fortunately most of them aren’t exactly likeable characters, so we don’t mind too much if they’ll meet untimely deaths.
The local police, led by Detective Chief Inspector Sven Lindqvist, are preoccupied with ongoing gang shootings and, without any hard evidence of foul play, they’re not too enthusiastic to investigate what looks like a mere accident. Fortunately, Berit and Ian are a formidable crime-solving team, both bringing unique skills to the table. Ian does things by the book, using police methodology, structure and dedicated observation, while Berit prefers to use her creative intuition and ability to win over suspects’ confidence.
The dynamic between them sometimes dominates the narrative, but it doesn’t distract from it. Clearly, their relationship has changed and developed over time and it does feel as if there’s something romantic brewing. Ian feels protective of Berit, though she sometimes misinterprets his concern as a lack of faith in her independence. Berit temporarily lives in a family cottage on a nearby island and is quietly dealing with anxiety, including a strong belief that she might not live past 53, because it’s the age her mother died. Ian joins her for company and keeps track of local developments in a surveillance logbook out of sheer habit, including the comings and goings on the affluent family’s private island.
The island setting plays an important role in creating a distinctive atmosphere. The family’s house, built by Margrethe’s late husband, is filled with hidden compartments, inscriptions and secret places. Bivald creates a wintery landscape that mirrors the cold hearts of the Cullenberg-Franzén family.
Atmosphere, tension and misdirection are at the core of the novel. Just like Alice Feeney’s Daisy Darker, it most likely takes some inspiration from Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. Daisy Darker also features a highly dysfunctional family celebrating the 80th birthday of the family matriarch. The premise of an isolated island, a troubled family and an 80-year-old matriarch meeting a suspicious end creates the perfect environment for a classic whodunnit.
The Woman Who Wouldn’t Die Quietly is a compelling read which successfully veers from the classic setting of the cosy crime fiction we’re used to here at Crime Fiction Lover, while still using classic mystery tropes. This, along with dubious, unreliable and utterly unlikable characters, makes it a good choice for readers of traditional mysteries and lovers of Scandinavian crime fiction alike.
Also see The Discreet Charm of the Big Bad Wolf by Alexander McCall Smith, which is set in Sweden with a cosy vibe.
Poisoned Press
Print/Kindle/iBook
£17.99
CFL Rating: 4 Stars
