Murder in Norway

No Echo by Anne Holt (translated from Norwegian by Anne Bruce) is a police procedural novel set in Oslo. It is obviously one of a series and although I did understand what was going on well enough I think that I might have preferred to have read the previous books before this one to get all the background. I enjoyed this enough so that if I saw any of them available in my regular trawl through charity shops I would buy it.

The main detective in this series is Hanne Wilhelmsen. Hanne’s partner has died in the previous book and she has fled the country and is living in Italy, not sure if she will return to her job. When a celebrity chef is killed the investigation is headed up by another detective, Billy T, and when Hanne returns home he blocks her out and refuses to let her assist. There is considerable tension in the team, especially since Hanne seems to be much more capable than Billy T.

The chef appears to be ambitious and unlikable. There are a large number of suspects to track down but, of course, many of them are hiding things which makes it difficult to work out what has happened that led to his murder. Hanne tracks down a potential witness who is a homeless woman and who eventually stays with her which further complicates things.

This is a good read and I particularly liked the beginning of the story. It’s a nice puzzle for the team to solve and there are plenty of red herrings and interesting peripheral characters. There is no big twist but what happens is often unexpected and keeps the reader guessing. The tensions and rivalries between members of the investigating team make the story more interesting. I have read a lot of police procedurals and this is a good, solid one which I enjoyed.