Tag: Sommerdahl Murders

Murder & Mayhem on Page & Screen

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For a change of pace this week, I’m profiling three works, a mystery novel by the clever and creative
Anthony Horowitz, and two TV crime series in which the Chief Penguin and I have been immersed. One set in coastal Denmark and the other in the remote Shetland Islands

DEATH BY WINE BOTTLE

The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz

Author Horowitz (newstatesman.com)

Anyone who’s ever watched  Foyle’s War or Midsomer Murders has been exposed to Anthony Horowitz’s writing.  Both are excellent series and imbued with compassion and warmth.  The Sentence is Death is Horowitz’s second featuring Detective Daniel Blackwell and himself as characters.  I haven’t read the first Blackwell mystery (The Word is Murder), but several years ago, I enjoyed Horowitz’s popular and puzzling Magpie Murders.

Prominent London divorce lawyer to the rich and well-connected, Richard Pryce is found dead having been struck with an expensive wine bottle.  Retired Detective Blackwell is called in to assist since it seems to be a complex case, and he asks his friend Tony (Horowitz) to tag along.  Tony is writing a series of novels about Blackwell and his cases, and there are many suspects here.  They range from Adrian Lockwood, Pryce’s most recent client, Akira Anno, Lockwood’s ex-wife, and two Oxford classmates who were involved in a caving incident some years before.  

The book begins slowly as the various characters are introduced and as the reader becomes familiar with how Tony and Blackwell interact with each other.  Neither is always as forthcoming with information as the other would prefer.  There are glimpses of Tony’s other life involving the filming of the latest episode of Foyle’s War which add color and reality to this fictional piece.  Tony is convinced he has figured out who the killer is, but the reader will have to wait to find out—unless he or she has also guessed.  (I did).  It’s an intriguing crime novel and a fun one!

For more about Anthony Horowitz and why he puts himself into these mystery novels, here’s an article from New Statesman.

DANISH TRIANGLE—LOVE, CRIME, & FRENDSHIP

Sommerdahl Murders (Season 3, Acorn)

Marianne, Dan, Flemming (justwatch.com)

This is the third season of a crime series set on the coast of Denmark in the small city of Elsinore, not far from Sweden.  There are eight episodes.  Detectives Dan Sommerdahl and Flemming Torp are partners and longtime friends who seamlessly work together, always intuiting and anticipating each other’s moves. Yet Dan is divorced from Marianne, a technician who is part of the crime team, and she is now involved with Flemming.  

How these relationships impact the work environment and their colleagues is one of the main focuses of this season.  Yes, it’s a crime series, and there are multi-layered murders to solve, but it’s also a study in friendship.  The Chief Penguin and I very much enjoyed the previous seasons and quickly got caught up in this one as well.  According to the press, Season 4 is in the works.  Recommended!

MURDER IN REMOTE SCOTLAND

Shetland (Season 6, Acorn)

Tosh & Jimmy (theartsdesk.com)

Shetland, featuring Douglas Henshall as Detective Jimmy Perez, is another favorite series of ours. This season was actually released in the U.S. beginning in early November 2021. For some reason, the Chief Penguin and I watched the first two of 6 episodes last winter, but had never finished the rest. This week we rectified that.

When a successful and seemingly well-liked trial lawyer, Alex Galbraith, is murdered in his own home, there seem to be no obvious suspects. Simultaneously, a woman who murdered the sister of a Shetland resident, is given compassionate release from prison due to advanced cancer. Donna’s return stirs up anger, bitterness, and even demonstrations.

As Jimmy Perez and the members of his team, Tosh and Sandy, begin digging, there are affairs, unexplained expenses, and an event from twenty years ago that may be a link to what happened to Mr. Galbraith. With its many twists and turns and the secondary plot involving Donna, it is a totally absorbing and suspenseful season. Highly recommended!

Season 7 is already being aired in Britain, and there will be a Season 8 in 2023, but with a new lead. For avid fans, it’s disappointing that Douglas Henshall is bowing out as DI Perez after this year.

Summertime: Novels & Crime

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NOVEL ADVENTURES

WOMEN & MEDICINE

Where the Light Enters by Sara Donati

(go.authorsguild.com)

If you’re a historical novel junkie and you like medical minutiae, then the sequel to Donati’s earlier tome, The Gilded Hour, might be just the perfect diversion.  Set in the 1880’s in New York, specifically Greenwich Village and environs, it’s the continuing tale of two female doctors, cousins Sophie and Anna Savard, who struggle to overcome prejudice and to provide comprehensive OB-GYN care for women of all classes.  Anna is married to a police detective, and Sophie is a rich widow, but also biracial.  Together they get involved in a series of missing persons cases.  

Donati is the pen name of Rosina Lippi, a retired university professor. She loves details and has done meticulous research (even creating newspaper clippings based on real events) to present what Manhattan was like in the 19th century—its architecture, the culture, and its politicians.  Chock full of secondary characters, friends and relatives of the two doctors, all intertwined with several subplots, Where the Light Enters is engrossing and highly readable!  (~JWFarrington)

SMALLTOWN OHIO

The Daughters of Erietown by Connie Schultz

Connie Schultz (Cleveland.com)

I was not familiar with Connie Schultz, a Pulitzer Prize winning columnist, before reading The Daughters of Erietown.  Schultz grew up in Ashtabula, Ohio, and this historical novel (1950’s to 1990’s) overlaps with her early years and some of her personal experiences.  It’s the warmhearted story of three generations of women with limited means and big aspirations who are products of their time and place.  

The central focus is on Brick and Ellie McGinty, sandwiched between his father, Bull, and mother, Angie, and their own children, Samantha (Sam) and Reilly.  Brick is a high school basketball star with a college scholarship and Ellie dreams of going to nursing school.  When she becomes pregnant, they marry, and their choices narrow to staying put in their blue-collar life.  As the years pass, Ellie doesn’t give up completely on her dreams, while her daughter takes a somewhat bolder approach.  Brick soaked up being the center of attention in high school and seeks out that kind of attention in all the wrong places.  This is small town life marked by abuse, adultery, racism, and poverty in a time when smart women might end up stuck.  

Growing up, my family visited my cousins in Ohio each summer; Schultz convincingly evokes the cultural and social aspects of that time.  You will end up cheering Ellie on and applauding Sam for her gumption.  Recommended!  (~JWFarrington)  

SCANDINAVIAN VIEWING

The Sommerdahl Murders  (Acorn)

(cancelledshowstv.com)

As you probably have realized, the Chief Penguin and I like crime series.  The Sommerdahl Murders is a Danish series set in a small coastal town.  Dan Sommerdahl is the lead detective and he works with his partner, Flemming, and his wife, Marianne who is a criminal technician.  Dan and Marianne have been married for 25 years, but often, his job has taken priority.  In the opening episode, the situation comes to a head as he gets consumed by a murder case and misses a key dinner.  Unlike the Swedish series, Rebecka Martinsson, this one is faster-paced and very lively.  Quite a contrast to the frozen Arctic of the other and very good viewing!  Season 1 is eight episodes, and it seems very likely that there will be a Season 2 available here sometime next summer.  

Note: Header photo of flag from covenantcare.com