Why a Booktrail?
2001, 2016: The explosive finale to Anne Holt’s bestselling Hanne Wilhelmsen series.
In Dust and Ashes
What you need to know before your trail
In 2001, three year old Dina is killed in a tragic car accident. Not long thereafter Dina’s mother dies under mysterious circumstances, and Dina’s father Jonas is convicted of her murder.
In 2016, the cold case ends up on the desk of Detective Henrik Holme, who tries to convince his mentor Hanne Wilhelmsen that the father might have been wrongly convicted. Holme and Wilhelmsen discover that the case could be connected to the suicide of an eccentric blogger as well as the kidnapping of the grandson of a EuroJackpot millionaire.
Locations
ResetTravel Guide
Oslo
Two seemingly unconnected “solved” assumed suicides, investigated by a pair of specialists in cold crimes.
Cold crime and a colder environment are the name of the game here. Oslo’s two quirky detectives are dealing with a man jailed for a crime he may not have committed.
Hans’ office sets the scene for a very unique duo and setting:
“This one he had kept ever since several day after May 17 2014, when sixteen people were killed by homemade bombs hidden in a tuba and four big bass drums during the two hundred year anniversary of the Norwegian on situation”
Oslo comes across as mean and cold. Even the graveyard has rules:
“Ostre Gravlund was huge, impersonal and surrounded by traffic interchanges. It was also one of only two graveyards in Oslo where you could be buried no matter where in Oslo you lived.”
This is a city with a pistol club and a you tube community which close ranks. A sports arena which doubles as an Alternative Trade Fair.
A city of many faces and expressions – many of them cold…
Streetview Maps
A) Oslo - Stovner police station
C) Oslo - Østre gravlund
Booktrailer Review
Susan @thebooktrailer
I discovered Anne Holt in Swedish (translated from Norwegian) and really started to enjoy her work then. For some strange reason, I’ve not read the first two of this series, so hands have now been slapped and the said books purchased. This third ‘episode’ can be read as a standalone but you do miss certain references and influences from past cases.
Anne builds up that tension and then wraps the loosest of threads together which is always thrilling. Cold cases too are exciting as you just know they’re going to throw up more issues, and secrets. Quirky detectives are my thing too so there’s a lot here to enjoy. Slow start but once you hit that Scandi ice hits…you go flying
Top marks for the translator too. Something I always like to mention as it’s how these stories get out into the wider world. And there are a lot of people who would miss out if that didn’t happen!
Lots of threads interwoven, cold cases but with a modern day you tube angle that really worked for me. Tension on many levels. This might be the last in the series but there’s more of Holt to enjoy!
Booktrail Boarding Pass: In Dust and Ashes
Destination: Oslo Author/Guide: Anne Holt Departure Time: 2000s
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