The Sins of Our Fathers - by Åsa Larsson (Paperback)

About the Book

Forensic pathologist Lars Pohjanen has only a few weeks to live when he asks Rebecka Martinsson to investigate a murder that has long since passed the statute of limitations. A body found in a freezer at the home of the deceased alcoholic, Henry Pekkari, has been identified as a man who disappeared without a trace in 1962: the father of Swedish Olympic boxing champion Bèorje Strèom. Rebecka wants nothing to do with a fifty-year-old case - she has enough to worry about. But how can she ignore a dying man's wish? When the post-mortem confirms that Pekkari, too, was murdered, Rebecka has a red-hot investigation on her hands. But what does it have to do with the body kept in his freezer for decades? Meanwhile, the city of Kiruna is being torn down and moved a few kilometres east, to make way for the mine that has been devouring the city from below. With the city in flux, the tentacles of organized crime are slowly taking over.

Book Synopsis

Winner of the Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year 2021 (Swedish Crime Writers' Academy)
Winner of the Storytel Award for Best Suspense Novel 2021
Winner of the Adlibris Award for Best Suspense Novel 2021

Forensic pathologist Lars Pohjanen has only a few weeks to live when he asks Rebecka Martinsson to investigate a murder that has long since passed the statute of limitations. A body found in a freezer at the home of the deceased alcoholic, Henry Pekkari, has been identified as a man who disappeared without a trace in 1962: the father of Swedish Olympic boxing champion Börje Ström. Rebecka wants nothing to do with a fifty-year-old case - she has enough to worry about. But how can she ignore a dying man's wish?

When the post-mortem confirms that Pekkari, too, was murdered, Rebecka has a red-hot investigation on her hands. But what does it have to do with the body kept in his freezer for decades?

Meanwhile, the city of Kiruna is being torn down and moved a few kilometres east, to make way for the mine that has been devouring the city from below. With the city in flux, the tentacles of organized crime are slowly taking over . . .

Fragile yet fierce Rebecka Martinsson returns in a spellbinding addition to the Arctic Murders series, now a Walter Presents drama for television.

Translated from the Swedish by Frank Perry

Review Quotes

[Åsa Larsson's] suspense novels are in a league of their own. In part due to the language, but also because they include several warm portrayals of people; people shaped by harsh social climates as well as severe weather. [...] The Sins of Our Fathers holds multitudes, high pace, and human tragedy galore, extreme Laestadians as well as bloody knock-out fights. But also, dizzying ski trips, frolicking dogs, and touching elderly romance. [...] A grandiose finale.--Arbeterbladet

[This] is a multifaceted, utterly brilliant crime novel. It is also a read that creates an insatiable urge to move north; Åsa writes about a landscape that she loves, a Norrbotten with mountains so beautiful they seem to be out of this world, and sparkling rivers that rush and roar as they have done since ancient times.--Femina

As well as being a masterful storyteller, Åsa Larsson is an astute social commentator--Charlotte Heathcote, Sunday Express

No other Swedish crime writer has been lauded to the extent Åsa has; her stories are something out of the ordinary. [...] [The] language roars like a river, it is as if the language itself shows how everything has changed and is coming together: then and now, old battles and new crimes, family ties, and people's dependency upon one another--Dagens Nyheter

Rebecka Martinsson is back. Magnificent nature, brilliant character portrayals, murder, love, and dogs. It doesn't get any better than this.--Aftonbladet

The fragile Rebecka Martinsson is an indelible figure, and Larsson is one of the best current practitioners of Scandinavian crime fiction.--Barry Forshaw, Financial Times

About the Author

Åsa Larsson was born and grew up in Kiruna, Sweden. She is a qualified lawyer and made her debut in 2003 with The Savage Altar, which was awarded the Swedish Crime Writers' Association prize for best debut novel. Its sequel, The Blood Spilt, was chosen as Best Swedish Crime Novel of 2004, as was The Second Deadly Sin in 2011. Her novels were adapted for television and shown on More 4.

The sixth and final book in the Rebecka Martinsson series, The Sins of Our Fathers, was named Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year, and is the winner of the Adlibris Suspense Award, the Storytel Award.