New York: Pantheon, (2006) dj. Hardcover first edition - Although this is not the first novel featuring Van Veeteren, it was his first book to be published in the United States. Winner the Swedish Crime Writer's Best Novel Award in 1994 for this work. Translated from the Swedish by Laurie Thompson. A well-written and absorbing policier which describes the search for a serial killer, an ax murderer, in a small seaside town, it is uncommon as a Nordic mystery in that it is set in a fictional country, which is not quite Sweden or any other Northern European country. 321 pp. ISBN: 0-375421963.