The Keeper of Lost Causes

Continuing with my recent fascination with Scandinavian mysteries, I chose this book by Jussi Adler-Olsen, which takes place in Denmark.  

The Keeper of Lost Causes introduces chief detective Carl Morck.  Morck is not doing very well: two of his colleagues were shot and he blames himself for not drawing his gun fast enough.  Besides not being fully engaged at work lately, he was never very good at playing the political game anyway, having many run-ins with the Deputy to the Chief.  The Chief struggles with what to do with him.

Fortuitously, the government puts aside money to create a department to follow up on old cases, particularly those involving prominent people.  What a great opportunity!  Let's create Department Q, promote Morck to run it, relegate him to the basement, give him one quarter of  the money allocated to Department Q, and divert the rest to the regular funding of the department.  The whole proposal has a high bird-to-stone ratio.

One of these cold cases catches Morck's interest and so unfolds a fascinating journey into the long-dormant case of a politician who disappeared years ago and is presumed dead.  Morck's fresh eyes bring new light to the case.

I look forward to reading more from this series.