Camilla Lackberg - The Stone Cutter

The remote resort of Fjallbacka has seen its share of tragedy, though perhaps none worse than that of the little girl found in a fisherman's net. But the post-mortem reveals that this is no accidental drowning! Local detective Patrik Hedstrom has just become a father. It is his grim task to discover who could be behind the methodical murder of a child both he and his partner, Erica, knew well. He knows the solution lies with finding a motive for this terrible crime. What he does not know is how this case will reach into the dark heart of Fjallbacka and tear aside its idyllic facade, perhaps forever.

Comment: This is the third book in the Patrick Hedstrom series by Swedish author Camilla Lackberg.

I've read somewhere someone saying the best thing about this books is how the police members aren't hard men living with the bottle and cursing their nagging wives at home. The cops have their lives, not perfect ones, but normal and that this is the refreshing take in the story. I have to agree, it's wonderful to see characters living such a common routine, dealing with the same problems everyone does, without the drama of drinking and spouse abuse. It's exactly the mix between the everyday live and the horror of crimes that makes this author so popular.

In this novel, the police has to deal with the murder of a little girl. they thought she might have drowned at first but after the ME discovered bath water and ashes in her lungs, it soon became obvious she had to be murdered. During the investigation we are presented to various characters, and all of them have a thing or two that make them connected to the crime. I'm still marveled at the author's imagination when she came up with so many things to create her character's profiles. In fact, the little details are very well inserted and I have to confess my clues about who might be the murder weren't very accurate. Then some things happen more than half way through the book and things add up. The how I never imagined, but the who and the why became rather clear at some point.
At the same time we see the development of the story we have one or two pages of another story starting back in the 20's. It's the story of a stonecutter and the woman he fell in love with. But it doesn't end well, and when I finished the book I have to confess the thing that moved me the most, the detail that still lingers in my head stronger than all others, is the fate of that stonecutter and his children. I won't explain, but it moved me so much...
In fact, the fate of more than one character touched me because people sometimes don't deserve what happens to them.

So we have a very compelling story, full of quirky characters. We follow the lives of the main characters, with a sentence or a paragraph here and there to keep us updated and also more constructed scenes with them and with what happens to them. So, not only the crime solving happens, but also we see the continuation of the main character's personal lives. It's very interesting and leaves us curious to what might happen in the next book.
Can't wait for it.