Teaser Tuesday - Murder in Stockholm

This is the Golden Room of City Hall in Stockholm, Sweden.  Liza Marklund's latest crime fiction, Last Will, opens in this glittering hall with the annual awards ceremony for the Nobel Prize.  The main character, reporter Annika Bengtzon, witnesses the point blank assassination of the Secretary of the Nobel Prize Committee on the dance floor.  In fact, Annika stares into the chilling yellow eyes of the killer just minutes before she murders the Secretary.

Annika is immediately detained by the police as a chief witness and compelled to help the police develop a description of the killer and the events leading up to the attack.  Because of the potential negative impact of information getting out, the police issue a gag order on the reporter.  It couldn't have happened at a worse time for her at the newspaper where she works.  She is not in great favor with her editor and management because she wrote an expose of the family who owned the Evening Post.  Her editor uses the gag order as an excuse to sideline Annika for a couple of months.

Meanwhile, at home Annika's marriage is falling apart.  She does the only thing she knows how--goes after the story on her own.  She soon finds herself in the middle of a story of terror and death that leads back to Alfred Nobel, the Swedish industrialist who was responsible for establishing the Nobel Prizes, so coveted that people are willing to kill for the honor of being a recipient.  Will Annika be able to use her work and love of her two small children to suppress her own demons?

"No angels, she managed to think, thank god the angels are keeping quiet" p. 12

(Meet Chet, my 3 month old puppy.  He's going to be a good reading companion.)

In September 2011 I participated in a great tour of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, prompted, in part, by my love for dark Swedish crime fiction.  Henning Mankell, Stieg Larsson, Camilla Lackberg, Jo Nesbo, Anne Holt and now Liza Marklund to name a few.  Here are a few photos that are the scene for the murders in Last Will:

The Golden Room above is in City Hall which is on Lake Malaren.  I took this photo from my hotel window.  Lake Malaren was a possible escape route for the killer.

The killer stood outside City Hall in the courtyard, smoking a cigarette and waiting for the target to get in place:

This is the Blue Room just inside the courtyard. Annika and other ceremony attendees was dancing here when the killer struck. Making her escape from the Blue Room, she actually stepped on Annika's foot, leaving a boot heel imprint.

Teaser Tuesday is described by its host, Miz B over at Should Be Reading ,as a "weekly bookish meme" open to any reader who wants to play along. If, like me, you're always curious about what people are reading or on the lookout for the next great read, then this may by your meme. To play, just click on Miz B's link above for the simple rules.