Meet Julia Stark, a woman with very special characteristics and a physical injury after a childhood plane crash that made it impossible to pursue her police dream. That is why she has set up her own detective agency. In Stockholm. Picture from hell There comes a man driving, all the way from Sundsvall. He is a landowner in the forestry sector, says Per Gunnar Mott, PG among friends. PG has found a picture on his phone of a man with his hands tied and a sack over his head. Looks dead. PG was really drunk when the picture was taken; has he taken it himself, has he killed this man? He wants to know and engages Julia to investigate it all, find the truth, whatever. Thus, as Julia Stark mobilizes her ex-husband, the police detective Sidney Mendelson and drives north, the stage is set for a mystery of the proven “whodunnit” type, a who-did-it, that is. Classic “whodunnit” This is how “I’m going to find the key” is a kind of novelty when it comes from big sellers like the married couple behind the Lars Kepler series. Ever since the police novel broke into the arenas in the transition between the fifties and sixties, with Sjöwall & Wahlöö and Ed McBain’s series, this genre has been rather low in popularity. Logicians and snuff-cocks like the blissful Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot had to give way to realism and the new. (By the way, let’s not forget that historian and author Hans Olav Lahlum has successfully written in this genre here at home.) RECOGNIZED: Swedish Alexander and Alexandra Ahndoril have written nine critically acclaimed suspense novels with detective Joona Linna as the main character under the pseudonym Lars Kepler. They have received several awards and sold over a million books in Norway. “I’m going to find the key” is the first book under the couple’s new pseudonym. Photo: NTB True to genre and effective storytelling The Mott family, with PG at the head, owns and manages the Mannheim estate and large forest properties in the Sundsvall areas: rich in land, heavy in influence since the breakthrough of the timber industry. There is a magnificent manor residence. Inside there is reasonably a library, suitable for gathering the suspects in the last chapter, so that the sharp-minded detective can reveal the culprit – as befits this genre. In this case, there are six possibilities: PG and his wife, three cousins of PG and the faithful servant, super cook and housekeeper Amelie. I’m not giving anything away when I say that plenty of old genealogical and family history is rolled out, mostly exaggerations. In other words, the authors have adhered closely to traditional genre expectations – sometimes to the reader’s motherhood, often as a tip to the hat. That it can be a lot is another matter. This is not great literature either (as crime fiction can well be). “I’m going to find the key” is eight tenths pure entertainment and then some. At the same time, it is a fact that this pair of writers have drawn on effective narration and a language that serves the purpose. The almost three hundred pages went by for me in one evening and one morning, without much boredom. Old and new And, although the novel is not burdened with much seriousness: It does not strike the reader as old-fashioned. The authors should have recognition for linking the story to Sweden in modern times, with contemporary phenomena. The intersection with clear and well-written pointers backwards in history. We read allusions to a Swedish class society – then and now, without the plow cutting strikingly deep. Places, landscapes and environments fit nicely. Whether they are out by the forest machines or in the large dining room. The reader is served lots of good food and strong drink. The rich are well off, also in Sundsvall, we understand. Despite the close companion drunk. Hear Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril talk about the success with Lars Kepler in “Kulturstripa”: Realismen? Not so carefully. I also believe that the various characters manage well in the meeting with the reader. Early in the book, it is rather the case, in a couple of places, that the novel itself falls a little out of character, in that the authors miss the genre they otherwise place great emphasis on. While the people mostly manage. Admittedly, Julia Stark and her background seem rather far-fetched, but once the reader accepts the premise, that too. When it comes to realism, the authors have taken a fresh look at the barrel in which freedoms lie. It seems unlikely, for example, that the police would wait a couple of days to question witnesses after a body is found, and by the way, exactly the two days our private detective thinks are needed to complete the puzzle. As already said, it is necessary to accept the premises. “I’m going to find the key” is an easy and quick read, with a mystery that bears scrutiny and a satisfying solution, surprisingly enough. If “good time wear in mystery land” isn’t perceived too negatively, I’ll go for it. news reviewer Photo: Gyldendal Title: “I’m going to find the key” Author: Alex Ahndoril Number of pages: 288 Publisher: Gyldendal Published: 3 November 2023 ISBN: 9788249526963 Listen to the novel “The man who went up in smoke” by Sjöwall & Wahlöö as crime audio game:
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“I’ll Find the Key” by Alex Ahndoril – Reviews and recommendations
