Frozen Moment

Simple but effective prose distinguishes Ceder’s procedural debut from the Scandinavian crime fiction pack. When Swedish factory worker Åke Melkersson’s car begins to fail early one morning, he decides to stop at an auto repair shop off a country road. The only person Åke finds lies dead on the ground outside the shop. That person, later identified as photographer Lars Waltz, was shot in the head, execution style, and then repeatedly run over by a car. Soon after Insp. Christian Tell starts his inquiry, a near identical crime claims another life. Flashbacks to the early 1990s tip the reader to the killer’s motive, but the whodunit aspect is secondary to a nuanced study of Tell, who can’t stop himself from making some serious missteps along the way. Ceder conjures a vivid sense of place, and the byplay among the inspector’s police colleagues rings true. Karin Fossum fans will find much to like. (May)