The Dogs of Riga [Paperback]

From the dean of Scandinavian noir, the second riveting installment in the internationally bestselling and universally acclaimed Kurt Wallander series, the basis for the PBS series staring Kenneth Branagh.

On the Swedish coastline, two bodies, victims of grisly torture and cold execution, are discovered in a life raft. With no witnesses, no motives, and no crime scene, Detective Kurt Wallander is frustrated and uncertain he has the ability to solve a case as mysterious as it is heinous. But after the victims are traced to the Baltic state of Latvia, a country gripped by the upheaval of Soviet disintegration, Major Liepa of the Riga police takes over the investigation. Thinking his work done, Wallander slips into routine once more, until suddenly, he is called to Riga and plunged into an alien world where shadows are everywhere, everything is watched, and old regimes will do anything to stay alive.“A tale rich in gritty local culture. . . . The plot is satisfyingly seamy, Wallander is, as always, discombobulated and astute.” –Los Angeles Times

“Apart from his uncommon skill at devising dense, mulilayered plots, Mankell’s forte is matching mood to setting and subject.” –The New York Times Book Review

“The writing is spare, the characterization deft, the atmosphere strong and the suspense overwhelming.” –Times Literary Supplement

“A gripping, thoughtful police procedural that engages from the first page.”–Irish Independent

Henning Mankell is the internatinally acclaimed, bestselling author of the Kurt Wallander novels.  Mankell's novels have been translated into forty-five languages and have sold more than forty million copies worldwide. He was the first winner of the Ripper Award and also received the Glass Key and the Crime Writers’ Association Golden Dagger, among other awards. Hlc)