The first in a trilogy of novels centered around the investigations of a Swedish police officer, Detective Superintendent Evert Bäckström, of the National Murder Squad.

"It's the dead of summer in the sleepy town of Växjö when twenty-year-old police cadet Linda Wallin is found lying facedown in her mother's apartment, brutally murdered and raped. With no clear motive or suspect in sight, a series of bureaucratic mix-ups leads the National Crime Unit to send Bäckström and his team into the countryside to solve the case. The ever-irritable Bäckström leaves behind his beloved goldfish, checks into a local hotel, and begins to reconstruct the night of Linda's murder. But with more than a few bottles in tow, and a constantly growling stomach to look after, things don't go so well, and Bäckström has to rely on the help of his colleagues to solve the crime--no matter how angry that makes him" -- Page [4] of cover.