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Zusatztext “A virtuoso mood piece.”— Kirkus Reviews , starred review “Riveting.... Fans of Henning Mankell, Karin Fossum and Arnaldur Indridason will be rewarded.”— Publishers Weekly Informationen zum Autor Åsa Larsson was born in Kiruna, Sweden, in 1966. She studied in Uppsala and lived for some years in Stockholm but now prefers the rural life with her husband, two children, and several chickens. A former tax lawyer, she now writes full-time and is the author of Sun Storm , winner of Sweden's Best First Crime Novel Award, and The Black Path , which Delacorte will publish in 2007. Klappentext It's midsummer in Sweden—when the light lingers through dawn and a long! isolating winter finally comes to an end. In this magical time! a brutal killer has chosen to strike. A female priest—who made enemies and acolytes in equal number—has been found hanging in her church. And a big-city lawyer quite acquainted with death enters the scene as police and parishioners try to pick up the pieces.... Not long ago! attorney Rebecka Martinsson had to kill three men in order to stop an eerily similar murder spree—one that also involved a priest. Now she is back in Kiruna! the region of her birth! while a determined policewoman gnaws on the case and people who loved or loathed the victim mourn or revel in her demise. The further Rebecka is drawn into the mystery—a mystery that will soon take another victim—the more the dead woman's world clutches her: a world of hurt and healing! sin and sexuality! and! above all! of sacrifice. In prose that is both lyrical and visceral! Åsa Larsson has crafted a novel of pure entertainment! a taut! atmospheric mystery that will hold you in thrall until the last! unforgettable page is turned Leseprobe Chapter One Friday June 21 I am lying on my side on the kitchen sofa. Impossible to sleep. At this time of year, in the middle of summer, the nights are so light they allow you no rest. The clock on the wall above me will soon strike one. The ticking of the pendulum grows louder in the silence. Smashes every sentence to pieces. Every attempt at rational thought. On the table lies the letter from that woman. Lie still, I say to myself. Lie still and sleep. My thoughts turn to Traja, a pointer bitch we had when I was little. She could never settle, walked round and round the kitchen like a restless soul, her claws clicking on the lacquered wooden floor. For the first few months we kept her in a cage indoors to force her to relax. The house was constantly filled with the sound of "sit" and "stay" and "lie down." Now it's just the same. There's a dog in my breast who wants to jump up every time the clock ticks. Every time I take a breath. But it isn't Traja who's inside me ready to pounce. Traja just wanted to trot around. Get rid of the restlessness in her body. This dog turns her head away from me when I try to look at her. She is filled with evil intent. I shall try to go to sleep. Somebody should lock me in. I ought to have a cage in the kitchen. I get up and look out of the window. It's quarter past one. It's as light as day. The long shadows from the ancient pine trees along the edge of the yard extend toward the house. I think they look like arms. Hands stretching up out of their restless graves and reaching for me. The letter is lying there on the kitchen table. I'm in the cellar. It's twenty-five to two. The dog who isn't Traja is on her feet. She's running around the edges of my mind. I try to call to her. Don't want to follow her into this untrodden territory. My head is empty on the inside. My hand takes things off the wall. Different objects. What do I want with them? The sledgehammer. The crowbar. The chain. The hammer. My hands place everything in the trunk of the car. It's like a puzzle. I can't see what it's meant t...