| Publisher | Penguin |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 03 March 2022 |
| ISBN-10 | 1405941650 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1405941655 |
| Format | paperback |
| Pages | 400 |
| Price | £ 8.99 |
A Question of Guilt
by
Norwegian detective William Wisting’s holiday ends abruptly when he receives an anonymous letter suggesting that the wrong man was convicted of a murder from 20 years ago.
Review
Norwegian detective William Wisting is a strong silent man, a widower who is getting on a bit now and has some niggling health worries creeping into his life. I am not sure of his rank, but I know that he is the number one detective at his smallish police station in southern Norway. But in this story, he is supposed to be on holiday and therefore is investigating unofficially.
A local woman has been murdered and Wisting's second in command is leading the inquiry. The husband is the chief suspect and this thread simmers away through the book without ever reaching (to my mind) a satisfactory conclusion. At the same time someone is watching Wisting and leaving him cryptic messages in his postbox (at the end of the garden in the Scandinavian style), drawing his attention to a similar cold case from 20 years ago. This involved the murder of a young woman and the conviction of her ex-boyfriend – but this might have been a miscarriage of justice. Wisting feels compelled to investigate the messages, but he is uncomfortable about it. He doesn't like being led by the nose and he smells a rat.
It transpires that a man called Danny Momrack has recently been released from prison after serving a 20-year sentence for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend Tone Vaterland, a crime for which he has always maintained his innocence. When Wisting's attention is drawn to a second convicted murderer, a man who was shown to be on the scene when the first murder was committed, then the seeds of doubt are sewn.
Mix new discoveries and new suspects with possibly flawed forensic evidence from the original investigation and you have a hunt on for the real killer. Author Jørn Lier Horst was a leading Norwegian police detective before becoming a full-time writer and this shows in his attention to detail and the seemingly authentic procedures he describes here.
Along the way, some interesting details about Wisting's domestic set-up emerge. He regularly helps his daughter Line with childcare. Line usually features quite prominently in the Wisting books. She lives just along the road from him and now has a little girl called Amelie. Wisting dotes on his granddaughter and there are some quite touching scenes of Wisting and Amelie together. But in contrast there's a great Jack Reacher moment when Wisting pays a call to Line's ex-boyfriend who is pestering her. He warns him off with words (and a well-placed clout!) This fits with the portrayal of Wisting on BBC4. The actor is a craggy type who would make a good Jack Reacher.
Wisting is a great advocate for traditional policing methods – but in this story the question marks over the cold case are solved through technology such as tracking mobile phones and even monitoring home smart meters for unusual fluctuations. Wisting takes these advances in his stride but somehow I don't think they will be for him when he gets back into the office!
A local woman has been murdered and Wisting's second in command is leading the inquiry. The husband is the chief suspect and this thread simmers away through the book without ever reaching (to my mind) a satisfactory conclusion. At the same time someone is watching Wisting and leaving him cryptic messages in his postbox (at the end of the garden in the Scandinavian style), drawing his attention to a similar cold case from 20 years ago. This involved the murder of a young woman and the conviction of her ex-boyfriend – but this might have been a miscarriage of justice. Wisting feels compelled to investigate the messages, but he is uncomfortable about it. He doesn't like being led by the nose and he smells a rat.
It transpires that a man called Danny Momrack has recently been released from prison after serving a 20-year sentence for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend Tone Vaterland, a crime for which he has always maintained his innocence. When Wisting's attention is drawn to a second convicted murderer, a man who was shown to be on the scene when the first murder was committed, then the seeds of doubt are sewn.
Mix new discoveries and new suspects with possibly flawed forensic evidence from the original investigation and you have a hunt on for the real killer. Author Jørn Lier Horst was a leading Norwegian police detective before becoming a full-time writer and this shows in his attention to detail and the seemingly authentic procedures he describes here.
Along the way, some interesting details about Wisting's domestic set-up emerge. He regularly helps his daughter Line with childcare. Line usually features quite prominently in the Wisting books. She lives just along the road from him and now has a little girl called Amelie. Wisting dotes on his granddaughter and there are some quite touching scenes of Wisting and Amelie together. But in contrast there's a great Jack Reacher moment when Wisting pays a call to Line's ex-boyfriend who is pestering her. He warns him off with words (and a well-placed clout!) This fits with the portrayal of Wisting on BBC4. The actor is a craggy type who would make a good Jack Reacher.
Wisting is a great advocate for traditional policing methods – but in this story the question marks over the cold case are solved through technology such as tracking mobile phones and even monitoring home smart meters for unusual fluctuations. Wisting takes these advances in his stride but somehow I don't think they will be for him when he gets back into the office!
Reviewed 20 August 2022 by Viv Beeby
