he Dogs of Riga: A Kurt Wallander Mystery (Kurt Wallander Mysteries)

One of the previous reviewers mentioned that "Dogs of Riga" might be difficult for Americans because of its pervasive 'Scandinavian gloom'. True, I think, but what makes this novel even more unsettling is the thick, murky atmostphere of mistrust and suspicion depicted in the countries of Eastern
Europe in the early 1990's. It is difficult for Americans to empathize with the fear and suspicion of those times, which is the setting of this novel. The repressive and grim background is indeed the leading force in the novel: it is a force which still impacts life in much of the Eastern Bloc today, accompanied by suspicion and corruption.

Against that setting, then, the characters assume heroic proportions. The desire of Wallander to do his job well and bring closure to the deaths, the courage of Major Liepa to confront corruption, and the passion of Baiba Liepa to revenge the murder of her husband--all assume epic dimensions when viewed against the social backdrop. The plot is thickened by the lies, fear, and deceit by which even the ordinary citizen must survive. The labyrinth is constructed with masterful prose and an observant eye, hallmarks of Mankell's craft as a writer.

"Dogs of Riga" is a classic of the genre. More complex and better crafted than the typical police procedural, it is a 'must read' for the epicurean mystery reader.

The Berlin Wall has fallen and the East is opening up. An Inflatable dinghy drifts ashore in Sweden, and with it two dead men. It becomes Inspector Wallander�s case. Who are these two men? Their dental work suggests east European origin; the dinghy was made in Yugoslavia. Wallander keeps digging, and his investigation leads him to Riga.

City and country of Intrigue, deception, corruption and murder. Willander is like the ivory ball on a billiard table, pushed in one direction and rebounding in an other. He solves the case, at great danger to himself.

Mankell has a habit of inserting his political convictions into his books - be it the sorry welfare state of Sweden, be it the flowers of evil blooming in the newly liberated East. I do not believe that a mystery should be the dais for politics.

The setting and the characters promise a great read. And while the books is easy to get thru and diverting enuf, it is far too
simplistic and predictable; like a TV crime episode. There are far too many far-fetched turns to make it believable. The basic political tenet is never really explained or backgrounded. This is a great shame as the book's theme and characters hold so much promise.

This time inspector Kurt Wallander has to solve the murder on two very well-dressed men, who float ashore the Swedish coast on a raft. The trail leads to Latvia. After his Latvian colleague is also murdered, Wallander ends up in a web of intrigues in an unstable country that is unknown to him and where he does not speak the language. Soon he finds out that one of his two nearest Latvian colleagues is the villain, but which one of the two?

In contrast to �Faceless killers� by the same author, this book contains much more action, but after a while I became quite dizzy with all the twist and turns that the story took. It is an entertaining story, but Wallander appeared less real to me than in the previous book.