The Dogs of Riga (Kurt Wallender Mystery)

In most mystery novels, the social order is disturbed when a horrific crime is committed. The hero/detective uses his superior skills to solve the mystery, catch the criminal and thus restore the social order. One variation on this pattern is when the mystery writer takes the hero/detective out of his element and places him in a strange environment where the system and rules of the game are radically different. The thrill of this variation is to see the hero's superior insights and skill triumph in a hostile environment.

"The Dogs of Riga" is a classic example of this variant. The Iron Curtain is falling and mysterious forces are waging a hidden war to determine Latvia's destiny. Into this morass, stumbles the stolid Swede from Ystad, Kurt Wallander. He knows nothing of the language, culture or history of Latvia. Nevertheless, the churning undertow of Latvian politics draws Wallander into the fray. The pleasure of this story is to see Kurt Wallander's superior intellect reassert itself in this topsy turvy world.

If you are new to the Kurt Wallander series, this book is not the best place to start. It is better to have seen him work on his own ground. "The Dogs of Riga" is not the strongest book in the series but for those of us who love the rumpled detective, this book is a pleasure.

I found this book lacking in excitement and credibility. I liked the character of Wallender but found the other characters not very well developed. And the plot was weak. For instance, I can't understand why the detective was so driven to return to Riga and risk his life, if not his comfort, to get involved in something that did not seem compelling. I felt the novel got off to a good start, but then lapsed into incredulity. This was my first, and will probably be my last, Wallendar novel. I just found the characters and the plot weak and unexciting.

Just as a point of trivia but in Europe and in Sweden, detective Kurt Wallander's home, the spelling is sometimes Wallender or Wallander, but usually Wallander. One encounters both spellings on amazon.

I thank fellow reviewer Leonard Fleisig for bringing this author to my attention. The writing is simply superb, and I am very interested in reading more books by the same author. The story overall is not great and there are better books by the author. In addition to this book, I have read five other books in the Kurt Wallender series, including The Man Who Smiled, and One Step Behind.

I gave the book 4 stars. I thought that the story was sometimes slow and there were too many coincidences and unreal fights in the book. Wallender is more interesting when he is at home in Sweden and when there is more interaction with other policemen at the Ystad station. Here that element is almost lacking and that spoils the book, along with the many departures from reality. Also, the story follows the same Wallender formula which after three books is a bit too predictable: chapter one is a murder, and in a subsequent chapter a fellow policeman or friend of Wallender is murdered, dragging Wallender into the conflict.

Most of the story is set in Riga, but the opening sections are set in southern Sweden in Wallender's home base of Ystad.

I will not give away the plot and the essential plot elements are outlined by the publisher: two dead bodies wash up on the shore near Ystad in a rubber raft. A policeman arrives from Riga since the bodies are traced to that city. Wallender works on solving the crime in Sweden and then follows the crime to Riga.

This is a fast read that I was able to read it in less than a day. I read it while staying at a hotel in southern Sweden, not too far from the crime scene; the details and descriptions of the places and other details are authentic.

The writing is smooth and flawless, but the story pulls it down to 4 stars. One Step Behind is a better book in the series.

In Henning Mankell's "The Dogs of Riga" police inspector Kurt Wallander finds himself alone and possibly in peril in post-Soviet Latvia. He is truly a stranger in a strange land.

The plot of "The Dogs of Riga", the second in Mankell's Kurt Wallander mystery series, is fairly straightforward. Two bodies wash up on the southern coast of Sweden, near the town of Ystad. Police Inspector Kurt Wallander is placed in charge of the investigation. The investigation reveals that the bodies had drifted across the Baltic Sea from the Republic of Latvia. A Latvia police detective arrives to assist Wallander before the investigation is turned over to the Latvian police force. However, Wallander is soon obligated to travel to Riga, Latvia's capital. Wallander is immersed immediately in the Byzantine politics that engulfed Latvia and the Baltic States in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet empire. He doesn't speak the language, he knows next to nothing of the political situation he has walked into, and yet plods on, determined to get to the bottom, not of the murders of the two Latvians, but of a new-found Latvian friend and colleague.

Mankell's Kurt Wallander series is often compared to the Martin Beck detective mysteries authored by the husband and wife team of Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall. Wallander, like Beck, is a police detective in Sweden. Unlike Beck, whose beat was Stockholm, Wallander works in the small southern-Swedish city of Ystad. The Wallander series takes place in the 1990s while the Beck series took place in the 1960s and 1970s. Although I tend to prefer the Beck series, the Wallander books are entertaining page-turners. Mankell stays well within the `police procedural' formula and has not tried to reinvent the genre. However, he has done a good job, in these first two volumes in the series, of developing the character of Mankell and his supporting cast of characters. Wallander is no Sherlock Holmes and gets results more by perspiration than inspiration. He is also a fully drawn character. We see him dealing with the break-up of a marriage, an estranged daughter, and a father who is developing senile dementia. The supporting characters, particularly his fellow detectives, are also well drawn.

Although I think I like the Martin Beck series a bit more, the Kurt Wallander series, so far, has been entertaining. As noted, Mankell stays well within the confines of the police procedural. However, he manages to put together an entertaining plot and keeps the reader `engaged' with his recurring characters. Mankell does not hide clues from the reader. In fact, the opposite is the case. I found myself seeing `clues' throughout this piece wondering if and when Wallander would spot them. Some may find that not to their liking, but it kept me entertained. Recommended. L. Fleisig

Westerners who were present at the time will know that this story does a terrific job of catching the way things were in early ex-Soviet Baltic countries in early '90s. And it is a good Wallender story, as well. And the Wallender - Liepa connection is a mainstay throughout the rest of the series. Dick Hill is a gifted reader, and one whom I admire and enjoy for his voice and ability to use it -- sometimes. But he is not at all right for this series. Mr Hill's reading is a major distraction -- kind of like the New Joiseyian who tries to do Texan. After hearing Sean Barrett on the Isis Audio Books of UK reading Mankell, this is disappointing by comparison. But I would buy and recommend Hill's Mankell readings anyway, and I want more. Blackstone Audio, Inc, please check out Mr. Barrett, but don't stop making Mankells in any case!