In this early spring in the region of Kiruna, north of the polar circle, in Sweden, the snow still covers the ground, the rivers are still frozen. In this wild and magnificent landscape, violence is discreet, but it is still very present.

Ragnild Pekkari, a retired nurse, realizes this when she discovers her brother’s body on the old family farm. And even more when she discovers a much older corpse hidden in an old freezer.

Prosecutor Rebecka Martinsson gets dragged into the investigation reluctantly. She has very strained family ties with the Pekkari family, which complicates the situation.

The Crimes of Our Fathers is the sixth and final book in a series featuring Rebecka Martinsson. You don’t need to have read the first five episodes to enjoy this one. In fact, it should rather make you want to go back and read the previous volumes to understand the prosecutor a little better, a complex character if there ever was one.

Author Asa Larsson, herself a trained lawyer, grew up in Kiruna. Her love of the region is evident, and she knows how to create fascinating characters, such as former boxing champion Börje Ström, a mirror cabinet injured by the mysterious disappearance of his father as a child, and the Lingonberry King , an old thug now married to a sleazy young Russian.

Like many Scandinavian crime writers, Asa Larsson takes a sensitive approach to social issues like prostitution and scams. Even in the arctic whiteness, the worst failings of human nature are expressed.