Nora, still haunted by a threat made by a man's brother, finds her solace in alcohol. It drives a wedge between her and Jonas. Meanwhile bone fragments found on an island near Sandhamn lead Thomas and Aram to investigate persons gone missing in the last ten years or so. Two candidates emerge--a teenage girl and a woman in a troubled marriage. Thomas and Aram believe the husband of the woman capable of murder, and his efforts to have his wife declared dead after being missing only one year only add to the suspicion. Nora focuses on the teenage girl, uncovering things useful to the investigation. However, Nora is on sick leave from the Economic Crimes Bureau and poses as a prosecutor assigned to the investigation. Will she get in trouble or get Thomas into trouble for her unauthorized investigation bordering on professional misconduct? Will Thomas and Aram report her? I like Nora less and less with each succeeding book. I hope the next book finds her in a twelve step program to deal with her alcoholism. ( )

This is the tenth in the Sandhamm Murders series; it is the first I have read. Although it was OK as a standalone, there was constant reference to something that occurred in the past (I assume in a prior book). It was not fully explained, and I would have liked to know more about it, especially since it had such an impact on one of the main characters.

The remains of a skeleton are found when excavating on a small island. As the police look into missing persons cases, there are two possibilities. I liked how the story focused on the personal lives of not only the two possible victims, but also the professional personnel involved in the case. I also liked how the details leading to the disappearance of both missing persons was interwoven through the book, slowly unfolding. I did not like the character, Nora, at all…self destructive people always annoy me.

This was an engrossing read. Once it got going, after about 60%, I couldn’t put it down. Although this takes place in Sweden, I didn’t see it as classic “Nordic noir”. It didn’t have that cold, dark, bleak, foreboding quality. It was much lighter, set in the summer by the sea. There was some social criticism as relates to police cutbacks, but that is certainly not unique to the Nordic countries and I have read that a lot recently both in American and British books.

I do look forward to reading the next in the series; I hope that Nora will have recovered from her recent troubles and will be presented as a stronger, healthier individual. If I ever find the time, I may go back and read some of the prior books in the series. ( )

Buried in Secret by Viveca Sten is Scandinavian noir at its best. This is the tenth instalment in The Sandhamn Murders series but reads fairly well as a stand-alone. The story begins with the discovery of human bones buried on an uninhabited island in the Sandhamn Archipelago. Two detectives are tasked with the murder investigation. Two unrelated women went missing around the same time ten years ago and the detectives need to identify whose bones were found, considering that the bones were too old to provide DNA information. The novel moves between two time periods: ten years ago and in the present. It also switches from one missing woman’s story to the other, keeping the reader interested and guessing. What really works here are the short paragraphs with a cliffhanger at the end of each one. Viveca Sten has written a smart, fresh mystery that never lags. I look forward to reading more books by this author. Highly recommended. Thank you to Amazon Crossing, NetGalley and the author for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Jag har gillat att strölyssna på Viveca Stens böcker om Nora och Thomas på Sandhamn. Jämfört med andra sk deckardrottningar som tex Läckberg har hon skrivit riktigt bra men nu tog det tvärstopp. Det här är nog det värsta dravlet jag läst på länge. Ett hysteriskt babblande där Noras varenda tanke måste förtydligas och vridas på till löjlighetens gräns. Jag hoppas att detta var sista boken i serien för det verkar som om alla idéer har tagit slut och att skrivkrampen infunnit sig. Det här var rena skräpet. ( )