The Department of Sensitive Crimes / Alexander McCall Smith.
By: McCall Smith, Alexander [author.]
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Material type: 
BookSeries: McCall Smith, Alexander, Detective Varg: book 1.Publisher: London : Little, Brown, 2019Copyright date: ©2019Description: 227 pages ; 24 cm.ISBN: 9781408711255 ; 9781408711262 .Other title: Department of Sensitive Crimes : a Detective Varg novel.Subject(s): Detectives -- Sweden -- Malmö -- Fiction | Crime -- Sweden -- Malmö -- Fiction | Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction | Varg, Ulf (Fictitious character) -- Fiction | Malmö (Sweden) -- FictionGenre/Form: Detective and mystery stories.Summary: The detectives who work in Malmo Police's Department of Sensitive Crimes take their job very seriously. The lead detective, Ulf Varg, prioritizes his cases above even his dog's mental health. Then there are detectives Anna Bengsdotter, who keeps her relationship with Varg professional even as she realizes she's developing feelings for him... or at least for his car, and Carl Holgersson, first to arrive in the morning and last to leave, who would never read his colleagues' personal correspondence--unless it could help solve a crime, of course. Finally, there's Erik Nykvist, who peppers conversations with anecdotes about fly fishing. Along with an opinionated local police officer named Blomquist, the Department of Sensitive Crimes takes on three extremely strange cases. First, the detectives investigate how and why a local business owner was stabbed... in the back of the knee. Next, a young woman's imaginary boyfriend goes missing.
| Item type | Current location | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspense | Eltham LibraryPlus Fiction | Fiction | MacCALL (Browse shelf) | Available | I2187776 | ||
| Suspense | Hāwera LibraryPlus Fiction | Fiction | MacCALL (Browse shelf) | Available | I2187775 | ||
| Suspense | Stratford Fiction | Fiction | MCC (Browse shelf) | Available | A00836214 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Mister Varg is a Sandinavian Blanc novel. Scandinavian Blanc is different from Scandinavian Noir: there is nothing noir about the world of Ulf Varg, a detective in the Sensitive Crimes Department in the Swedish city of Malmo. Ulf is concerned with very odd, but not too threatening crimes - injuries to the back of the knee caused by an unknown hand, young women who allow their desperation for a boyfriend to get the better of them, and peculiar goings-on in a spa on Sweden's south coast.Of course, Ulf is a Swedish detective, and Swedish detectives, by convention, lead lives beset with problems of one sort or another. For a start, there is his name: Ulf derives from the Old Norse word for wolf and Varg means wolf in modern Swedish. But his character is far from vulpine: Ulf is a sympathetic, well-educated, and likeable man, with a knowledge of and interest in Nordic art. He has a dog called Marten, the only dog in Sweden who is capable of lip-reading (but only in Swedish). Martin becomes depressed and needs treatment. Dogs in Sweden are, apparently, particularly prone to Seasonal Affective Disorder. But this is summer - and there must be something else going on.Ulf has a number of colleagues into whose lives we gain an insight. There is Anna, married to an anaesthetist, but very fond of Ulf; there is Erik, whose sole interest is fishing; Carl, whose father has written a book on the Danish philosopher, Kierkegaard; and there is poor Blomquist, from the uniformed branch, who goes on and on about health issues but who seems to have extraordinary luck in investigations. There is also Ulf's psychotherapist, Dr Svensson, whose observations on Ulf's life - and many other topics - enlightens - or possibly confuses. Mister Varg introduces us to the world of this typically Scandinavian character and his friends and colleagues. Further adventures are planned.
The detectives who work in Malmo Police's Department of Sensitive Crimes take their job very seriously. The lead detective, Ulf Varg, prioritizes his cases above even his dog's mental health. Then there are detectives Anna Bengsdotter, who keeps her relationship with Varg professional even as she realizes she's developing feelings for him... or at least for his car, and Carl Holgersson, first to arrive in the morning and last to leave, who would never read his colleagues' personal correspondence--unless it could help solve a crime, of course. Finally, there's Erik Nykvist, who peppers conversations with anecdotes about fly fishing. Along with an opinionated local police officer named Blomquist, the Department of Sensitive Crimes takes on three extremely strange cases. First, the detectives investigate how and why a local business owner was stabbed... in the back of the knee. Next, a young woman's imaginary boyfriend goes missing.
Comment by Kath
20/06/2019You'd be forgiven for thinking this is The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency transferred to Sweden. What is gentle and quirky in Botswana is downright tedious in Scandinavia!