In Uppsala Ann Lindell, a veteran detective, is trying to help her boss recuperate from a serious surgery. She figures that if she can get him involved on an interesting case his mind will be occupied on something apart from his uncertain health prospects. She hopes she can get him to focus on the missing, now found county commissioner.

For her own part, Ann has been asked to act as a consultant in a case in Oregrund, some one hundred kilometers to the north and, coincidentally, the home of her former lover and father of her young son. The case itself is intriguing. The report she received says that a boot had been found bobbing in the sea and it contained a foot. When she finally makes contact with the local policeman in charge of the investigation, she learns that her information is not quite correct. It was a woman's sandal that had been washed up on the beach. The foot was found in another location.

Knowing she doesn't really have the option of declining the case she sets about arranging for someone to care for her son . She then sets off for the country to meet Bosse Marksson who has begun the investigation by meeting with the residents of cottages near the beach where the sandal was found.

Like most Scandinavian mysteries, The Hand that Trembles has an underlying socio-political current that runs throughout the novel. This is particularly pronounced in the story line featuring Sven-Arne Persson and his uncle. Why Sven-Arne should abruptly leave Sweden only to surface by coincidence in India where he made a living as a gardener at a botanical garden is indeed an enigma.

The other side of the story is the severed foot of an unknown woman. The area in which the appendage is found is a sparsely populated one, consisting of several cottages inhabited by older couple and a few single men. The fact that the foot was probably severed by a chain saw should provide a clue, but not in this case. Everyone has one to cut firewood for their woodstoves. This aspect of the tale really has a locked room feel to it. In addition Marksson knows all the suspects which adds another dimension to the case. Even the explanation for why the severed foot ended up where it did requires knowledge of a rural area.

The characters that live in the remote cottages encompass a wide range of personalities. The men are the most likely suspects, but the women have enough experience living in a rural setting to allow them to have acquired the skills necessary to do the deed.

The Hand That Trembles is not as dark and brooding a tale as is customary for Scandinavian authors. There are moments of light between the shadows. The characters are not totally pessimistic or fatalistic. They seem to think that it is possible for good things to happen if not on a regular basis. Even the female artist living in the rural scene who is almost a poster child for gloom and doom occasionally has happy thoughts. While this is not the book you would want to pick up if you needed a lift out of your depression, it will probably not trigger a depressive mood either.

--Andy Plonka