More Mysteries

The second in the three-book series about Lisbeth Salander, The Girl Who Played With Fire, was very good, and also different from the first, The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo. In this second installment, the main character finds herself attacked by violent criminals whom she successfully fights right up to the end, when she is rescued by her friend Mikael Blomqvist.  Along the way, there are a number of exciting twists and surprising revelations.

But what's also interesting about this second story is that we learn a little bit more about the character, and how she came to be where she is and who she is.  The character and her story are very compelling, and that's a large part of why we keep reading, I think, and why this writer is so popular.

I'm also learning quite a bit about Swedish society and culture from these novels. Since I knew very little before, that's a big plus.  I'm even thinking of checking out the Swedish language.

The only criticism I would have of the books is that the narrator tends to give mini-lectures on what he apparently believes are pertinent topics that sometimes go on just a bit too long and tempt me to skip to the action.

After finishing that book, I went on to a book by another of my favorite mystery writers, Ruth Rendell.  This novel, A Judgement in Stone, published in 1977, appears to be a sort of mystery-in-reverse.  Right up front we are told who dun it and why, and then the rest of the novel explains how it happened by presenting a chronicle of events that led up to that fateful day.  It's the kind of anwers people want following a shocking multiple murder and journalists try to provide with newspaper reports and TV movies that analyze how such a tragedy could have been prevented.

Though Rendell's novel is not true crime, it has the ring of truth to it, and is even better than true crime because she can give us the thoughts of the people involved, especially the dead ones.  Under real circumstances we don't get to ask the victims the question: "Why didn't you realize this person was going to murder you?"  But in fiction,we can ask and the author will give us the answer. 

I'm about a third of the way through this novel, and so far it's very good.  The simple answer to why the culprit killed an entire family is given at the start (because she couldn't read), but it doesn't make much sense. The mystery to solve, then, is how could such a reason be a motive for murder?  I'm curious and hoping the author will surprise me with her answer.

I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.