Hulda is an interesting detective in this Scandinavian noir staple. She’s older, doesn’t have a partner, and is being more-or-less forced out, by way of mandatory retirement. As a means of appeasing her, she’s allowed to take on whatever case she wants from the cold cases. When she picks one that seems lazily investigated and subsequently closed, she begins to tug on a thread connected to a lot more than she bargained for.

While it is quite short, the pacing was sometimes a bit rough. There’s a B plot with a would-be partner that provides a nice counterpoint to her investigation and organically unearths her past, but it also feels a bit like spinning wheels, overall. The case also inserts itself in the narrative in the form of small chapters that is from the victims perspective, which mostly worked for me.

There’s quite a bit to like. Unconventional protagonist and setup, a decent twist, decent themes. I think it unintentionally undermines some of the granular things it introduces with the twist, good as it is, though. Still would, absolutely, recommend it to people looking for a something in the genre.