The hidden child / Camilla Lackberg ; translated by Tiina Nunnally.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Crime writer Erica Falck is shocked to discover a Nazi medal among her late mother's possessions. Haunted by a childhood of neglect, she resolves to dig deep into her family's past and finally uncover the reasons why. Her enquiries lead her to the home of a retired history teacher. He was among her mother's circle of friends during the Second World War but her questions are met with bizarre and evasive answers. Two days later he meets a violent death. Detective Patrik Hedström, Erica's husband, is on paternity leave but soon becomes embroiled in the murder investigation. Who would kill so ruthlessly to bury secrets so old? reluctantly erica must read her mother's wartime diaries. But within the pages is a painful revelation about erica's past. Could what little knowledge she has be enough to endanger her husband and newborn baby? The dark past is coming to light, and no one will escape the truth of how they came to be...

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

The fifth book in the Det. Patrik Hedstrom series (The Stranger) finds Patrik starting his paternity leave so his wife, crime writer Erica Falck, can work on her new book. However, when a retired history teacher is murdered near their home, Patrik finds it impossible to stay away from the investigation. Erica is stunned to discover that the victim, Erik Frankel, was a man she had visited months earlier when she found a Nazi medal among her late mother's possessions. Erik was among her mother's close circle of friends during World War II, and Erica had hoped that digging into her mother's past would help explain why she was always so emotionally distant. But after two more members of this circle die, Erica and Patrik realize that her mother's wartime diaries may be the key to solving the murders and giving Erica peace of mind. -VERDICT Once again Lackberg has written an exciting, fast-paced mystery. Though the flashbacks to the 1940s can be distracting, this secondary plot is just as intriguing as the main story line. Though dealing with the serious subjects of extremist groups and prisoners of war, the novel has its humorous moments. Recommended for the author's fans as well as lovers of Scandinavian mysteries.-Jean King, West -Hempstead P.L., NY (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Lackberg's excellent fifth novel set in the Swedish coastal village of Fjallbacka (after 2013's The Stranger) finds Det. Patrik Hedstrom on paternity leave, looking after his toddler daughter, Maja, though that doesn't stop him from taking her to a crime scene, much to the chagrin of Patrik's wife, Erica Falck. Someone struck elderly Erik Frankel, an expert on Nazis, a fatal blow to the head in the house he shared with his brother, Axel, who tracks Nazi war criminals. Is the historian's murder related to the uptick in neo-Nazi activity? Meanwhile, Erica has a connection to the victim. She recently asked Erik to examine a Nazi medal that she discovered among the possessions of her late mother, Elsy. Flashbacks to WWII describe how Elsy, the Frankels, and others befriended a young French Resistance fighter. Horrific secrets come to light as the author skillfully shows how the past has influenced recent events. Agents: Bengt Nordin and Maria Enberg, Nordin Literary Agency (Sweden). (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

Long troubled by her late mother's coldness toward her two daughters, writer Erica Falck begins to read her mother, Elsy's, teenage diaries. She also discovers a Nazi war medal with the diaries and asks a retired history teacher to examine it. Within days, the teacher is bludgeoned to death. Then Britta, Elsy's closest friend as a teenager, who is suffering from Alzheimer's, is also murdered. Through the diaries, Erica intuits that the solution to the mystery is rooted in events that took place during WWII. Once again, Lackberg (The Stonecutter, 2012) employs Swedish history and her setting, Fjallbacka, the postcard-pretty village where Falck grew up, to craft an engaging tale that spans three generations of Fjallbackians. The author goes deep into the lives of a very large cast of characters, and some crime lovers might balk at a 520-plus-page novel that is almost half family saga. But taken as a whole, The Hidden Child will keep fans of Swedish crime guessing until the final pages.--Gaughan, Thomas Copyright 2014 Booklist