THE STONECUTTER

Läckberg’s Swedish mystery makes abrupt transitions in time and place somewhat confusingly in the opening chapters. Not until the closing pages are the story’s relationships clear. Narrator David Thorn distinguishes the bevy of characters and deftly pronounces their unfamiliar names. In the central plot, the murder of a child in the small town of Fjällbacka horrifies police detective Patrik Hedström, a new father. Issues of new parenting such as nursing and lack of sleep receive as much attention as the murder investigation by the author and narrator. As Thorn occasionally slurs “s’s” and rolls “r’s” for effect, the story moves along steadily with plenty of clues. D.P.D. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2012]