A Memory for Murder is the third is the Selma Falck series from best-selling Norwegian crime writer Anne Holt.
Selma Falck a former lawyer, is now a high profile private investigator. When she is injured in a sniper attack that killed her best friend – a junior MP – everyone, including Selma herself, assumes that she was the target. This theory is reinforced when Selma’s apartment is broken into, and long lost/discarded items from her childhood begin to appear. However, as more mysterious deaths occur, with links to Selma’s friend the MP, rather than to her, she begins to realise that there is a bigger story unfolding and sets out to uncover the truth about her friend’s death.
This was the first Selma Falck book that I had read. I suspected that I may be disadvantaged by not having read the first two if any backstory played a significant role in this tale. As it happens, there is a lot of exposition, rather too much at times, so it was easy to work out more or less what had happened in Selma’s previous adventures.
Although the book has a very intriguing opening chapter, quickly followed by the first murder, the plot then becomes quite sluggish. As mentioned above, the frequent referring back to previous books gets in the way of moving the story. This is not helpful and at times I found the plot quite incoherent. There are chapters with characters who appear to serve no purpose. Whilst I appreciate that not every character needs to play an integral role in a book, there were some chapters and characters that, looking back, made no real contribution to the plot.
My main problem was with Selma herself though. She apparently has a reputation for being helpful and caring. Maybe she is to strangers, but certainly not to those people she knows. She treats most people with a total lack of respect, ignoring their calls and messages, and only contacting them when it suits her or she needs something from them. She has a caring relationship of sorts with one ‘friend’ who she helps to cope with day to day life, but even then, she abandons him with no thought if something else has grabbed her attention. Maybe I would have a better understanding of Selma if I had read the previous books, but after this one I have no desire to read the others.
Towards the end of the book when the plot had become clearer, I did begin to enjoy it more. The author has cleverly interwoven the plot with true events surrounding a major child care scandal and subsequent coverup within the Norwegian government. Ultimately, however, this was not enough to make me a fan of the author.
Selma Falck a former lawyer, is now a high profile private investigator. When she is injured in a sniper attack that killed her best friend – a junior MP – everyone, including Selma herself, assumes that she was the target. This theory is reinforced when Selma’s apartment is broken into, and long lost/discarded items from her childhood begin to appear. However, as more mysterious deaths occur, with links to Selma’s friend the MP, rather than to her, she begins to realise that there is a bigger story unfolding and sets out to uncover the truth about her friend’s death.
This was the first Selma Falck book that I had read. I suspected that I may be disadvantaged by not having read the first two if any backstory played a significant role in this tale. As it happens, there is a lot of exposition, rather too much at times, so it was easy to work out more or less what had happened in Selma’s previous adventures.
Although the book has a very intriguing opening chapter, quickly followed by the first murder, the plot then becomes quite sluggish. As mentioned above, the frequent referring back to previous books gets in the way of moving the story. This is not helpful and at times I found the plot quite incoherent. There are chapters with characters who appear to serve no purpose. Whilst I appreciate that not every character needs to play an integral role in a book, there were some chapters and characters that, looking back, made no real contribution to the plot.
My main problem was with Selma herself though. She apparently has a reputation for being helpful and caring. Maybe she is to strangers, but certainly not to those people she knows. She treats most people with a total lack of respect, ignoring their calls and messages, and only contacting them when it suits her or she needs something from them. She has a caring relationship of sorts with one ‘friend’ who she helps to cope with day to day life, but even then, she abandons him with no thought if something else has grabbed her attention. Maybe I would have a better understanding of Selma if I had read the previous books, but after this one I have no desire to read the others.
Towards the end of the book when the plot had become clearer, I did begin to enjoy it more. The author has cleverly interwoven the plot with true events surrounding a major child care scandal and subsequent coverup within the Norwegian government. Ultimately, however, this was not enough to make me a fan of the author.