THE ART OF KILLING

KUNSTEN AT DRÆBE – THE ART OF KILLING

By Lisa Holmfjord

SEVERAL WOMEN ARE found murdered in a limestone quarry on Saltholm, a barely inhabited island in the strait between Denmark and Sweden. It soon becomes apparent that the perpetrator has deliberately chosen victims who will not be missed. Only one of the dead women is known to the police. A 20-year-old unsolved murder case. David Brandt from Amager Station and his colleague Linda Lundgård from the Police Headquarters put everything into finding the murderer in a complicated collaboration, but someone in the upper echelons of the police force is obstructing the investigation.

MEANWHILE, LAYLA TSURGAN—a former colleague of David and Linda who is now pursuing a career with the Danish Defense Intelligence Service—hears about the gruesome discoveries and connects them to a close childhood friend who disappeared in 2007 from the residential facility where they lived. This prompts her to seek out Linda.

AT FIRST, LINDA is not receptive. Until she realizes that the dead women in the lime pit are not the killer’s only victims. On the contrary, the killer is still active and apparently someone Linda knows too well. Someone with powerful connections. Someone who will do anything to avoid being exposed.

WHEN LAYLA SUDDENLY disappears, David and Linda must race against time to find her.

THE ART OF KILLING is the fourth volume in Lisa Holmfjord’s critically acclaimed Traces of Hate series about the dark side of the Danish welfare state. Told through the eyes of vulnerable women and the investigators drawn into their lives, Lisa Holmfjord’s gripping and unflinching cases are deeply psychological, socially charged, and disturbingly real. With razor-sharp writing and powerful themes of gender-based violence, Holmfjord has crafted a standout series that redefines the Nordic noir genre.