Review: An Event in Autumn

An Event in Autumn by Henning Mankell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Mankell wrote this for his Dutch readers as a promotional giveaway. It’s relatively short, with a short essay by the author about his detective in the edition I read. I found the book was nice as an example of a Wallander story. Wallander stories are known for their description of location and the feeling of dreariness. This had that in spades, taking place in a dark autumn. I got cold shivers when reading this, and it’s the first day of summer for me now. Books in the series can weigh on you. And as Wallander ages, he is getting more curmudgeonly. Here, he is downright grumpy throughout, and to excess. There’s lots of gruff complaining. If this was the first Wallander you read, you probably wouldn’t want to spend more time with him. I don’t recall any description of food or (non action related) illness or injury, other hallmarks of the series. But as I check Amazon’s Look Inside for this book, I see coffee is actually mentioned 17 times, or about once every 10 pages. That’s about right. You need warm fortification for dealing with the approaching Swedish winter and a historic murder. The mystery itself was a little weak.

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