My friends at Kazabo Publishing sent me a copy of this story, which I really enjoyed! It read like a Sherlock Holmes (though taking place in Norway). It was well-plotted and clever and kept me guessing.

Sven Elvestead was a popular Nordic crime writer who died in 1934. Here’s a bit on him:

Sven Elvestad, aka Stein Riverton, was born in Fredrikshald, Norway, in 1884. Author of over 90 books, he is acclaimed as the father of Norwegian crime fiction. Even today, the Riverton Prize is awarded annually to the best Norwegian crime story.

Thank you, Kazabo Publishing, for my copy!

Here’s the scoop:

It is an evening in early May when the quiet of Montrose Abbey is shattered by the sounds of shouting and broken glass. When the police arrive, they find the abbey library ransacked and bloodstained. Broken furniture and a burning carpet bear witness to a violent struggle. And the abbot himself, the scholarly Abbot Montrose, is missing. Only a torn fragment of his cassock remains, caught in the wrought-iron fence surrounding the abbey.
The police, the press, and citizens of this northern city fear the worst. What could have befallen the missing abbot? Has he been murdered? Abducted?
As world-renowned Detective Asbjørn Krag and his partner, Detective Sirius Keller, begin to unravel the tangled knot of clues left behind, they find themselves in the city’s infamous Krydder District, “where the dark doorways are as close together as rat holes in an old warehouse.” The more answers they find, the more questions seem to pop up.
This well-constructed, evocative and witty mystery by Sven Elvestead, also known as Stein Riverton (for whom the Norwegian Riverton Prize was named), will keep you guessing until the very last page.