An event in autumn

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The eleventh riveting installment in the mystery thriller series that inspired the Netflix crime drama Young Wallander Wallander is "one of the most impressive creations in crime fiction today.... An old-fashioned moral force and sense of disquiet of the sort rarely found in contemporary crime fiction." —The GuardianAfter nearly thirty years in the same job, Inspector Kurt Wallander is tired, restless, and itching to make a change. He is taken with a certain old farmhouse, perfectly situated in a quiet countryside with a charming, overgrown garden. There he finds the skeletal hand of a corpse in a shallow grave. Wallander’s investigation takes him deep into the history of the house and the land, until finally the shocking truth about a long-buried secret is brought to light.   Includes an afterword by the author.

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ISBN
9780804170642
9780804192675
9780804170659
9780804192705
UPC
9780804192675

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Also in this Series

  • Faceless killers: a mystery (Kurt Wallander mysteries Volume 1) Cover
  • The dogs of Riga (Kurt Wallander mysteries Volume 2) Cover
  • The white lioness: a mystery (Kurt Wallander mysteries Volume 3) Cover
  • The man who smiled (Kurt Wallander mysteries Volume 4) Cover
  • Sidetracked: a Kurt Wallander mystery (Kurt Wallander mysteries Volume 5) Cover
  • The fifth woman (Kurt Wallander mysteries Volume 6) Cover
  • One step behind (Kurt Wallander mysteries Volume 7) Cover
  • Firewall (Kurt Wallander mysteries Volume 8) Cover
  • The Pyramid: And Four Other Kurt Wallander Mysteries (Kurt Wallander mysteries Volume 9) Cover
  • The Troubled Man (Kurt Wallander mysteries Volume 10) Cover
  • An event in autumn (Kurt Wallander mysteries Volume 11) Cover

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Author Notes

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Similar Series From Novelist

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for series you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
Kurt Wallander and Dave Robichaux operate in vastly different landscapes, but the mood, descriptive writing, and dark views of human nature draw readers into these thoughtfully-paced investigations that feature complex characters and the contrast between evocative writing and the ugly violence and menacing atmosphere of the crimes. -- Katherine Johnson
The bleak and somber landscapes found in these Swedish mysteries reflect the mood of their main characters - police detectives with a dour outlook on life, who are well-acquainted with the darker side of human nature. -- Victoria Fredrick
The Millennium novels and the Kurt Wallander mysteries are both character-driven, intricately plotted series set in Sweden. -- NoveList Contributor
Though different motivations drive the investigative work of Irene Huss and the older, wearier Kurt Wallander, both detectives are aware of the changing nature of Swedish society, which is threatened by increasing racism, violent crime, and drugs. -- Shauna Griffin
These series have the appeal factors bleak, and they have the genre "scandinavian crime fiction"; the subjects "wallander, kurt (fictitious character)," "detectives," and "northern european people"; and characters that are "brooding characters" and "flawed characters."
These series have the appeal factors bleak, and they have the genre "scandinavian crime fiction"; and the subjects "detectives," "police," and "northern european people."
These series have the appeal factors bleak, and they have the genre "scandinavian crime fiction"; the subjects "detectives," "police," and "northern european people"; and characters that are "brooding characters" and "flawed characters."
These series have the appeal factors bleak, and they have the genre "scandinavian crime fiction"; the subjects "detectives," "police," and "northern european people"; and characters that are "brooding characters."
These series have the genre "scandinavian crime fiction"; and the subjects "murder investigation," "wallander, kurt (fictitious character)," and "detectives."

Similar Titles From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for titles you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
These books have the genres "scandinavian crime fiction" and "translations -- swedish to english"; the subjects "cold cases (criminal investigation)," "detectives," and "northern european people"; and characters that are "brooding characters."
These books have the genres "scandinavian crime fiction" and "translations -- swedish to english"; and the subjects "cold cases (criminal investigation)," "northern european people," and "european people."
These books have the genres "scandinavian crime fiction" and "translations -- swedish to english"; and the subjects "northern european people" and "european people."
These books have the genres "scandinavian crime fiction" and "translations -- swedish to english"; and the subjects "small towns," "northern european people," and "european people."
These books have the genres "scandinavian crime fiction" and "translations -- swedish to english"; the subjects "cold cases (criminal investigation)," "wallander, kurt (fictitious character)," and "northern european people"; and characters that are "brooding characters."
These books have the genres "scandinavian crime fiction" and "translations -- swedish to english"; and the subjects "cold cases (criminal investigation)," "wallander, kurt (fictitious character)," and "northern european people."
These books have the appeal factors bleak, and they have the genres "scandinavian crime fiction" and "translations -- swedish to english"; and the subjects "police" and "northern european people."
NoveList recommends "Irene Huss mysteries" for fans of "Kurt Wallander mysteries". Check out the first book in the series.
These books have the appeal factors melancholy, and they have the genres "scandinavian crime fiction" and "translations -- swedish to english"; the subjects "northern european people" and "european people"; and characters that are "brooding characters."
NoveList recommends "Millennium novels (Stieg Larsson)" for fans of "Kurt Wallander mysteries". Check out the first book in the series.
NoveList recommends "Dave Robicheaux novels" for fans of "Kurt Wallander mysteries". Check out the first book in the series.
Roseanna - Sjowall, Maj
NoveList recommends "Martin Beck mysteries" for fans of "Kurt Wallander mysteries". Check out the first book in the series.

Similar Authors From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for other authors you might want to read if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
Henning Mankell and Asa Larsson are among the leaders in Nordic noir read in English translation. They write mystery and suspense novels marked by heinous crimes and frozen, Scandinavian landscapes. Complex and troubled investigators and violently shocking crimes fill the pages of these books. -- Becky Spratford
Henning Mankell and James Lee Burke set their mysteries in vastly different landscapes, but the mood, descriptive writing, and bleak views of human nature draw readers into these thoughtfully paced investigations featuring complex characters and the contrast between evocative writing and the ugly violence and menacing atmosphere of the crimes. -- Katherine Johnson
Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell both write character-driven, intricately plotted, and compelling mysteries set in Sweden. -- NoveList Contributor
These Scandinavian mystery authors write deliberately paced, intricately plotted, and darkly atmospheric procedural crime fiction. Their haunting, character-driven books feature intimate and psychologically detailed depictions of intelligent yet personally troubled protagonists dealing with seriously disturbed criminals. -- Derek Keyser
Leif G. W. Persson and Henning Mankell write Swedish police procedurals that feature deeply flawed policemen whose honesty and determination put them at loggerheads with their superiors. The bleak, cynical books focus on the problems of Swedish society. The gritty stories are complex, violent, and slower-moving. -- Merle Jacob
Henning Mankell and Ian Rankin portray similar aging, anxious police detectives who are so committed to police work that they screen out other parts of their lives. Their landscapes feature miserable weather, and their investigations focus on horrible crimes of the dark side of modern society. Mankell's non-mystery novels may also appeal to Rankin's readers. -- Katherine Johnson
Like Henning Mankell, John Le Carre's suspenseful, complex, character-driven books feature plenty of introspection and wrestle with complex moral issues. While Le Carre's novels are spy fiction, Mankell's readers will appreciate the vividly described, varied locales that serve as the background to these intensely moral tales. -- Katherine Johnson
Both Arnaldur Indridason and Henning Mankell bring their respective settings to life, even when their characters' outlooks are extraordinarily bleak, and readers come to empathize with them. Mankell writes both police procedurals and more literary standalones; readers of each author will want to try the other. -- Katherine Johnson
These authors' works have the genre "scandinavian crime fiction"; and the subjects "northern european people," "european people," and "danish people."
These authors' works have the subjects "murder," "small towns," and "twelve-year-old boys."

Published Reviews

Booklist Review

We thought we'd seen the last of Mankell's quintessential Scandinavian police detective Kurt Wallander in The Troubled Man (2011), but crime fiction readers know never to say never when it comes to popular series leads. This curiosity is a bit like one of those handmade chocolates fancy restaurants serve as an extra when the bill comes. It's a novella, really, less than 200 pages, and it was originally written for a Dutch book promotion in which purchasers of a crime novel would receive an extra story as a bonus. Later, the story was adapted as an episode in the PBS Wallander series. Chronologically, the tale fits into the Wallander series just prior to The Troubled Man. Wallander is aging, aware that his days as a copper are numbered, and he's looking for a house in the country, a landscape distant in every way from the 24/7 routine of police work. On the recommendation of a colleague, he thinks he's found the perfect spot, but something seems amiss in the backyard. Crime has a way of reaching out and grabbing the melancholy Wallander, as he discovers yet again when, after a bit of foraging, he finds a hand well, the skeleton of a hand sticking out through the soft earth in the yard. You're not through yet, the hand seems to say, and further investigating uncovers two more skeletons, at least 50 years old, buried nearby. Naturally, the house loses its allure as a retirement getaway, but as a crime scene, it draws the reluctant Wallander back into the game. What follows is a stripped-down version of a standard Wallander novel. As in The Troubled Man, there is much rummaging in the distant past as the detective attempts to first identify and then trace the provenance of the victims. That rummaging prompts the usual melancholy reflection, too, but for readers of the series, it all seems to be done in shorthand, without the layering of both investigation detail and human emotion that gives the books their remarkable depth. Still, for those who have followed the long, slow decline of Wallander's life, this unexpected extra chapter possesses considerable power, with the intimations of mortality carrying more weight given what we know will happen in the series finale. Appended to the story is an afterword in which Mankell reflects on the Wallander series, how it began and how he chose to end it. I never think about Kurt Wallander, the detective's creator declares. I don't miss him. Many of us feel rather differently.--Ott, Bill Copyright 2014 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Publisher's Weekly Review

Set in 2002, this compelling short novel chronicles an episode in the life of Kurt Wallander shortly before the Swedish detective ended his career in 2011's The Troubled Man. Wallander, who shares his Ystad flat with daughter Linda, decides to look take a look at a house in the country owned by a colleague's relative. He discovers an abandoned farmhouse and, shockingly, "the remains of a human hand, sticking up out of the brown clay soil." The crime scene professionals who take over eventually discover two bodies, their identities completely unknown but foul play suspected. The search for what happened to the victims baffles and consumes Wallander, who observes, "The past has closed all doors behind it." The search for their names and fates propels the book, which has much to say about aging, history, and justice. Mankell's insightful afterword about the genesis of his hero and his initial decision to write crime fiction (to combat racism in Sweden) is a plus. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Kirkus Book Review

Great news for fans who feared they'd see no more of Kurt Wallander: a characteristically melancholy novella whose events take place in 2002, just before those of Wallander's last appearance (The Troubled Man, 2011). The most beloved curmudgeon of the Ystad police is feeling his age, his temperament and his mortality. Would a change of scene help? His colleague Martinson offers him first crack at a country home he's selling for his wife's cousin, now grown old and senile. Although Wallander's skeptical about the place, it turns out to be absolutely perfect except for the skeletal hand he finds sticking up from the yard just as he's about to leave. His find is at least 50 years old, but it gives him pause. And the discovery of two equally old skeletons on the grounds effectively kills his appetite for buying the house. But now at least his life has been given new purpose: to figure out who killed these two victims, both dead by violence, and why no one in town ever reported them missing. A promising lead that turns out to be a red herring ends up providing a clue that leads to the murderer, whom Wallander confronts in a highly implausible but utterly satisfying sequence. Miraculously, nothing about the story's small scale prevents Wallander from casting a shadow as long as ever, and many readers will be less concerned with how he winds up the mystery than with whether he ends up purchasing that house after all. As a bonus, Mankell (A Treacherous Paradise, 2013, etc.) appends a reminiscence of Wallander's creation and a brief account of this tale's composition that includes its saddest sentence: "There are no more stories about Kurt Wallander." Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
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Booklist Reviews

We thought we'd seen the last of Mankell's quintessential Scandinavian police detective Kurt Wallander in The Troubled Man (2011), but crime fiction readers know never to say never when it comes to popular series leads. This curiosity is a bit like one of those handmade chocolates fancy restaurants serve as an extra when the bill comes. It's a novella, really, less than 200 pages, and it was originally written for a Dutch book promotion in which purchasers of a crime novel would receive an extra story as a bonus. Later, the story was adapted as an episode in the PBS Wallander series. Chronologically, the tale fits into the Wallander series just prior to The Troubled Man. Wallander is aging, aware that his days as a copper are numbered, and he's looking for a house in the country, a landscape distant in every way from the 24/7 routine of police work. On the recommendation of a colleague, he thinks he's found the perfect spot, but something seems amiss in the backyard. Crime has a way of reaching out and grabbing the melancholy Wallander, as he discovers yet again when, after a bit of foraging, he finds a hand—well, the skeleton of a hand—sticking out through the soft earth in the yard. "You're not through yet," the hand seems to say, and further investigating uncovers two more skeletons, at least 50 years old, buried nearby. Naturally, the house loses its allure as a retirement getaway, but as a crime scene, it draws the reluctant Wallander back into the game. What follows is a stripped-down version of a standard Wallander novel. As in The Troubled Man, there is much rummaging in the distant past as the detective attempts to first identify and then trace the provenance of the victims. That rummaging prompts the usual melancholy reflection, too, but for readers of the series, it all seems to be done in shorthand, without the layering of both investigation detail and human emotion that gives the books their remarkable depth. Still, for those who have followed the long, slow decline of Wallander's life, this unexpected extra chapter possesses considerable power, with the intimations of mortality carrying more weight given what we know will happen in the series finale. Appended to the story is an afterword in which Mankell reflects on the Wallander series, how it began and how he chose to end it. "I never think about Kurt Wallander," the detective's creator declares. "I don't miss him." Many of us feel rather differently. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.
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Publishers Weekly Reviews

Set in 2002, this compelling short novel chronicles an episode in the life of Kurt Wallander shortly before the Swedish detective ended his career in 2011's The Troubled Man. Wallander, who shares his Ystad flat with daughter Linda, decides to look take a look at a house in the country owned by a colleague's relative. He discovers an abandoned farmhouse and, shockingly, "the remains of a human hand, sticking up out of the brown clay soil." The crime scene professionals who take over eventually discover two bodies, their identities completely unknown but foul play suspected. The search for what happened to the victims baffles and consumes Wallander, who observes, "The past has closed all doors behind it." The search for their names and fates propels the book, which has much to say about aging, history, and justice. Mankell's insightful afterword about the genesis of his hero and his initial decision to write crime fiction (to combat racism in Sweden) is a plus. (Aug.)

[Page ]. Copyright 2014 PWxyz LLC

Copyright 2014 PWxyz LLC
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PW Annex Reviews

Set in 2002, this compelling short novel chronicles an episode in the life of Kurt Wallander shortly before the Swedish detective ended his career in 2011's The Troubled Man. Wallander, who shares his Ystad flat with daughter Linda, decides to look take a look at a house in the country owned by a colleague's relative. He discovers an abandoned farmhouse and, shockingly, "the remains of a human hand, sticking up out of the brown clay soil." The crime scene professionals who take over eventually discover two bodies, their identities completely unknown but foul play suspected. The search for what happened to the victims baffles and consumes Wallander, who observes, "The past has closed all doors behind it." The search for their names and fates propels the book, which has much to say about aging, history, and justice. Mankell's insightful afterword about the genesis of his hero and his initial decision to write crime fiction (to combat racism in Sweden) is a plus. (Aug.)

[Page ]. Copyright 2014 PWxyz LLC

Copyright 2014 PWxyz LLC
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