Viveca Sten Murder Mysteries 2021

February #7, In the Shadow of Power.



April #8 In the Name of Truth.



June #9 In Bad Company

Yay - The book is already at hand and waiting for February!

Well, hello there fellow mystery lover! I have my copy downloaded and ready to go. : )

So here's where we are in the series...

Read / # / Book / Published
2020
✅ 1. Still Waters (2008)
✅ 2. Closed Circles (2009)
✅ 3. Guiltless (2010)
✅ 4. Tonight You’re Dead (2011)
✅ 5. In the Heat of the Moment (2012)
✅ 6. In Harm's Way (2013)

2021
✅ 7. In the Shadow of Power (2014)
✅ 8. In the Name of Truth (2015)
✅ 9. In Bad Company (2018)



#10 January 2022!! -- 10. "Buried in Secret" to be published January 11, 2022

I lost track of this group read last year, since I was current on the series through book 8. But Book 9, In Bad Company, was just released in the US this month and I pre-ordered it so I'm ready to go. I'd thought about reading it right away but maybe I'll kick the can and join y'all in June.

I've added this thread to the Group wiki.

I'm already ahead of the game because I read this book the last time by mistake.

I've got it on my Kindle and am ready to read it in February!

>5 lauralkeet: Wait! Join us in June!!! : )

>6 drneutron: You are the best. Again. Thank you.

>7 Familyhistorian: Sure, sure. Just admit it. You're an overachiever. JK. Hopefully you'll remember enough to chime in when the time comes. ; )

>8 thornton37814: Perfect!

Okay. Who's your favorite character in the series? Thomas or Nora? Or maybe a secondary character?

>10 Berly: I think the island itself is my favorite character. ;-)

>9 Berly: yeah, I'm definitely going to join you in June!

>11 thornton37814: oh, I like that! I've been thinking about Kim's question all day and can't decide. Some books I like Nora more, others Thomas. But the island is definitely a "character."

>9 Berly: Not an overachiever, Kim. I didn't read the book for December yet.

I like Nora's part of the story best but I think a large part of that is because she is always on Sandhamn and it's through her part of the story that the history of the island is told.

It's February, so get reading! ; )

And I agree with Laura. I keep switching who I like best, and Lori's response (the island) made me laugh. Let's see who we like in this read.

I started yesterday.
Also my sympathies change, depending on the book - but not for the island!

... and done.
Again a reading pleasure, but this time I was not as enthusiastic as usual.
Last book Nora had problems, this book Thomas, but both remain pale.
It's good to leave some distance between the books, so the tension is maintained - and the books last longer ;-).

I read In the Shadow of Power last year, so I had to refresh my memory by re-reading my review. I thought it was odd that the book opens 5 years after after the end of the previous book, with cliffhangers from that book neatly resolved. I had to double-check to make sure I hadn't accidentally skipped a book in the series.

>17 lauralkeet: Yes, that also bothered me a bit.

I need to read the Lord Peter book first because it is a library book with a due date, but I hope to get to this one after it--later this week.

I know I read the books in this series out of order. I finally read In Harm's Way which was Decembers book. But I read In the Shadow of Power in December.

This is what I wrote about it at the time before I realized it was the wrong book:

I must have read enough other books since my last one in the series so that In the Shadow of Power went down easy. I liked the fact that there have been changes in the lives of Nora and Thomas so that life moves on. The story of the arrogant venture capitalist was an interesting one that brought in different perspectives and nationalities.

April #8 In the Name of Truth.

Are you guys ready? : ) More adventures with Thomas and Nora!

Oh God, it's going to be April again?
OK, but I'm ready.

I'm reading the Martin Walker at the moment, but Sten is up after that one!

In the Name of the Truth was a good one. So much going on for the main characters with very strong interwoven stories for both Thomas and Nora.

Yes, this time both have their problems.
The book is again very pleasant to read, but it didn't carry me away as the first volumes did.

The author finally found a "different" plot line. I liked the mystery better than the previous installment or two. I'm tiring of all the personal problems for both Nora and Thomas.

>1 Berly: Today is Viveca Sten's birthday, it is June, I think I will start with In Bad Company ...

>27 SirThomas: I have In Bad Company on my TBR for this month and was wondering if anyone else was planning to read it. I won't get to it right away though. Nice idea to start reading on her birthday.

I ended up finishing my current book sooner than planned, so I'll start In Bad Company tonight.

Anyone else joining in?

I've accessed all my Viveca Sten reads through my library. They don't have In Bad Company so I won't be joining in.

Oh - I'm about to forget this group read. I'm glad someone posted. I have it downloaded on my Kindle, and I just finished another book, so I guess I know what I'll pick up next.

OK, I'm through. It didn't really work for me this time. It's well written and suspenseful again, but I wasn't drawn into the story. I even found myself reading across, just 1-2 sentences per page to finish faster.
This time only Thomas has personal problems, but Nora takes her case too personally.
Sandhamn plays a big role again - and that's good, the book makes you want to visit the island. Despite the many dead ;-)

I’m at the halfway point. The crime story is quite different from previous novels so it’s holding my interest.

Does anyone else find the structure of her books kind of odd? By that I mean a zillion very short chapters.

Yup, 137 chapters plus an epilogue in 464 pages is more than a bit strange.
The table of contents is longer than the longest chapter :)

Glad someone is paying attention (Sir Thomas)!! Mixed reviews so far....guess I'll have to see for myself!! : )

Thank you very much, Kim - maybe we are in such Good Company in this awesome group that the thought of Bad Company is not very obvious ;-)

I finished the book yesterday. I was drawn into the story, which instead of beginning with a murder, focused on economic crimes which Nora is responsible for investigating. Over the arc of this series, Sten has given Nora a more substantive role. Initially she was just Thomas' long-time friend who meddled inappropriately in the investigations. Now her career gives her a legitimate reason to work on cases, even though she does overstep and do dumb things from time to time (including in In Bad Company)

Overall, I liked this book a bit more than SirThomas did. I do have some issues:
* Structure: numerous short, choppy chapters. I think this helps with pacing, but aren't there are other ways to do that?
* Writing: there's something about it that seems less ... sophisticated maybe? I don't need flowery prose, but the language is a bit simplistic and spare. I've felt this way about the other books in the series too, so this might be more of a translation issue?
* Character Development: The characters central to the mystery -- in this case Mina, Andreis, and Andreis' lawyer Ulrika -- seem like cardboard cutouts, stereotypical and lacking depth. Also, is Mina's son Lukas ever awake and mobile? He seems to spend the entire novel asleep in his stroller LOL.

But ... I like the evolution of Nora's role and purpose, and I am invested in Thomas' personal story as well, and that's what keeps me coming back to this series despite its weaknesses.

>36 SirThomas: Nice one! LOL

I am not reading anyone's reviews until I finish the book myself. Glad we are all still here though!! : )

>37 lauralkeet: It's not that I didn't like the book at all.
But the pattern is always similar, even if Nora's role has evolved.
If it hadn't been the 9th book in the series, but the 3rd, I probably would have judged better.

>38 Berly: :)
A good resolution, it helps to be able to enjoy the book unencumbered.
I am also glad that we are all there!

Good points, Thomas.

I posted my review a few days ago to my thread, but I think I'm glad we're all caught up with Nora and Thomas for the moment. I'm tired of them. I think the book was overly long. I did not like the "back story" pages which really seemed to add absolutely nothing to the story. All it did was make it unnecessarily almost 500 pages long. I've always criticized the choppiness of Sten's writing with the overly short chapters.

Love everyone's feedback. I haven't been up for very deep, thoughtful books this year, so another murder mystery was just fine by me. I enjoyed this one well enough, and I am glad we will have another one at the beginning of 2022, but I am also glad to take a break. The unhappiness of Thomas' love life is getting to me. And, yes, the chapters are very short!! LOL

I've never heard of this author. Picked up Still Waters to give her a try.

>43 majkia: I hope you enjoy it!! : )

#10 January 2022!! -- "Buried in Secret" to be published January 11, 2022

When do we want to read this one? : ) Prefer not January...February?

From mid-January I should get it, February would be ok for me - looking forward!

February should work.

The next book is out!! Getting mine on Kindle.

So, do we want February or March?

>44 Berly: I did!

I just purchased the Kindle version so I'm good whenever. Just wondering if we should discuss this in a 2022 thread? If so, put a link in here!

Okay, next thread for 2022 started here...

https://www.librarything.com/topic/338876