Bleak Summer

Historian Matteus Olstad is woken by the police knocking on his door. His closest neighbour, Olivia Havnen, has been murdered during the night, smothered in her own bed. That same day, Sofia, Olstad’s ten-year-old niece, arrives to stay with him for the summer. Olstad tries to finish his definitive book on Nes Municipality while the police are working on the murder case. He feels increasingly more singled-out among the many suspects, but his bright and inquisitive niece wants to help solve the murder. The plot of the village mystery thickens and thickens while the forest, in which it is said the mysterious Ulvika Man roams, looms ominously in the background.

Bleak Summer is an entertaining murder mystery, full of remarkable happenings, colourful characters, and scenes and dialogues written in classic Hovland style.