‘Helle’s Hound’ by Oskar Jensen is an interesting whodunnit starring Swedish Londoner art historian Torben Helle and his friends, acquaintances and suspects… The same elements that made the first of the series (fiendishly clever country house mystery ‘Helle And Death’) so fun to read were present here - Torben’s wittiness, his burgeoning relationship with friend Leyla, and the exploration of British academic society. This time, the action sprawled across an exclusive enclave of London and the suspects shrouded in secrecy included politicians, financiers and professors as Torben’s mentor Charlotte Lazerton perished in unknown circumstances. Smartly plotted, this book kept me hooked from start to finish, and gave me a fair few laughs along the way… I especially adored a scene where our main character smoothly charmed and thoroughly bamboozled an information source by dressing himself in stereotypical scandi noir attire (hello, cable knit jumper in the summer!) and faking Sherlock-like levels of deduction. I don’t want to give away too much of the conclusion, but expect the unexpected! I’d highly recommend picking up this book if you’re a fan of Ben Stevenson, Louise Hegarty, Tom Hindle or Ellery Lloyd. This gets 4.5 stars from me! I received an advance Digital Review Copy of this book from the publisher Serpent’s Tail / Viper Books via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Torben Helle met with Charlotte who expressed concerns she was being watched and her phone tapped. She died a few days later. Did she fall or what could have happened? Torben will investigate but is he able to catch a killer? Very well written and well narrated novel (I listened to the audiobook). Great quirky characters in this well paced novel. They will look for clues and seek the truth of Charlotte's death. Fun as well as serious.

I liked how this continued the relationships we learnt about in the last group and i really loved seeing how they grew and changed over the course of the novel. The central mystery was handled well and i thought the pacing and clues discovered made sense. The dramtic scenes were handled well and the writing in them really kept me hooked. I'm looking forward to reading more in this series as i've really enjoyed the first two!

Torben Helle is a good humoured Danish academic, specialising in the history of Art. His mentor was Dame Charlotte Lazerton, an intelligent, sharp- tongued woman who did not suffer fools gladly. Charlotte was well connected and really very formidable. I liked her a lot. Sadly, as the book opens, Charlotte is lying at the bottom of her stairs and well, I won’t go into detail, but let’s just say this is not entirely cosy crime! The authorities rule it an accidental death but Torben is convinced her death was anything but an accident – though he isn’t clear just how the murder could have been committed. Almost as if she had foreseen her own murder, Charlotte has left Torben some clear clues as to her closest contacts and rivals. Together with the attractive barrister, Leyla Moradi, and Torben’s friend, DI Ruth Thompson, (who’s about to leave the force), they search for any of Charlotte’s contacts who might have both the opportunity and the motive to commit such a crime. Torben is almost charmingly clueless. He spins round in circles and has no compunction about ruffling feathers when he wants answers, though his preferred method of interrogation tends to be over a very good meal in a top restaurant. Leyla and Torben are in constant disagreement over who the perpetrator might be and none of it is helped by the fact that Dame Charlotte knew some figures in the intelligence community and the Home Office as well as in art and academia. So, asking questions is fraught with concerns about upsetting some pretty senior people who have the means to thwart Torben’s quest. The plotting is cleverly done; a locked house mystery with credible suspects and lots of secrets to uncover. There’s a lot to enjoy in the way that Torben exposes some truths and the way in which he gets some things hopelessly wrong. The overwhelming sense when reading this book is of a charming, somewhat hapless detective who nevertheless, through a combination of good research and inspired guesswork finally manages to reach the truth. To be fair, Oskar Jensen lays all the clues out in plain sight, but I confess, I hadn’t got the answer by the time Torben revealed it, which is always a bonus. Verdict: There is wit and intelligence in these characters and this relatively slow paced series. Not quite cosy, not quite Golden Age, nevertheless it contains many elements of such crime fiction. I loved the Scandinavian jumpers, the Danish sweary words and phrases and the bantering between Torben and Layla. Helles Hound is contemporary Scandi lys crime, immensely enjoyable and really funny.

When his mentor Charlotte tells Torben Helle that her phone has been tapped he thinks nothing of it until she is found dead. Now Torben has to convince the police it was murder, solve the murder and write a book on Charlotte. After convincing a Scandi-crime obsessed detective that he is serious, Torben (and his 'friend' Leyla) have a list of five suspects - is it the Man from the ministry, the old school 'frenemy', the renowned critic, the MP or the academic rival. I really enjoyed Jensen's first book and this is again in the same vein. I spent most of my time following the clues to the crime characters and novels of the past - here there is an emphasis on Conan Doyle - but that just enhances what is a genre-defying novel. It's more than just a procedural, cleverer than cosy crime and with a Scandi twist.