The Hanging Girl: A Department Q Novel by Jussi Adler-Olsen

Carl is not the world's most ambitious policeman.  He'd prefer to take a nap at his desk.  So when a cop from another city calls about a crime and asks for his help, he says no.  After all, it's a cold case, happened twenty years ago, and they think it was an accident.  Why dig into it now?  When the cop kills himself at his retirement in front of everyone, Carl doesn't think much about it.  But Rose tells him it's his fault and they must investigate...
 
Dutton and Edelweiss gave me the opportunity to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published September 8th.

This is the second book by this author that I've read.  He writes with great detail about all his characters and happenings in their lives.  He writes a good story and makes you care about his characters but I could live with fewer words.  It takes me two days to finish a book he's written and it would take most folks a week or longer.  I don't need a bare bones book but I think this one could lose some weight.

Despite that, the story is intriguing.  It has a religious overtones since the suspected murderer lives in a compound and teaches spiritual well-being lessons.  He was sleeping with the victim at the time of her death.  I thought I knew who the murderer was.  Twice I was sure.  The actual murderer was someone else entirely!  I love it when authors can fool me.

This charmed man slept with everyone in town.  His beliefs were unusual and so were his followers.  He has one woman who manipulates everyone to make sure she's his number one gal in his life now.  The families left behind when he moved on have fallen apart because of damage done while he was there.  There's a lot of psychological analysis in this story.

The ending was a blow out.  I couldn't believe what happened; I liked it.  Did you identify the murderer?  Did you like the ending?  I'm wondering how it affects other people.  I can tell you it's not boring and it's worth a read.  Just have some time set aside when you start it because you won't want to stop reading.