Thank you Penguin Random House Audio for the ALC and Dutton, #partner, for the advanced e-copy of A Mother’s Love in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Dutton
Published: March 11, 2025 (first published 2020)
Summary:
Detective Louise Rick uncovers dark secrets swirling around an inn in a seemingly idyllic tourist town in this propulsive new crime novel from #1 Danish bestselling sensation Sara Blaedel.
When innkeeper Dorthe Hyllested is found murdered, the police are surprised and puzzled to discover a concealed nursery in her upstairs apartment. As far as her friends and family knew, the recently widowed Dorthe was childless—so who lived in this secret toy-strewn room? And more importantly, where is the child now?
Detective Louise Rick has just taken on a challenging new job as head of the freshly created Mobile Task Unit, which is charged with solving the most difficult cases all over Denmark. With Dorthe’s murder as her first investigation and the clock ticking to find the missing child, Louise is dismayed to learn that none of her handpicked group of seasoned investigators have been approved for transfer to her new unit. Instead, she must cobble together a brand-new, unproven team from a group of officers she’s never met. Worst of all, the case will necessitate collaborating with the Missing Persons Department—which will mean working closely with Louise’s former fiancé, Eik, who abruptly broke things off last year, leaving her devastated.
Could the mystery of Dorthe’s murder and the hidden child have something to do with the cabin in the woods behind the inn where men are often seen coming and going at all hours? With no witnesses to Dorthe’s murder and no real leads, and an unproven and potentially untrustworthy team behind her, Louise finds herself grasping at unlikely connections—but the twisted story she begins to uncover turns out to be darker and more dangerous than she ever imagined. . . .
My thoughts:
I was thrilled to see a new Louise Rick book being translated into English. I’ve been a fan of this series ever since first discovering it back in 2014.
What I love most about these books, & we definitely see here, is how complex & layered these stories are. What at first appears to be a murder investigation turns into so much more & I love that just when I feel I have a pulse as to what is going on, a new twist is thrown into the mix to shake everything up. As is typical with Scandinavian Noir, this is a dark, chilling read that will have you asking if you really know the people close to you.
This is such a good police procedural with a strong mystery component. Camilla, Louise’s friend & journalist friend, also provides assistance & I love how these two continue to work together when needed.
There are already 2 more books written in this series in Danish, so hopefully they will also be translated to English at some point.
Audio thoughts:
This was narrated by Christine Lakin who did an excellent job bringing the story to life. Her pacing was spot on.
Louise Rick Series (as Sara Blaedel published it):
- The Midnight Witness
- Call Me Princess / Blue Blood / The Silent Women
- Only One Life / The Drowned Girl
- The Night Women (formerly published as Farewell to Freedom)
- The Running Girl
- The Stolen Angel
- The Forgotten Girls
- The Killing Forest
- The Lost Woman
- A Harmless Lie
- A Mother’s Love
*** You’ll notice book 2 has three titles and book 3 has two titles – I actually have all these books, all in English, all from different publishers, released at different times! This is how much I love this author and this series, that I have these different editions!!!
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