Ilka Jensen, a school portrait photographer in Copenhagen, is shocked when her estranged father dies and leaves her his funeral home in Racine, WI. Hoping to understand the parent who abandoned his family 30 years before, she heads to Wisconsin. She soon learns that the business is days away from bankruptcy, suppliers have stopped delivering, a national chain is threatening a hostile takeover, and as heir, she is solely responsible. Ilka and her staff are thrown into the middle of an unsolved murder case when the body of an unknown man is brought to her. It turns out to be the man who left town after being accused of killing his girlfriend 12 years earlier. As strange events begin to occur at the funeral parlor, it's clear there is more to the cold case than the police initially thought. VERDICT The first volume in Blaedel's (The Forgotten Girls; The Killing Forest) new series seems at times more setup than stand-alone story. While Nordic noir is often dark and dreary, this is a lighter entry that doesn't lose any of the suspense that marks the genre. A great start for mystery lovers looking to dip a toe into international intrigue. [See Prepub Alert, 8/13/17.]—Portia Kapraun, Delphi P.L., IN

Blaedel launches a new series featuring 40-year-old widow Ilka Nichols Jensen, who leaves Copenhagen for Racine, WI, where her long-gone father has left her his funeral home. There, she finds evidence of an unsolved murder and a killer still at large. Meanwhile, in January the publisher is issuing Blaedel's second Louise Ricks trilogy in simultaneous trade paperback editions.