The king rules by divine right and makes cheerful use of the vice-like grip of the church in order to impose his will and his taxes. As the story opens, Sweden is about to lose its great northern empire there are wars on its borders and talk of conscription.

There’s a great deal of historical research gone into Wolf Winter, not all of which is lightly worn. Who-and-whydunnits require tremendous discipline: at times, the pacing is uneven, while there’s a little too much repetition and a few too many scenes that do not advance the story. The tale is told from a number of points of view and sometimes feels a little unfocused.

However, we’re never quite sure of Maija’s motivation for putting herself in the way of opprobrium and even danger in order to solve the mystery. Everyone in the settlement has his or her own reason for wanting the murdered man dead and it’s up to the doughty Maija to work out who wielded the knife. For all its seeming harmony, the tiny settlement around Blackäsen is riven with rivalries, long-held grudges and dark secrets. In a less talented writer’s hand, the comingling of real and spirit worlds might feel a little magic realist-lite, but it works a treat here.Īt its heart, Wolf Winter is a locked-room mystery with the door left slightly ajar.

Such a setting, where the contrast between the ethereal otherworldliness of the place and the unrelenting grind required to survive there, lends itself to fabular storytelling. In Wolf Winter, the demons are human, natural and supernatural spirits are conjured, first by a group of Lapps living just north of the settlement, then by Frederika as her search for the truth sends her deeper into their realm. Ekbäck is wonderful at evoking place, and when the place you write about is as brooding and menacing as Blackåsen, you hardly need a human villain – though there are those aplenty, too.

Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekbäck