The Pyramid: And Four Other Kurt Wallander Mysteries by Henning Mankell

In The Pyramid, police detective Kurt Wallander is featured in five stories tracing his beginnings as a cop in Malmo, Sweden in 1969 up until the last story, which takes place in 1989--right before the events of Faceless Killers (the first Wallander mystery). The stories provide a bit more background for Wallander's character. In "Wallander's First Case," he is dating Mona (who will become his wife) and is immersed in investigating the murder of his neighbor, Artur Halen. In the other stories, the reader sees the disintegration of his relationship with Mona, his movement up the police ranks and move to Ystad, where he currently lives. Regular readers of the mysteries will be glad to have something new to read about Wallander, since Mankell has stopped writing the series. For other readers, starting with Faceless Killers is the best option. As I've mentioned before on my blog, this is one of my favorite series. The characterization of Wallander, along with an always-fascinating puzzle make these books police procedural standouts. The Pyramid will be published next month.