Blaze Me a Sun

1

It was the summer Evy Carlén got very sick, realized she didn t have long to live, and confided in me that she knew what had happened to Sven Jörgensson and his son, Vidar, up in Tiarp.

We hadn t known each other very long. I knew Evy had been a police officer and had moved to the house near Tofta a few years after retiring. Her husband, Ronnie, had died, and in her widowhood she devoted her days to the beautiful garden surrounding their house. It was situated a few kilometers up in the woods. That was how we met.

Ever since my return, I ve lived a relatively quiet life. That s how I like it. I m over forty now, and my days don t include any children, women, or other distractions. I spend my time writing or reading. Once or twice a week I take the car and go grocery shopping, drop by the bookstore, or visit my parents. They re in their seventies now. On occasion I drive down to Lund, where my brother works and where my editor spends half his time. I don t do much else. If I like I can walk down to the bus stop on Växjövägen and ride into town to see an old friend over a cup of coffee or a beer. Those trips are increasingly scarce now.

The only truly regular facet of my existence, beyond writing and reading, is taking walks. I hardly ever took walks during my years in Stockholm, unless I had some destination in mind, but down here I walk a few kilometers almost every day. I don t know quite why I need it, but I do. Alongside the treat of a glass of whiskey a few times a week, after an especially productive workday, my walks are one of the few rewards I allow myself.

The first time I met her was in late June. The old woman was in her garden next to an open bag of potting soil. The quiet nature of her surroundings meant that she noticed me right away as I came walking by. She looked up, spotted me, nodded, and smiled.

Aren t you the one who moved in down by the road? Into the yellow house?

Yes, that s me, I moved here recently, I

Christoffer Carlsson

The first great crime novel of 2023 is Blaze Me a Sun by the decorated Swedish crime writer Chrisoffer Carlsson, who twines together national and personal trauma to devastating effect... What I most loved is how Carlsson plumbs what can and cannot be known about human lives and criminal investigations . . . how familial love can blind people to difficult truths, and how 'closure' often never happens. New York Times Book Review (Editors Choice)

While this riveting work shares many aspects of the traditional police procedural, it also overflows genre boundaries to present the effects of fatal violence on the minds and lives of various characters across several generations...a gripping psychological study of the perils of forcing facts into preconceived patterns, and a reminder of how devastating learning the truth can be. Wall Street Journal

Blaze Me a Sun cements Christoffer Carlsson as one of Sweden s new crime fiction stars [and] is further proof that he is a worthy heir to titans such as Henning Mankell, Stieg Larsson and Håkan Nesser. Bookpage

A brainy page-turner from a rising star in Scandinavian crime fiction. Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

[An] audacious mix of procedural and psychological thriller. Booklist

Carlsson is to the police procedural what Cormac McCarthy is to the Western If you read crime fiction, you ll find yourself gripped by the ingenious plotting If you read literary fiction, you ll find yourself moved by the gorgeous writing Blaze Me a Sun is the perfect novel. Anthony Marra

Blaze Me a Sun thrums with a relentless tension that culminates in one of the most satisfying and devastating endings I ve read in a long time. Angie Kim

A Russian doll of a mystery you think you know where this book is going. You don t. Carlsson s American debut is a wonder. Joseph Finder

Blaze Me a Sun is at once a crime novel and a gripping study in how