In Northen Sweden, police dog handler and bear-hunter extraordinaire Krister Eriksson is asked to search for and put down a bear that attacked and ate a villager's dog; however upon further investigation, more than human remains are found in the bear's stomach. A woman, Sol-Britt Uusitalo, is found dead in her own bed, stabbed 100 times with a three-pronged pitchfork, while her grandson, 7 year- old Marcus, is found in a child's playhouse not too far from there; he doesn't seem to acknowledge his grandmother is dead. District Prosecutor Rebecka Martinsson is assigned to the case, and her good friend Eriksson had gone along with her. Marcus has no family willing to take care of him, and since he seemed to bond with the dog handler and one dog in particular, so Eriksson somewhat reluctantly agrees to take him home.

Many deaths seem to surround Sol-Britt Uusitalo, going as far back as a century when her grandmother was murdered. A few years ago, her father suffered a violent death and her son was the victim of a hit-and-run accident. Apart from the fact that she slept around somewhat, and that the word "WHORE" was written on the wall where she was found, there aren't many clues as to her murder. Meanwhile, little Marcus is behaving like a dog, barely talks and sleeps in a tent that Eriksson put up for him, next to the dogs' kennel. Naturally, the press gets hold of this, and Rebecka Martinsson's superior, Prosecutor von Post, removes her from the case and takes it for himself; he knows everything will work out for the better, as she's is known for her thoroughness and she has already done most of the work. His excuse is that she knows everybody in the village and it would not be for the best. And thus the investigation continues, with the help of the local police force.

From then on, slowly but surely, Ms. Larsson takes us along Northern Sweden, describing the villages and the forest in such a way, it feels like we're right alongside Rebecka, and it is for a purpose. Everything the author writes in THE SECOND DEADLY SIN serves a purpose. Some chapters revert to events around the beginning of WWI; they are extremely enjoyable, and we get a glimpse at how small-town Sweden was in those days, but even more so, they serve to explain why Sol-Britt Uusitalo was murdered almost a century after.

Wonderful characters inhabit this story, and while we get acquainted with them, we also learn how all their lives will be touched by one murder. THE SECOND DEADLY SIN starts off slowly, but as more facts become known, the story moves along faster and faster until the end, as past and present mesh and bring the story to a chilling and thrilling conclusion.

THE SECOND DEADLY SIN is simply brilliant!