The Fifth Woman

A Kurt Wallander Mystery

A chilling Kurt Wallander mystery from a “major voice in international crime fiction” (Booklist)

“For me, Henning Mankell is by far the best writer of police mysteries today. He is in the great tradition of those whose works transcend their chosen genre to become thrilling and moral literature.” —Michael Ondaatje

Four nuns and an unidentified fifth woman are found with their throats slit in a convent in Africa. In Sweden, a birdwatcher is skewered to death after falling into a pit of carefully sharpened bamboo poles. How are these deaths connected? Detective Kurt Wallander, “the charmingly melancholy Scandinavian of lore and tradition” (Kirkus Reviews), is hot on the trail.

The sixth book in a series that has taken Europe by storm, The Fifth Woman has sold half a million copies in Sweden alone and has been translated into ten languages. According to the Wall Street Journal “Mankell joins the worthy ranks of such past masters as Georges Simenon, Nicholas Freeling, and Sweden’s own Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö.”

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Praise

“A scary and cunning tale. . . . Here is a police procedural in which the main procedure is thought.”
Rocky Mountain News
“Achieves a deeply satisfying density of plot and characterization.”
The Baltimore Sun
“Exquisite . . . something to look forward to.”
Los Angeles Times Book Review
“A marvelously told mystery. . . . You can’t put it down, but you won’t want to finish it either.”
Austin American-Statesman

Books by Henning Mankell

The Man Who Smiled
A Kurt Wallander Mystery

Henning Mankell

Depths
A Novel

Henning Mankell

Chronicler of the Winds
A Novel

Henning Mankell

Kennedy’s Brain
A Novel

Henning Mankell

Goodreads Reviews