A serial killer stalks a snowbound Swedish town ... with marriage in mind
The priest in a snow-blanketed Swedish town opens her church and discovers a dead woman on the altar. The corpse is dressed in a wedding gown and clutches a fresh bunch of cornflowers. Fatima Engquist has no signs of violence on her body and the local cops soon call the Stockholm murder squad. KriminalinspektΓΆr Stella Cole lands the case.
Once a rising star at Scotland Yard, Stella calls Sweden home now. She was blackmailed into leaving Britain by an ambitious Home Secretary who knows all about her dark past and is exploiting Stellaβs guilty secrets for her own ends.
More dead brides
On the case with Stella are detectives Johanna Carlsson and Oskar Norgrim. As they investigate Fatima Engquistβs murder, another dead woman is found on the same church altar. Also wearing her wedding dress. Also holding a posy of out-of-season cornflowers.
Fatima's brothers appear to be prime suspects, but then an unexpected turn of events changes the case entirely. Meanwhile, the town priest is doing some sleuthing of her own. But is her interest as innocent as it seems?
"I'm not the evil one, Stella!"
With pressure from her boss and the Swedish media to produce an early result before any more dead brides turn up, Stella Cole needs to be at her sharpest to catch a serial killer who doesnβt even believe heβs evil.
He's following the case intently, and starts targeting people who are obscuring his "message" - and that includes Stella herself.M.F