Department of Sensitive Crimes Book Review

I got this book off the new release shelf and was excited to start reading it.  The Department of Sensitive Crimes: A Detective Varg Novel (1) (Detective Varg Series) by Alexander McCall Smith was the next book in my pile but it took a long time to read it for whatever reason.  I am not sure why because it wasn't super long. 

In the Swedish criminal justice system, certain cases are considered especially strange and difficult, in Malmö, the dedicated detectives who investigate these crimes are members of an elite squad known as the Sensitive Crimes Division.  These are their stories.  The first case: the small matter of a man stabbed in the back of the knee. Who would perpetrate such a crime and why? Next: a young woman's imaginary boyfriend goes missing. But how on earth do you search for someone who doesn't exist? And in the final investigation: eerie secrets that are revealed under a full moon may not seem so supernatural in the light of day. No case is too unusual, too complicated, or too, well insignificant for this squad to solve.

The team: Ulf “the Wolf” Varg, the top dog, thoughtful and diligent; Anna Bengsdotter, who's in love with Varg's car (and possibly Varg too); Carl Holgersson, who likes nothing more than filling out paperwork; and Erik Nykvist, who is deeply committed to fly fishing.  With the help of a rather verbose local police officer, this crack team gets to the bottom of cases other detectives can't or won't bother to handle. Equal parts hilarious and heartening, The Department of Sensitive Crimes is a tour de farce from a true master.

I hope that you check out the start to this new series.  The first case was a strange one with a man stabbed in the back of the knee but the special detectives got to the bottom of the mystery.  It seemed strange that it would be the back of the knee but they figured out why it was that location and how it happened.  There was another crime where the women's boyfriend goes missing but it is really someone that she made up so that her friends wouldn't feel bad for her.  Another crime comes up because the friend who reported the crime went missing.  There was one more investigation about a haunted inn which was also solved.  It was lots of mysteries to solve and the team worked together and found all the answers quietly.  My favorite thing is that they drive a Saab which was my old car but what else would they drive in Sweden!!  It was interesting to see the "sensitive" crimes that I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.