REVIEW: Death on the Beach by Anna Johannsen

 

Death on the Beach (An Island Mystery #2) by Anna Johannsen

Genre: Crime fiction, Police procedural, Noir

Read: 5th November 2020

Goodreads

Amazon

Published: 15th May 2020

★★★ 3.5 stars

DESCRIPTION:

A teenage girl is missing. Why don’t her parents care?

A fourteen-year-old girl disappears on the small island of Föhr, and Detective Lena Lorenzen is called in to investigate. When the girl’s bloodied body is found on the beach with vicious wounds to the wrist, Lena immediately suspects that what’s been made to look like suicide was in fact a brutal and calculated murder.

But the local residents—even the girl’s own parents—won’t cooperate with her investigation. The devoutly religious islanders are clearly hiding something. But what ungodly secret could possibly lead to the murder of an innocent teenage girl?

Soon Lena realises that the isolated island holds darker secrets than she ever could have feared. In her toughest investigation yet, she must confront her own past if she is to catch the killer—before they strike again.

MY REVIEW:

The second book in the Island Mystery series by German author Anna Johannsen, DEATH ON THE BEACH has been masterfully translated Jozef Van Der Voort so that the story and its prose flow seamlessly. You lose nothing in translation and it feels as if it has been written in the Queen's English. The prose is so atmospheric I felt as if I was on the North Freisland island myself.

DI Lena Lorenzen has returned to her home island of Amrum for a much needed break to relax and enjoy some downtime with boyfriend Erck, with whom she had rekindled her relationship. Five whole days of rest and relaxation. But no sooner has she arrived and before she can put her feet up, she receives a call from her superior Detective Superintendent Warnke asking for a favour. 

A 14 year old girl, Maria Logener, has gone missing on the island of Fohr. Her parents belong to an extreme conservative free church known as the Bretheren which is locally considered a cult by most of the islanders. Due to her local knowledge of the islands, DSU Warnke entrusts Lena with the investigation knowing that she will deal with it sensitively and avoiding any negative publicity. As it is, their working relationship has improved since the previous case and Warnke allows Lena a wide scope of resources to be hers for the asking as and when she needs them.

From the outset, Lena and her partner DS Johann Grasmann come up against unco-opertive parents who refuse to allow access to Maria's bedroom and deny any rebellion on their daughter's part. "Maria is a good girl" they claim. However Lena is no stranger to a parent's denial but the Logeners are different. As is their faith, the man is the head of the house with their wives and children deferring to their husband and/or father in every situation. And in accordance to their faith, Maria did not disobey her father and showed respect at all time. Unlike her older sister Johanna who turned her back on the Bretheren and her family to study pharmacology on the mainland. But what Lena finds interesting to note is that it was Johanna who raised the alarm and reported Maria missing...not her parents. And Lena wanted to know why. The first 48 hours are crucial and yet the Logeners have wasted precious time by not reporting her missing, refusing to believe Maria would leave the fold.

But then Lena receives the call she had been dreading. Maria's body has been found on the beach. Her death an apparent suicide. But something is bothering Lena and she suspects foul play. When Lena breaks the news to her parents, it seems the island's grapevine is quicker than she had anticipated and Maria's father denies that his daughter would take her own life. Lena believes Frau Logener knows more than she's saying due to the Bretheren's conservative views on wives deferring to their husbands at all times. So she devises a ruse to speak to her in private. No mother would want to sit back in an investigation into her daughter's death.

The case turns out to be a complex one with enquiries leading them in new directions and further questioning ensues. It appears that Maria Logener was not who everyone thought she was...but of course the investigation can't move forward without the victimology. Soon witnesses become persons of interest - teachers, friends, students - as the last days of Maria's life is slowly revealed.

On a personal level, Lena battles with her committment to Erck whilst having to deal with a former one night stand joining the team from the mainland. Then there is her estranged father who desires to reconnect with his daughter though Lena refuses to have anything to do with him. Meanwhile, I sympathise with poor Erck who is loving and patient with Lena despite her sometimes casual treatment of him. He wants to commit to her but he won't push her and yet she seems to want to enjoy the benefits without the committment. Isn't that a guy's line? I didn't find Lena particularly likeable in this regard.

Whilst it is a police procedural, I found the procedural story a little slow-moving. I couldn't care less about Ben's wanting to pick up with Lena where they left off after that one night. He doesn't seem to want to take no for an answer and yet at the same time, Lena is sending out mixed signals.

The setting is atmospheric that I found myself googling these little known islands off the coast of Germany so I could see their beauty for myself. The locations are stunning and I felt as if I was truly there...on the beach beside Lena, puzzling out the mystery alongside her.

However, I found the ending to be somewhat anti-climatic and wondering where the result came from. All that time spent on puzzling it out for something and nothing? It felt a little out of left field and disappointing.

Despite this, DEATH ON THE BEACH is a nice quick read. I read it in an afternoon/evening. I'll be back for the third installment, hoping for something more decisive in the way of Lena's relationship...because I like Erck.

A good quick read with a seamless translation from German. Perfect for those who enjoy Scandi-noir crime fiction.

I would like to thank #AnnaJohannsen, #NetGalley and #AmazonUK for an ARC of #DeathOnTheBeach in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Anna Johannsen has lived in Northern Friesland since her childhood. She loves the landscape and the people of the region and is especially fond of the North Frisian islands that provide the setting for her Island Mystery novels starring DI Lena Lorenzen. 

Her debut 'The Body on the Beach' is a #1 Kindle bestseller.

Social Media links:

Facebook | Goodreads

REVIEW: The Body on the Beach by Anna Johannsen (ARC)

The Body on the Beach (An Island Mystery #1) by Anna Johannsen

(translated by Lisa Reinhardt)

Genre: Crime fiction, police procedural

Read: 29th September 2019

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(release date: 24th September 2019)

★★★★ 3.5 to 4 stars

Set on a small island off the north coast of Germany, THE BODY ON THE BEACH is the first in a new series by Anna Johannsen. The island of Amrum is one of the North Frisian Islands in the North Sea on the German coast and right away, there is a feeling of separation and isolation of a close knit community where everyone knows everyone but also where dark secrets can hide.

Hein Bohlen and his wife Sabine run a children's home on the island of Aumrum where both are social educators and Hein is a director. Then when Hein's body is found on a beach, local authorities write his death off as a heart attack. But his wife demands a post mortem and it isn't long before poison is suspected but not confirmed throwing a different light on the case.

DI Lena Lorenzen knows the island of Amrum intimately as it's where she grew up but has not returned back to for 14 years. So when her superiors send her off to the island from which she'd come to investigate a possible murder, she does so with mixed feelings. Lena left a lot of unfinished things behind on Amrum - things she would rather not have to face upon her return. Luckily, she has DS Johann Grasmann seconded to assist from Flensburg Police and it isn't long before he proves himself an invaluable investigator and asset.

It isn't long before Lena and Johann uncover several irregularities surrounding the case. Starting with the local police's arrival at the scene and the notification to the doctor who issued the death certificate. What happened in that missing twenty minutes? What was Sergeant Reimers hiding? And then there is the mystery of former teacher Anna Bauer's sudden resignation from the children's home. Why did she suddenly quit without notice? Were the rumours true about her affair with Hein Bohlen? And that she was pressing him to leave his wife? Or was she a victim of sexual harrassment by her employer, as another employee recently claimed a similar incident? Where did Isabel Muller come from prior to applying for Anna's job before the position was even advertised? And where did Hein Bohler really get the €800,000 he put towards the purchase of the home? He claimed he won the lottery, but after a quick and detailed look into the source revealed the letter he put forward stating the fact was indeed a forgery...and he he hadn't won the lottery at all. So where did that money really come from? And why had he taken large amounts of cash from his account over the last weeks before his death? And what of his wife Sabine? Is she as cold and heartless as she appears? But the questioned remained - who would want to kill Hein Bohlen?

With several rumours surrounding the deceased, the questions and irregularities facing Lena and Johann have them digging deep to discover the truth. But what they end up uncovering is something far more sinister, disturbing and shocking.

Well-paced, THE BODY ON THE BEACH is an excellent start to a promising new series. With the inclusion of Lena's childhood love, Erck, leaves the way open to explore more of her backstory hopefully in future books, as well as that of her Aunt Beke who was both a delightful and engaging touch to the story.

I hope we see more of Johann in future stories as I found he and Lena worked incredibly well together and I would love to see him permanently attached as her DS.

Apart from the addition of the odd chapter from an unnamed and rather troubled narrative, THE BODY ON THE BEACH is primarily told from Lena's perspective in the third person. I thought the identity of the unnamed narrative was somewhat obvious but then that could also have been a "red herring". While the reader may think they know where the story is headed, Lena's narrative does provide solid information that will leave readers questioning the truth. Nevertheless, this is still an undemanding and intriguing read.

I would also like to thank Lisa Reinhardt for her smooth translation from German to English. Many books that have been translated from their native tongue usually lose something in the translation making the story a little convoluted in parts but that was not the case here. It's as if the book had always been in English so fluid was her translation. I am grateful to have the opportunity to read this excellent procedural thanks to her effortless translation.

I would like to thank #AnnaJohannsen, #NetGalley and #AmazonPublishingUK for an ARC of #TheBodyOnTheBeach in exchange for an honest review.