The Keeper Of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen

Detective Carl Morck is back at work in Denmark after the crime that took one partner's life, left another paralyzed and Carl in the hospital for an extended time.  Instead of being welcomed back with open arms, the police department is unsure what to do with him.  Yes, he was one of the best detectives, but the crime has left him even more surly and uncooperative than before.

Then a brilliant plan is hatched.  The Danish legislature has just appropriated money to solve old crimes.  Morck is given a promotion and put in charge of the Q Unit; set up to investigate cold cases.  It sounds more important than it is; Carl is sent to a dingy basement office and given one staff member, an immigrant who is hired as a cleaner and administrative assistant rather than an investigator.  No one expects much of Carl including himself.

But the traits that made him a great detective could not be quenched.  The cases piled up on his desk start to make him curious and finally he picks one up to start on. Five years before, a female legislator, Merete Lynggaard, disappeared from a ferry.  It was assumed she fell overboard and drowned, but the more Carl looks into the case, the more it starts to look like something else happened.  Can Carl find out the secrets surrounding the Lynggaard case?

Jussi Adler-Olsen is one of the preeminent Danish crime writers.  The Keeper Of Lost Causes is the first in his Q series, and readers will fall in love with his writing and with Carl and his assistant.  The book won the Glass key Award issued by the Crime Writers of Scandinavia and well as the Golden Laurels award, the most prestigious Danish literary award.  Fans of Henning Mankell, Stieg Larsson and Peter Hoeg will be excited to add Jussi Adler-Olsen to their reading lists.  This book is recommended for mystery fans.