Guilt/The Purity Of Vengence by Jussi Adler-Olsen

 

In this fourth retelling of Department Q, DI Carl Morck of the Copenhagen Police and his two assistants are facing another cold case that has slid beneath the notice of the force.  They start looking into a missing person case and soon realize that not only had that person gone missing but six people had gone missing the same day.  Not totally out of character, except that none of them were ever found and all of them have a connection to a right wing group that is rising in political power.

This group is determined to, as groups have over the years, purify civilization by forcibly sterilizing young women who are determined either to be less than normal intelligence or just too sexually active. They are sent or go for an abortion and while under anesthesia they are given hysterectomies.  Now that the organization is getting political power, they want to hide all evidence of this practice several decades ago.  Can Department Q shine light on them instead?

This is the fourth book in the series and has been released under two titles.  My copy was titled Guilt but it is also released under The Purity Of Vengence.   Morck is just starting an affair with a co-worker and his horrid wife has finally agreed to a divorce.  He has a former policeman who was injured along with Morck in a former case living with him as he is a quadriplegic and needs constant care.  Morck's two assistants, Assad and Rose, still have their quirks but are true helpers.  Assad in particular takes this case very personally and this is the case that makes Morck acknowledge to himself how much these two individuals have come to mean to him.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.