In the Shadow of Power

Sandhamn Murders, Book 7

By: Viveca Sten, Marlaine Delargy - translator

Narrated by: Angela Dawe

Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

What do the new arrivals on Sandhamn Island have to fear? Their own secrets - in this gripping novel of suspense by the best-selling author of In the Heat of the Moment.

The new summer house on Sandhamn Island is an architectural dream for its owner, Carsten Jonsson. It’s a nightmare for the locals. The venture capitalist has flouted local traditions, property lines, and the natural beauty of the coastline. He’s also too wealthy and arrogant to heed the anonymous warnings to leave. The threats escalate when his guest lodge is burned to the ground and an unidentifiable corpse is found in the charred ruins.

Detective Inspector Thomas Andreasson isn’t sure if it’s murder or a tragic accident. Until his friend attorney Nora Linde is drawn into the investigation. Nora’s emotional investment in Carsten’s fragile and fearful wife, Celia, is yielding a new level of suspicion: that the Jonssons are hiding more than anyone can imagine. Now Thomas and Nora must sift through the ashes of a puzzling crime and step into the shadows of a powerful family, whose deadly secrets are coming to light on Sandhamn.

©2014 Viveca Sten (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Translation © 2019 by Marlaine Delargy.

An Architectural Dream

Venture capitalist Carsten Jansson has built his dream home on Sandhamn Island. Managing to alienate his immediate neighbors and the entire community by ignoring local traditions, property rights and the beauty of the coast, he starts getting warnings and threats.

When his guest cottage is burned to the ground and a dead man is found inside Detective Thomas Andreasson gets involved with the assistance of his friend Nora Linde.

Great series with this episode being especially chilling with an evil protagonist who rapidly slides into madness.

Love this series

I am binge listening to this series. Love the characters, the plot and the performance.

Strong sense of place

I’m binging the series and by this sixth book, I feel like I have been visiting Sweden for the entire time. The narrator is one of the best I’ve listened to.

I love this series!

Thoroughly enjoyable addition to the Sandholm mystery series. The story line is good and moves along at a good pace . Highly recommend.

Great Book

I've loved all of the Sandham series, but this is definitely one of my favorites!

Fantastic Series!

This is the first book in a wonderful character-driven series. The characters are smart and thoughtful. The plots are uniformly interesting and well-executed. And I felt like I was in a beautiful place in Sweden! My sister recommended this series to me, and I ended up listening to the entire series (so far) one after the other. I highly recommend!

Best In series

I have listened to every book in Sandhamn Murder series. This is one of the best. Nora’s family life is important, but it was great to have her be an asset to the police using her job and intelligence, not just her nosiness. Nora worries too much about what people (especially men) think about her but she also worries about others which in this book - saves the day.

Revenge is a powerful motivator…

A wealthy businessman builds a mansion on Sandhamm, which enrages the locals. Turns out that he is motivated by revenge…against naysayers from his childhood. Then death threats begin and his family is no longer safe. Interspersed in the story are updates in the personal lives of Thomas and Nora. Now on to the next book.

Predictable but Charming

I've enjoyed the development of the main characters and found the plots of each earlier book enjoyable. But this time, I found the dialogue to be tiresome. the plot dragged out at a slow pace until the last quarter when it was relatively more interesting. I almost didn't finish but the book opened automatically when I was driving so I stayed with it. I'll probably try the next book mainly because I. interested in what decision one of the lead characters makes.

Loved books 1 - 6

This book felt contrived, almost as if Nora and Tomas were in a forced evolution out of boredom not necessity. Much more sterm-ing und drung-ing than tolerable. I found it so annoying I almost quit the book.