The Dogs of Riga

A Kurt Wallander Mystery

By: Henning Mankell, Laurie Thompson - translator

Narrated by: Dick Hill

Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

On the Swedish coastline, the bodies of two victims of grisly torture and cold execution are discovered in a life raft. With no witnesses, no motives, and no crime scene, Detective Kurt Wallander is frustrated and uncertain that he has the ability to solve a case as mysterious as it is heinous. After the victims are traced to the Baltic state of Latvia, a country gripped by the upheaval of Soviet disintegration, Major Liepa of the Riga police takes over the investigation.

Thinking his work is done, Wallander slips back into his routine, until he is suddenly called to Riga and plunged into an alien world - in which shadows are everywhere, everything is watched, and old regimes will do anything to stay alive.

More mayhem? Download Faceless Killers: A Kurt Wallander Mystery (Unabridged).

©1992 Henning Mankell; 2001 Laurie Thompson (P)2006 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"The writing is spare, the characterization deft, the atmosphere strong, and the suspense overwhelming." (Times Literary Supplement)
"Apart from his uncommon skill at devising dense, multilayered plots, Mankell's forte is matching mood to setting and subject." (New York Times Book Review)
"Wallander's introspection and self-doubt make him compellingly real, and his efforts to find out what happened to those men on the life raft makes for riveting reading." (Publishers Weekly)

more of a thriller than a detective novel

If you're expecting a detective novel, it's not much of one. It's a thriller with a detective protagonist. Not much mystery. It is a good book though, with characters generally well written.

Great Book, WRONG READER

Mankell is one of my favorite detective writers and audiobooks are my favorite medium for novels. I may be driven to paper or eBooks by the awful decision to have Dick Hill read them. Hill's voice is perfect for the brutal, raw emotion if Lee Childs, but totally wrong for the ironic European Mankell. Mankell neeeds a European-sounding voice.

For American noir, Hill is the greatest. For other genres, he is totally wrong. Don't the tim eared decision to have him read this put you off this superb writer.

Even better than when I read it before!

This is my second “reading” of this fabulous Manuel creation, this first being an actual printed book.
Even better than I remembered!!

Wallander is the Nordic Sam Spade

Imperfect, self deprecating, yet true to his principles and on an investigation on foreign soil. A wonderful who-done-it.

Held my attention like a grip of a Pitbulll...

I just finished another audio book reading titled "The Dogs of Rica" one from the Kurt Wallander Series.
I purchased it from Audible and I have found it is one of my favorite downtime things to do.
The narrator's expert reading skills along with the writer's story line that had a grip like a Pitbulll held my attention throughout the whole book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it has replaced a lot of the TV time I that I use to do while I was not feeling well along with plugging in the earbuds, listening while mowing the lawn or working in the shop. It wof.also explained at the end that the author had done an extensive amount of research with people and professionals from the time and place of the story.
A job well done by all. Finally, as a reader it is nice to know that I now know I have a bit more knowledge about the History of the Countries and peoples of the Baltic Region in the late 80's and early 90's. A BIG THANKS from Me - Daniel ska Poppies Dawg

Couldn’t finish it

I like the tv show. This is just too slow. Too slow. Too slow. Zzzz.

Soul food for intellectuals

When you stumble upon or make an effort after watching something that touches your soul with both wisdom and simplicity one often sets out to find its original source. This is what I’ve done. Now, on to the next installment to fill in the blanks shows find impossible to share, but do so as best as they can, and capture much that couldn’t be placed into the varied versions, of which I’ve watched all, of the detective series.

Another book ruined by the reader!

I can't wait to read Mankell's books. I would have liked to listen to them but Dick Hill's reading is awful. I'm sure the books are infinitely richer that what they seem.

I learned a lot about Latvia and Sweden

Any additional comments?

I greatly enjoyed The Dogs of Riga. Having given Dick Hill a negative review for his reading of the first book in the Wallander series, I was pleased that he had settled into a more appropriate style than in Faceless Killers. The story is intriguing with a fast pace and an unusually well handled sense of place. Highly recommended for fans of top-quality mysteries.

Atmospheric novel. Recreates tension in Soviet satellite states in 1990's

Gripping novel featuring Swedish detective Wallender. Shame the narrator made the male voices so creepy.