The Savage Altar

'A breath of fresh cold air . . . a dangerous edge to gladden fans of Lisbeth Salander' Boyd Tonkin 
 
The first in the Rebecka Martinsson series from the million-book bestselling author, for fans of Stieg Larsson, The Bridge and The Killing TV series. 
 
A church in the glittering frozen wastes of northern Sweden. Inside, a sacrifice: the body of a man - slashed to pieces, hands severed, eyes gouged out. 
 
The victim's sister is first to discover the body and she soon finds herself the police's only suspect. Terrified and confused, she calls on an old friend: hot-shot city lawyer Rebecka Martinsson. 
 
Can Rebecka dig beneath the surface of the community that she once fled, and find the truth? 
 
'A chilling plot knee-deep in blood-spattered snow' Jim Kelly 
'A labyrinthine conspiracy, superlative storytelling' Independent 
A nail biting, suspense-filled mystery' Sunday Telegraph

Asa Larsson was born in 1966 and lives in Sweden. Her second novel, The Blood Spilt, is available in Penguin.

A church in the glittering frozen wastes of Northern Sweden. Inside, a sacrifice: the body of a man - slashed to pieces, hands severed, eyes gouged out. 
 
The victim's sister, Sanna, is first to discover the body and immediately finds herself the police's only suspect. Terrified and confused, she calls on a friend: hot-shot city lawyer Rebecka Martinsson. 
 
Rebecka hardly wants to return to Kiruna - the small town she fled in disgrace years ago. But Sanna is frightened and she needs a loyal friend to clear her name. Someone not scared to dig deep and find the true killer. 
 
Yet Rebecka is not especially welcomed into the closed-lipped community of Kiruna. She might know the town, the people and how suspicious they can be of strangers. But she has still to find out how dark the town's secrets have become in her absence.

Asa Larsson

It is midsummer in Sweden - when the light lingers through dawn and the long winter comes to an end.  Now, in this magical time, a brutal killer has chosen to strike, and the murder of a female priest sends shockwaves through the community. It has been almost two years since attorney Rebecka Martinsson returned to her birthplace, Kiruna, in order to stop an eerily similar murder spree.  Now she is back in Kiruna, where a determined policewoman works on the case and the people who loved or loathed the victim mourn or revel in her demise.  As Rebecka is drawn into a mystery that soon will claim another victim, the dead woman's world consumes her: a world of hurt and healing, sin and sexuality, and above all, of lethal sacrifice.

Asa Larsson

Books by Asa Larsson

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