One Step Behind is based on the seventh book in the bestselling detective series by Henning Makell. Our familiar hero, Ystad police detective Kurt Wallander, is confronted not only with a multiple fatal shooting but also the apparent suicide of his friend and colleague, Svedberg, at the same time as he is trying to deal with the symptoms of early stage diabetes.
Wallander's central concern, initially at least, is the apparently senseless murders of three young people having a picnic to celebrate the Midsummer holiday, each shot through the head with a silenced pistol and their bodies subsequently buried to conceal the crime. Suspicions are aroused when a postcard from one of the victims strikes the mother who receives it as a possible forgery. Meanwhile, Wallander becomes more and more anxious about the absence of his usually reliable colleague and decides to investigate further, only to discover Svedberg’s body. As he digs deeper, it becomes clear that not only are the deaths of the picnickers connected to that of his colleague, but also that more murders look to be on the cards. With few clues to go on, Wallander has to outsmart the killer and tighten the net before he becomes enmeshed in it himself. KM
