Pathetic book – don’t bother.  I’m not sure what kept me going.  There are more than a few very gritty and graphic scenes of sex and violence.  One of that cast of narrators is NOT at his best. I think I bought it confusing Camilla. Grebe with Camilla Lackberg because of the name and that they both write noir Swedish crime novels.  I’ve read maybe 4 (?) of Lackberg’s.  

The Ice Beneath Her
By Camilla Grebe, 
Elizabeth Clark Wessel – translator
2015 in US 
Read by a cast: 12h 29m
|Rating C- noir crime 
Hanne Lagerlind-Schon, Book 1

A woman’s body is found with several knife wounds and her head chopped off. The police have one of the two plot threads here and they figure out who’s dead. So the question is who could have done it?

The detectives, Helen, Manfred, Peter, and Sanchez discuss the case and each other. They interview people and visit locations. These chapters are interspersed with a backstory as well as continuing story of the life of the victim and her relationship to a man who might turn out to be her killer.  He borrows money and steals things from her. The book opens several months before the body is found and follows her as their relationship unfolds with each little section moving closer to the police involvement time frame. 

Here is where I thought it got dicey. Was I interested in knowing about Esme’s sad childhood and her teen years? It’s all rather boring and the characters are not even likable. The only plot thread which might be interesting to follow in subsequent novels would be what’s happening to Helen, the police officer.