Times are tough and while some people's wallets are getting smaller and smaller, there are still some people who are making big profits. Torbjörn Frisk is one of them and his grocery stores around Linköping are booming.

It is pitch black outside and the snow is falling down when Torbjörn Frisk arrives at his house in Brestorp. At the far end of a headland lies his lakefront property with a pool deck and an underground garage where luxury cars are parked in a row. If you measure success by the number of luxury cars you own then Torbjörn has certainly come a long way. His father, grandfather and even great-grandfather were also traders, and together they have built an empire. Many people complain about the high price of food – but what can he do about it?

Torbjörn closes the garage door behind him and then takes the lift upstairs. This week he's home alone, his wife and daughter are in sunbathing and shopping in Dubai while he's relaxing on the sofa with a cold beer. Then he sees a figure on the pool deck, someone dressed in black and standing eerily still. Torbjörn is angry at first, who has the nerve to enter his property? He pulls the doors open and fear slowly starts to creep in, but he can't back down now. Then something whistles through the air, fast and heavy. He feels no pain as the axe hits him. He falls down and the snow around him turns red.

Malin Fors and her colleagues at the Violence Squad take on the murder that stirs up many emotions in the neighbourhood. Is the Torbjörn been the victim of a family feud or did someone think his pride had gone too far? The killer has written in blood on his back: GREED, in capital letters. Or does the answer to this murder mystery lie somewhere else?

Malin is thrown deep into a world where money and desire know no bounds, while major changes are taking place in her personal life. Her daughter Tove has moved back and has met Torbjörn, about whom she has a lot to say. At the same time, Malin's love affair with Ulf is crumbling. As the investigation progresses, the noose is tightened on the city, its inhabitants and on Malin herself.

Published 2021
Genre crime
Pages 350

It's spring in Linköping. An old man is found murdered on an old battlefield, and someone seems to have eaten parts of his body. The tracks lead Malin Fors and her colleagues in several different directions. The man was gay, and at a time when hate crimes are on the rise, this may have been a motive. Or does the murder have to do with his successful work as a chemist?

When another gay man is found dead, Malin begins to fear that a sadistic serial killer is on the loose. As the unrest spreads in the city, the investigation leads her further and further into a world of ruthless greed. And in the hunt for the killer, she is forced to face her own desires and weaknesses, which she tries in vain to escape from.

JAWS OF SATAN is the thirteenth part in the hugely successful Malin Fors series by Mons Kallentoft.

published 2018
Genre crime
Pages 318

On a hot day in August, a little boy is found dead in a car. When Malin Fors arrives at the scene, his mother is sitting in the shade under a tree with her son in her arms. Her desperate screams have turned into a constant heartbroken sound.

The police investigation is closed quickly. By all accounts, the mother has forgotten and left the sleeping boy in the car. She was recently burnt out and can trust neither her senses nor memories.

In the weeks that follow, she is exposed to hatred and threats online by Linköping's residents. Should one be able to cause a child's death without being punished for it? Malin knows that there are no simple answers, that the line between right and wrong can be subtle. And how should one judge the one person who has already received the worst possible punishment? Then a murder takes place that forces her and her colleagues to return to the case.

published 2017
Genre crime
Pages 341

In EXECUTIONER’S KISS, Malin Fors is back in Linköping after a grueling time as liaison officer in the metropolis Bangkok. She has managed to stay sober but is restless and needs a complicated case to keep the craving for alcohol at bay.

Then a plane is hijacked at Linköping Airport and Malin and her colleagues are thrown into the biggest hostage drama in Sweden's history. Over forty men, women and children are threatened with death by the hijacker who has decided he has the right to decide over the lives and deaths of others. But can a few lives be sacrificed to save many?

The hijacking will be a tragic event that will have repercussions for a long time to come. When the summer reaches its peak, Linköping explodes in crueler violence than the city has ever seen. Malin must try to stop a killer who is constantly threatening to strike again, and who is constantly one step ahead.

published 2016
Genre crime
Pages 348

Malin Fors is on the run. An unsolved case and a personal crisis have caused her to relapse. She has been drinking through the evenings and nights and is approaching the bottom fast. As a last chance, she has been given a leave of absence and offered a temporary position as liaison officer in Bangkok.

Breaking with everything seems to be the only sensible option. But the loneliness in the new city is difficult to deal with and the temptations are everywhere. As usual, work saves Malin, and her hunting instincts are awoken when a Swedish woman is found murdered. Who was the woman? Why was she killed in such a brutal way? And how did she feel about the Thai man who becomes the next victim?

While Malin is fighting against her demons, she is involved in a case that baffles both the Thai and Swedish police. And she has to dig deep into the past to find answers – and the ruthless killer who is looking for retribution and revenge. 

After the success of the season and element series, Mons Kallentoft begins a new suite inspired by the five senses. In the first part, THE SCENT OF THE DEVIL, Detective Malin Fors has left Linköping for the bustling city of millions in Bangkok. A city full of scents, colors, sounds and tastes. But also of corruption, violence and death.

published 2015
Genre crime
Pages 311

FIRE HUNTERS is Mons Kallentoft's ninth novel about the nervously intuitive and skilled detective Malin Fors. A story about how the effects of violence can travel the earth and make people commit acts they never thought they were capable of. 

How did I end up here? Malin Fors is petrified. The forest is still dark in the early September morning. The smell of fire and smoke spreads from an industrial area outside Linköping and on the ground in front of her she sees the burnt body of a woman.

The day before, a nine-year-old boy was found dead in a container. Murdered. He came from a broken home, and it turns out that he often ran away in the evenings. But who could have wanted to hurt him so badly? Even though it seems far-fetched, Malin suspects that there is a connection – that somehow, the boy and the woman belong together. For who knows how roads cross, and how people meet?

published 2014
Genre crime
Pages 296

One early morning in May, a young man is found dead in a ditch next to the Göta Canal. He is naked, but his body shows no visible traces of violence and when Malin Fors and her colleagues arrive at the scene, there is a strange silence. It is as if all voices have been muted.

The man is soon identified as Peder Åkerlund, former party-member of the Sweden Democrats – he was expelled from the party due to his racist statements, but he later changed his views. It turns out that he has been murdered. And when 16-year-old Nadja Lundin is reported missing that same evening, probably abducted, there are signs that the two cases are connected.

But do the victims have anything in common? Why have they been selected? Gradually, Malin Fors begins to realize that they are dealing with a person who plays with the police, who speaks through murder and does not intend to be silenced. What does he or she want to say? They need to find the answer as soon as possible. Nadja Lundin may still be alive.

published 2013
Genre crime
Pages 285

An unusually late summer storm is approaching Linköping and in a neglected nursing home, 79-year-old Konrad Karlsson is found dead, hung from the cord of his alarm buzzer.

Most indications point to suicide, but when Malin Fors and her colleagues talk to people around him, they all testify to a man who, despite his ailments, was full of will to live. Liked by the staff and a kind of extra grandfather for Malin's daughter Tove, who works at the nursing home during the summer.

The suspicions that Konrad did not take his own life are reinforced at the autopsy. An investigation is launched, but nothing seems to make sense. The information is contradictory; the course of events confused. Who has anything to gain from the death of a sick old man, even in a society where capital seems to stand above human dignity?

Recently, Konrad had written several angry submissions about the shortcomings of the nursing home and the greed of the owner Hans Morelia. Maybe someone wanted to silence him now that the company is about to be sold to an American venture capital company. Or is it a mercy killing? Are more old people's lives in danger? Malin tentatively starts to look for a pattern.

published 2012
Genre crime
Pages 426

On a September day, Malin Fors is called to a villa in one of Linköping's nicer areas. A married couple has been found dead in their jacuzzi. Naked and ice blue in a water that is no longer transparent. Their five-year-old adopted daughter Ella has disappeared, and an intensive search begins. Is the girl alive? Has she been abducted? Or has she tried to escape from the killer and drowned in Stångån?

While heavy rainclouds loom over the city, Malin Fors and her colleagues are drawn into a case where the lines have become blurred. Between dead and living; between good and evil. The investigation forces her to confront her own demons, and in the end, she can no longer resist the urge to allow alcohol to erase her reality. But she knows she must not give up. She cannot disappoint Ella. She must find her and the one who killed her parents.

Detective Malin Fors is the star of the homicide unit. Stubborn and skilled; intuitive and intelligent. Obsessed. Constantly on the run from himself, constantly engrossed in work.

published 2011
Genre crime
Pages 455

It is early in May when the young family with children out on a forest walk outside Linköping find the badly wounded body. It is disgustingly well-preserved and the traces of torture on the female body are just too obvious.

Detective Malin Fors immediately seems to see similarities with the case of Maria Murvall, the young woman who was found raped and brutally beaten in the woods several years ago, and who has since been uncontactable where she is imprisoned at Vadstena Hospital. By chance, Malin meets a psychologist from St. Lars in Lund who tells her of a similar case, and suddenly Maria just seems to be a small piece of a much bigger puzzle. But what is it that is so terrible that it is impossible to talk about?

Malin, who has long been obsessed with finding out what happened to Maria, is determined to find out the truth, no matter where it may lead her.

published 2010
Genre crime
Pages 431

The spring sun is shining over Linköping and the still winter-pale people who have ventured out to the outdoor cafés around the square. Some swallows circle in the sky, colorful tulips shine from the stalls and a mother with two small children walks towards the ATM. Suddenly the calm is torn apart by a powerful explosion.

Detective Malin Fors stands in front of her mother's coffin in the Chapel of the Resurrection and tries to feel something. Then a low rumble breaks the silence, and soon she is on her way to the square Filbytertorget where is met by a sight she will never forget. Glass shards. Crushed flowers and scattered vegetables. A broken children's shoe. A pigeon pecking at something red in the deafening silence.

published 2009
Genre crime
Pages 427

The rain is pouring down over the castle Skogså and in the moat floats its owner Jerry Petersson, the lawyer who is known for his ruthlessness. How did he end up in the moat and who left him there? Detective Malin Fors' suspicions are soon directed towards the previous owners of the castle, the noble family Fågelsjö, who reluctantly sold their family property to the upstart Jerry Petersson. But would the sale really be a motive for murder? And who was the man Jerry Petersson, behind all the millions from IT, the expensive suits and the art? Close to Malin, but like a thin film on the other side, he moves like a shadow through what has been his life and the events that would lead to his brutal death.

AUTUMN KILLING is the third part in Mons Kallentoft's acclaimed series about inspector Malin Fors, which began with the critically acclaimed books MIDWINTER SACRIFICE and SUMMERTIME DEATH.

published 2008
Genre crime
Pages 415

It is the hottest summer ever in Östergötland, southeast Sweden. Linköping is shaken by the heat and in the surrounding forests the worst forest fires ever experienced in the area are raging. Early one morning, a fourteen-year-old girl is found naked and raped in the city's largest park. The girl herself remembers nothing and Detective Malin Fors and her colleague Zeke are forced to try to work with the few clues that exist.

Malin, who herself has a daughter of the same age, is very affected by what happened. At the same time, another girl is reported missing by her parents and shortly afterwards a horrific discovery is made at a swimming spot outside the city. The summertime death has come to Linköping, and the dream of a wonderful summer turns into a terrible nightmare during a few days in July.

SUMMERTIME DEATH is the second part in Mons Kallentoft's series about Detective Malin Fors at the Linköping Police, which began with the critically acclaimed book MIDWINTER SACRIFICE. It is a shocking story of abuse, desperate love, and the deepest hatred.

published 2007
Genre crime
Pages 429

It is the coldest winter in human memory and out on the windy, snow-covered plain Östgötaslätten a man is found hanging from a lonely tree. His frozen body is badly injured. The whole approach is reminiscent of the old pagan tradition asablot. But is it really a human sacrifice? And why has someone gone after Bollbengan, the man who hangs in the tree and who has always been rejected by the rest of society?

Malin Fors sets out in search of the killer. A hunt that takes her deep into the cold darkness of man. She is followed by Bollbengan's spirit that hovers under the cold stars and urges Malin to find out his story…

MIDWINTER SACRIFICE is the first part in a series about Detective Malin Fors at Linköping Police. It's a scarily suggestive story about old injustices, secrets, and the terrible things that people can subject each other to.