The Harbor - Katrine Engberg

The Harbor is Katrine Engberg's third entry in her delightful Jeppe Kørner and Anette Werner series last year. I've listened to the first two books and this latest is another great listen.

Jeppe and Anette are detectives with the Copenhagen Police. Their latest case involves a missing teenager, at first assumed to be a runaway by the police. But a cryptic note left behind hints at something darker. And a discovery at a local waste facility ramps up their caseload.

Engberg's plot is well written and not easy to solve. There are a number of seemingly disparate threads will keep the listener guessing. The Harbor moves along at a good pace as clues are uncovered. The rapport between the two partners is very well written. I quite enjoy the repartee between the two.  

Alongside some great plotting are well drawn characters. Engberg has given all her characters rich personal stories that have evolved over the course of the books. The personal storylines are believable and relatable and I was eager to catch up.

And the third piece for me is the reader. The narrator is Graeme Malcolm, one of my favorites. He has an accent that works for many locales. His voice has a lovely, unique, gravelly tone to it and it's quite pleasant to listen to. He depicts the emotion and tone of both characters and plot lines easily with his voice. He also has a somewhat sardonic tone at times that perfectly suits the verbal sparring and inner thoughts of the lead characters. The speed of the reading matches what's going on in the book. He speaks clearly and is easy to understand. Hear for yourself - listen to an excerpt of The Harbor.

Tara F. Chace was the translator for this title. She's done a good job as the narrative doesn't feel or sound choppy, but flows easily instead. 

Fans of character driven police procedural mysteries such as Susan Hill's Simon Serrailler or Deborah Crombie's Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James series would enjoy this series.