Publishers Weekly
08/30/2021
Early in Danish author Hancock’s gripping debut, Copenhagen journalist Heloise Kaldan receives two letters from Anna Kiel, a wanted murderer. Anna killed a real estate tycoon’s son years earlier and is on the run. Anna claims she and Heloise are connected, and she seems to know personal things about Heloise, such as her lucky number and her favorite flower. Heloise starts looking into Anna’s case by reaching out to Urlich Andersson, the journalist who originally covered the murder. Ulrich warns Heloise to stay away from the story since her life could be in danger. When Anna posts a picture of Heloise’s apartment on social media, Heloise is convinced Anna is breaking in and calls the police. She’s forced to tell Det. Sgt. Erik Schäfer about the letters, and they start sharing information. Soon, one dark turn leads to another, and Heloise follows a lead to Paris, where she comes face-to-face with Anna and learns their connection is deeper and more disturbing than she could have imagined. Assured prose matches the intricate plot. Hancock is off to a strong start. Agent: Anna Frankl, Nordin Agency (Sweden). (Oct.)
From the Publisher
Praise for The Corpse Flower:
“Gripping, endearing, dark, and funny, Anne Mette Hancock has written the best series I've read this year. Kaldan and Schafer are my new favorite crime-solving duo. Highly recommended.”
—Harlan Coben, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“Structurally flawless.”
—The Washington Post
“If you enjoyed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, you will thoroughly enjoy this [Danish] thriller full of action, family secrets, and intrigue.”
—The San Diego Union-Tribune, Recommended Reads
“Scandinavian noir at its noirest. It’s hard, maybe unthinkable, to imagine how Hancock will follow it up.”
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“This book has a little bit of everything. If you enjoy Scandinavian crime stories, you will definitely want to check [it] out.”
—San Francisco Book Review, 5-star review
"[A] gripping debut . . . Assured prose matches the intricate plot. Hancock is off to a strong start."
—Publishers Weekly
“A cat-and-mouse race against a killer.”
—Jules Herbert, B&N Reads
“Hancock writes with a razor-sharp pen, wittily and with originality. I simply adore her books.”
—Katrine Engberg, #1 internationally bestselling author of The Tenant and The Butterfly House
“A guaranteed page-turner.”
—Emelie Schepp, international bestselling author of the Jana Berzelius series
"Anne Mette Hancock has written a killer book. This one has it all—a great story, compelling characters, and a page-turning plot. Don’t miss The Corpse Flower."
—Harry Hunsicker, author of The Devil’s Country and former executive vice-president of the Mystery Writers of America
“Absolutely wonderful. Superbly constructed and totally enthralling.”
—Helene Tursten, author of Snowdrift
OCTOBER 2021 - AudioFile
Laura Jennings narrates this striking debut mystery. After failing to check her sources, Danish journalist Heloise Kaldan is in danger of losing her job with DEMOKRATISK DAGBLAD—until she begins receiving notes from accused murderer Anna Kiel. Kiel was last seen on security cameras covered in blood moments after an attorney’s murder three years earlier. The police are convinced of Kiel’s guilt, but Heloise is less certain, especially when her investigation unearths connections to her own life. Jennings handles the Danish names and the references to the corpse flower of the title, amorphophallus titanum, with ease, but she does little to create believable characters. Her one-note delivery, mostly breathy and terrified throughout, fails to live up to this Scandinavian thriller. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2021-07-14
Hancock’s striking debut rips the lid off a 3-year-old murder case and reveals even uglier secrets beneath.
DS Erik Schäfer, of the Copenhagen police’s Violent Crimes Unit, is perfectly satisfied that he knows who cut attorney Christoffer Mossing’s throat and left him to bleed out in his own bed. Minutes after the murder, the security camera in Mossing’s driveway captured an image of Anna Kiel leaving the house without making the slightest effort to conceal herself. But that was the last anyone saw of Anna—until now, when she’s begun to send insinuating notes to Demokratisk Dagblad business reporter Heloise Kaldan that are unsettling in their reference to amorphophallus titanum, the so-called corpse flower native to Sumatra, and their ritualistic closing lines and disturbingly detailed knowledge about the scant details of Heloise’s private life. Already treading on thin ice ever since the confidential information her lover, Martin Duvall, the communications chief to the commerce secretary, provided for her exposé of a fashion mogul’s investment in a textile factory in Bangalore didn’t quite pan out, Heloise strains to avoid any contact with the presumptive killer. The deeper she digs into the cold case, however, the closer its nightmarish details seem to impinge on her own past. Schäfer, meanwhile, is brusquely brushed off by real estate tycoon Johannes Mossing, who seems actively opposed to getting justice for his son’s murder. The highly suspicious hanging of Ulrich Andersson, the ex-reporter who covered the case for the Dagblad, kicks the investigation into high gear. But it won’t be laid to rest until Heloise comes face to face with Anna and hears why she was so indifferent to that security camera three years ago.
Scandinavian noir at its noirest. It’s hard, maybe unthinkable, to imagine how Hancock will follow it up.
