The White Lioness: Henning Mankell, 2003

Mankell once again delivers a fascinating plot, characters, and tension, but this story seemed a bit over the top.  Linking Kurt Wallander with an assassination plot on Nelson Mandela seems a bit much and especially when it involves a former KGB agent, Afrikanner extremists, and Wallander’s father, daughter, and childhood friend.  It does seem to work as Wallander exchanges gun fire for the first time in my reading of these books and ends up killing the bad guy by auto, fire, and gun.  Not bad for a quiet, divorced, heavily drinking, overweight, and introspective Swedish cop in a small town.