I have something a little bit different to share today that I’m super excited about! Jussi Adler-Olsen’s seventh book, The Scarred Woman in the highly acclaimed Department Q series is out next month and to celebrate this, I have an entire series overview to get you caught up before it’s September release! I know we all have huge TBR piles so hopefully this will enable you to get a feel for the series and allow you to jump in with the newest installment OR pique your curiosity enough to entice you to catch up on this fantastic series.
I’ve also partnered up with the amazing and generous team at Dutton Books to host a giveaway where one lucky person will win the entire series!! The link to enter will be at the end of this post, for now let’s get into the overview.
Book 1: THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES
Case No: 9780525952480
Date: 8/23/2011
Reporting Officer: Carl Mørck
Incident: A famous politician vanishes during a ferry ride without a trace. Was she pushed or did she jump? Sole witness is her brother and only family member, who lost his ability to speak during a traumatic accident as a child. Politician is assumed dead.
Background Information: Carl Mørck used to be one of Denmark’s best homicide detectives. Then a hail of bullets destroyed the lives of two fellow cops, and Carl—who didn’t draw his weapon—blames himself. So a promotion is the last thing he expects. But Department Q is a department of one, and Carl’s got only a stack of cold cases for company. His colleagues snicker, but Carl may have the last laugh, because one file keeps nagging at him: a liberal politician vanished five years earlier and is presumed dead. But she isn’t dead…yet.
Goodreads|Amazon
Book 2: THE ABSENT ONE
Case No: 9780525952893
Date: 8/21/2012
Reporting Officer: Carl Mørck
Additional Team Members: Hafez el-Assad
Incident: Brutal murder of teenage brother and sister in 1987. A suspect has already confessed and has been serving time. But it becomes evident that former classmates from their boarding school were somehow involved in the double murder. The same former classmates are now all prominent figures in Denmark.
Background Information: Carl Mørck has settled into Department Q and is ready to take on another cold case. This time, it’s the brutal double-murder of a brother and sister two decades earlier. One of the suspects confessed and is serving time, but it’s clear to Mørck that all is not what it seems. Kimmie, a homeless woman with secrets involving certain powerful individuals, could hold the key—if Mørck can track her down before they do…
Goodreads|Amazon
Book 3: A CONSPIRACY OF FAITH
Case No: 9780525954002
Date: 5/28/2013
Reporting Officer: Carl Mørck
Additional Team Members: Hafez el-Assad and Rose Knudsen
Incident: A bottle is found at sea that contains an old and decaying message written in blood, and one of the first words it says is “HELP.” The authors of the message are two young brothers who were never reported missing. Who are these boys? Where are they located? Are they still alive?
Background Information: Carl Mørck holds in his hands a bottle that contains an old and decayed message, written in blood. It is a cry for help from two young brothers, tied and bound in a boathouse by the sea. Could it be real? Who are these boys, and why weren’t they reported missing? Could they possibly still be alive?
Carl’s investigation will force him to cross paths with a woman stuck in a desperate marriage—her husband refuses to tell her where he goes, what he does, how long he will be away. For days on end she waits, and when he returns she must endure his wants, his moods, his threats. But enough is enough. She will find out the truth, no matter the cost to her husband—or to herself…
Goodreads|Amazon
Book 4: THE PURITY OF VENGEANCE
Case No: 9780525954019
Date: 12/13/2013
Reporting Officer: Carl Mørck
Additional Team Members: Hafez el-Assad and Rose Knudsen
Incident: Between 1923 and 1959, Danish women deemed pathologically promiscuous were sent away to the island of Sprogø. They were imprisoned and sometimes sterilized against their will. Nearly thirty years later, a brothel owner named Rita disappears, along with several other people. While sifting through the clues from the disappearances, the only connection appears to be Curt Wad, a man with a vision for evil.
Background Information: In 1987, Nete Hermansen plans revenge on those who abused her—especially Curt Wad, a surgeon who was part of a movement to sterilize wayward girls in the 1950s. More than twenty years later, Detective Carl Mørck already has plenty on his mind when he is presented with the case of a brothel owner, a woman named Rita, who went missing in the eighties: New evidence has emerged in the case that sent Carl to Department Q.
But when Carl’s assistants, Assad and Rose, learn that numerous other people disappeared around the same weekend as Rita, Carl takes notice. Sifting through the evidence, they inch closer to Curt Wad, who is still committed to his twisted beliefs, and whose treatment of Nete only hints at his capacity for evil.
Goodreads|Amazon
Book 5: THE MARCO EFFECT
Case No: 9780525954026
Date: 9/9/2014
Reporting Officer: Carl Mørck
Additional Team Members: Hafez el-Assad and Rose Knudsen
Incident: Marco Jameson, teenager, is a member of a former gypsy clan ruled by his powerful uncle Zola. The whole family participates in petty crime and begging. When Marco stumbles across a dead body near his family’s complex, he knocks over the first in a series of deadly dominos that have him running for his life.
Background Information: Fifteen-year-old Marco Jameson longs to become a Danish citizen and go to school like a normal teenager. Unfortunately, his Uncle Zola forces the children of their former gypsy clan to beg and steal for his personal gain. When Marco discovers a dead body that proves the true extent of Zola’s criminal activities, he goes on the run. But it turns out his family members aren’t the only ones who want to keep Marco silent…forever.
Detective Carl Mørck wants to save the boy, but Marco’s trail leads him to a case that extends from Denmark to Africa, from embezzlers to child soldiers, from seemingly petty crime rings to the very darkest of cover-ups.
Goodreads|Amazon
Book 6: THE HANGING GIRL
Case No: 9780525954941
Date: 9/8/2015
Reporting Officer: Carl Mørck
Additional Team Members: Hafez el-Assad, Rose Knudsen, Gordon Taylor
Incident: Teenage girl disappeared from local school – later found dead, hanging from a tree. Connection to folklore? Possible cult tie.
Background Information: In the middle of his usual hard-won morning nap in the basement of police headquarters, Carl Mørck, head of Department Q, receives a call from a colleague working on the Danish island of Bornholm. Carl is dismissive when he realizes that a new case is being foisted on him, but a few hours later, he receives some shocking news that leaves his headstrong assistant Rose more furious than usual. Carl has no choice but to lead Department Q into the tragic cold case of a vivacious seventeen-year-old girl who vanished from school, only to be found dead hanging high up in a tree. The investigation will take them from the remote island of Bornholm to a strange sun-worshipping cult, where Carl, Assad, Rose, and newcomer Gordon attempt to stop a string of new murders and a skilled manipulator who refuses to let anything—or anyone—get in the way.
Goodreads|Amazon
Book 7: THE SCARRED WOMAN
Case No: 9780525954958
Date: 9/19/2017
Reporting Officer: Carl Mørck
Additional Team Members: Hafez el-Assad, Rose Knudsen, Gordon Taylor
Incident: Body found in Copenhagen park – similar to previous unsolved homicide. Young women being targeted across Copenhagen. Could the deaths be connected? Something is going on with Rose Knudsen – can Dept. Q solve the case and save their colleague?
Background Information: Detective Carl Mørck of Department Q, Copenhagen’s cold cases division, meets his toughest challenge yet when the dark, troubled past of one of his own team members collides with a sinister unsolved murder.
In a Copenhagen park the body of an elderly woman is discovered. The case bears a striking resemblance to another unsolved homicide investigation from over a decade ago, but the connection between the two victims confounds the police. Across town a group of young women are being hunted. The attacks seem random, but could these brutal acts of violence be related? Detective Carl Mørck of Department Q is charged with solving the mystery.
Back at headquarters, Carl and his team are under pressure to deliver results: failure to meet his superiors’ expectations will mean the end of Department Q. Solving the case, however, is not their only concern. After an earlier breakdown, their colleague Rose is still struggling to deal with the reemergence of her past—a past in which a terrible crime may have been committed. It is up to Carl, Assad, and Gordon to uncover the dark and violent truth at the heart of Rose’s childhood before it is too late.
Goodreads|Amazon
I can’t wait to read The Scarred Woman, stay tuned for my review very soon.
Enter the giveaway here (US only) and if you want to increase your chances I’m hosting an additional giveaway on my Instagram. Good luck!
Title: Little Gray Dress
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