Murder mystery with complex secrets and hidden ties. Intriguing Danish setting and characters adds to the dark and twisty mystery.

I really enjoyed this book! 36 year old reporter, Heloise, goes digging and she has found a web of lies. And the truth.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Dreamscape Media for an audio copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a wild, dark, unpredictable thriller that’s intriguing to a reader. Narration is done well.
Thank you, Anne Mette Hancock, Dreamscape and Netgalley for my copy. All opinions are my own.

Heloise Kaldan is a journalist in Denmark. One of her recent stories contained some bad information so she could really use a big scoop, but she's not sure she wants the one that has landed in her lap. Several years ago the son of a wealthy industrialist was murdered, the killer a young woman named Anna Kiel. Afterwards Anna escaped the country and has yet to be found. But she has started sending cryptic letters to Heloise and Heloise isn't sure if this is a big story or a chance to be killed herself.

As Heloise works on the story, she finds a partner in the police. Homicide detective Erik Schafer isn't sure if Heloise is working to find the killer or to help her in her plot. More murders occur and suspicion falls even more heavily on the journalist. It doesn't help when it is discovered that her father is in prison in France and she has lied about knowing who he is. Heloise has written her father out of her life after he was found guilty of child pornography but it seems that he is the connection between her and Anna. She is forced to finally break her vow and go visit him and afterwards, she finds out the story of Anna's life and understands what drives her to kill.

This is the first novel in this series. Heloise is an interesting character, driven by her job but willing to work with the police and share information she has gathered with them. Detective Schafer is less finely drawn but further novels can flesh out this character as well. The plot is interesting and the killer Anna is a character the reader would like to see in further novels again. This book is recommended for mystery readers.

What a great book! I listened to The Corpse Flower on audio, thanks to Libro.fm and I powered through it in a day. Completely sucked into the story, I had to know more and I am glad that I did. Being an avid crime reader I was fine with the dark and disturbing content, but it will not be for everyone. I did feel really uncomfortable at times but it was needed for the story. Set in Denmark, this was a gritty and cleverly written police drama. Helosie is a journalist and starts receiving cryptic letters from a woman wanted from the murder of a prominent lawyer 5 years ago. Why her and what do the letters mean? The investigator in her cannot help but try to find out. It takes her into dangerous and at times personal territory to find the truth. Crime readers will love the story and the great characters.

Such a wild book!

This definitely was unpredictable and a great thriller/mystery. Such a fast read. I had to know what was happening and what would happen next. What was Anna up to and why was she sending Heloise these letters.

Definitely went in a direction i didn’t anticipate. It’s a dark book with some triggers. But i had to propel forward. I’m always a fan of police procedurals. And this did not disappoint.

I will definitely be reading more in this series.

Danish journalist Heloise Kaldan is in the middle of a nightmare. One of her sources has been caught lying, and she could lose her job over it. Then she receives the first in a series of cryptic and unsettling letters from a woman named Anna Kiel.

Wanted in connection with the fatal stabbing of a young lawyer three years earlier, Anna hasn't been seen by anyone since she left the crime scene covered in blood. The police think she's fled the country until homicide detective Erik Scháfer comes up with a lead after the reporter who originally wrote about the case is found murdered in his apartment. Has Anna Kiel struck again, or is there more than one killer at large? And why does every clue point directly to Heloise Kaldan?

Meanwhile, the letters keep coming, and they hint at a connection between Anna and Heloise. As Heloise starts digging deeper, she realizes that to tell Anna's story she will have to revisit the darkest parts of her own past—confronting someone she swore she'd never see again.

The Corpse Flower is the first in the #1 bestselling Danish crime series, the Kaldan and Scháfer mysteries.

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This book definitely gives me The girl with the dragon tattoo vibes and it's a pretty well written noir book!

The concept of this book was intriguing to me, but do some reason I had a hard time becoming invested in this audiobook and because of that it dragged on a bit for me, but the story was enjoyable. That being said, I may have had a better experience if I read an ecopy or physical.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of The Corpse Flower in exchange for an honest review.

A lot of things were working against this book here which is I think the main reason I found it mediocre. The narration was difficult for me to get into and to be fair, I don't think that's at all the author's fault. This book is translated and I listened to it in audio and I think the former might have made the narration feel a little lacking compared to how it was originally meant to be consumed and I think listening to it in audio very likely made me a lot more aware of the narration style than I would have been had I read it physically.

I could not get into this audiobook and I'm not sure why. I don't think the characters seemed particularly engaging or interesting. The story starts off kind of boring and didn't really pick up steam. I prefer more suspense in my mysteries

I have a love hate relationship with noir novels so I went into this with low expectations and it definitely surprised me in the best way!

A very violent mystery in the Nordic vein. I would definitely recommend this book to fans of that genre, but not to fans of Christie or tamer mysteries.

This was OK -- a few glimpses of clever writing, a decent plot -- but not outstanding.


Review copy provided by publisher.

4.5 stars out of five

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this fantastic audio book.

First off I really loved the narrator Laura Jennings. I thought that she did a wonderful job. This story was really interesting and nice and dark. I am super excited to read more books in this intriguing new series.

Honestly, I think I can't really say too much because I don't want to give away any of the twists and turns. Pick this up if you like dark and twisty!

Oh boy where shall I start with this book… I’ll like to say that I’ve never read anything like this book so I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Ultimately I didn’t end up enjoying this book, although I also didn’t hate it - I thought it was fine.

The audio was a bit patchy and I had to rewind to understand what was going on. It took me awhile to get hooked onto the story, but I still enjoyed it overall.

I have to admit, at first I was a little confused about what was going on. One I got a grasp on it though, it was enthralled by the story and its characters. Heloise was a great character and I had a good time following her and trying to figure out what had happened.

A journalist, Heloise Kaldan, receives letters from an alleged killer, Anna Kiel, that killed a wealthy and well-known lawyer. Everyone was under the impression that Anna fled the country until a detective named Erik gets a lead on the case. The letters keep coming and seem to connect Anna with Heloise. The investigation makes Heloise dive back into her past and solves a much bigger case. This is one of the mystery thrillers I have read this year. that I truly enjoyed It is not your typical wife who has a secret and the husband is not who he seems to be. I listened to the audiobook version of this title and the book managed to keep my attention with a good flow. It made me think of The Girl With the Dragon Tatto, but perhaps a bit lighter and of course a different topic. I cannot say I connected with any character in a crazy way until the end of the book, but they were well written. The plot is not one of those shocking moments when a character is someone completely different, but rather uncovers a much bigger and darker story than the murder of a wealthy lawyer. The book deals with the idea of wealthy men trying to get away with crimes, and brave female protagonists that will fight to change that. The writing is great, and the story is very well crafted. I highly recommend this book and would love to read another one by this author.

This book is a slow burner and was hard for me to get into. I'm more of a fat paced reader too stay interested. There was a lot of back and forth of events which made it hard to keep up with.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, but I very quickly lost interest in the book. I did like the main plotline, but for me, it ended up being confusing and had too many components to juggle. I may possibly try again, as I did enjoy the narrator and main setup.

Thank you NetGalley for an Audio ARC of The Corpse Flower.

A woman, Anna Keil, accused of murder long ago disappeared but recently cryptic letters claiming to be from the woman begin to arrive at the desk of Journalist, Heloise Kaldan. Heloise is embroiled in a mess at work when a confidential source, one she has been secretly sleeping with, has been exposed as a liar and put her job in jeopardy. Heloise enlists the help of former homicide detective Erik Scháfer, who investigated the case back then, that is until he mysteriously turns up dead. As she digs farther into the case some clues point towards her having a connection to Anna Kiel and dark secret buried in her own past.

I have enjoyed previous Scandinavian works wrought with dark humor and darker subject matters but I had a harder time getting into this novel. While their are some twists and hidden secrets overall I found the story to be a bit slow and lackluster. I had an audio version preformed by Laura Jennings, who does a very good job and is easy to listen to.