La visite d'Irma, alors qu'il s'apprête à quitter le commissariat, laisse perplexe l'inspecteur Skarre. Que signifie cet avertissement : « Il n'en a plus pour longtemps. » ? De qui parle-t-elle ? Est-elle folle ? Finalement, il préfère oublier. D'autant que les affaires ne manquent pas : une ado abattue à coup de carabine, un nourrisson victime de l'agression dont sa mère était la cible, un jeune homme disparu sans laisser de traces... Il aurait fallu à Skarre toute la sagacité de son chef, Konrad Sejer, pour établir un lien entre ces faits et sa visiteuse... Heureusement, Sejer est là.

Le diable tient la chandelle

When two teenagers steal a purse from a stroller, it results in an infant’s death. Unaware of the enormity of their crime, Zipp and Andreas are intent on committing another. They follow an elderly woman home, and Andreas enters her house with his switchblade. In the dark, Zipp waits for his friend to come out. Inspector Konrad Sejer and his colleague Jacob Skarre see no connection between the infant’s death and the reported disappearance of a local delinquent. And so while the confusion outside mounts, the heart-stopping truth unfolds inside the old woman’s home. Unflappable as ever, Sejer digs below the surface of small- town tranquility in an effort to understand how and why violence destroys everyday lives.

Ida Joner gets on her brand-new bike and sets off toward town. A good-natured, happy girl, she is looking forward to her tenth birthday. Thirty-five minutes after Ida should have come home, her mother starts to worry. She phones store owners, Ida's friends: anyone who could have seen her. But no one has.Suspicion immediately falls on Emil Mork, a local character who lives alone and hasn't spoken since childhood. His mother insists on cleaning his house weekly, although she's sometimes afraid of what she might find there. A mother's worst nightmare in either case: to lose a child or to think a child capable of murder. As Ida's relatives reach the breaking point and the media frenzy surrounding the case begins, Inspector Konrad Sejer is his usual calm and reassuring self. But he's puzzled. And disturbed. This is the strangest case he's seen in years.

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