Erica Falck (Claudia Galli Concha) is a best-selling crime novelist.
After her parents die in a car accident, Erica and her policeman husband Patrik
(Richard Ulfsater) inherit their house in the picturesque fishing village of
Fjallbacka, where Erica and her sister Anna grew up. Even before Erica has
completely moved in a strange man suddenly wanders into her living room,
declaring that he is the older brother Erica knew nothing about. Erica sends
him away and, by the time she has a change of heart and tries to find out more,
the man has been murdered. A DNA test of the corpse proves that he was telling
the truth, and when Erica investigates further she unearths disconcerting
secrets from her mother’s past involving a prominent Neo-Nazi and a Swedish war
hero. Meanwhile, people around her are starting to be killed.
The other stories in the series
include the sudden death of Fjallbacka’s local photographer (who may not have
been as sweet as many people think), the disappearance of a young girl during
the Christmas ‘Queen of Light’ celebrations, the death of two divers that may
be connected to a two centuries-old shipwreck and a supposedly cursed nautical
map and, when Erica’s sister returns to the village and falls for the host of
an ‘Antiques Roadshow’ type TV programme, she finds herself implicated in a
murder.
If you think The Fjallbacka Murders
sounds like a stylish collision of ‘Midsomer Murders’ and ‘The Killing’, you’d
be right. It’s a good-looking and undemanding crime melodrama that’s as
comfortable as your favourite pair of (gum)shoes, with a terrifically likeable
heroine who’s almost a grown up version of Nancy Drew. Based on a series of
books by author Camilla Lackberg, it’s inevitable that some episodes are better
than others and the stories quickly fall into formula with villains that are
often easy to predict, but there are generally enough twists and turns to keep
things interesting.
As far as visuals are concerned, the
photogenic locale of Fjallbacka (which is a real place, so it would be
interesting to know what effect this series – with dead bodies seemingly on
every corner – has done for tourism) is markedly less gloomy than we’re used to
seeing in other Nordic dramas, and the frequent flashbacks to historical events
are particularly well handled, especially during the shipwreck episode.
Sure, fans of TV crime drama will
have seen all of this many times before, but isn’t that half the fun? With
excellent performances, sharp writing and some occasionally beautiful
cinematography, ‘The Fjallbacka Murders’ is well worth checking out.
THE FJALLBACKA MURDERS / CERT 15 /
DIRECTORS & SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: CLAUDIA GALLI, RICHARD
ULFSATER, SOFIA ZOUAGUI, EMMA SWENNIGER, LENNART JAHKEL / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
