It never becomes clear exactly what constitutes a "sensitive crime," but Ulf Varg (a name that means "wolf wolf," we are told) and his team investigate cases involving a man stabbed behind the knee, a young woman suspected of killing her imaginary boyfriend and a possible werewolf. These cases are handled with relative ease, so as with McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, the main interest becomes the lives of the detectives themselves.
Varg and Anna Bengtsdotter, one of his detectives, are in love with each other, a fact complicated by the fact that Anna is married. They are both honorable enough to keep their relationship strictly professional, yet their true feelings for each other have a way of leaking through. Although he much prefers the company of Anna, Varg must sometimes work with a talkative uniformed officer named Blomquist, whom by the end of the novel is made an official part of his team. Varg is simply too polite to raise an objection.
As in the author's other novels, the story meanders at an easy pace. No one ever seems to be in a rush. Sensitive crimes will apparently wait until someone gets around to them. Insight and intuition mean more than actual evidence.
All this is quite pleasurable, perhaps not as much fun as the Precious Ramotswe stories but good enough to entice many readers back for more.
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