Book - The Return, a Van Veeteren Mystery

Now THIS book I got into. Very enthusiastic thumbs-up, best in the series so far. The main characters still aren't very accessible to me, I'm not sure why, but the writing and plot were very engaging and tantalizing. I found myself fascinated with the question, 'why?!' and 'who?'. I suspected someone in the village but couldn't pinpoint whom, and it was a surprise to me when it was finally revealed. The clues were there, so it wasn't from left field. Several different voices come thru in the flashbacks also, so I had to pay very close attention to who was really talking. Very well done.

An unidentified body is found, dismembered. Van Veeteren's team tracks down the identity to one Leopold Verhaven, a convicted murderer. After having served jail time for brutally killing his first girlfriend, decades later, he's again convicted and serves time for killing another girlfriend. The day he leaves prison for the second time, he's murdered. Something's obviously screwy, and the original crimes are re-examined. Never mind that Van Veeteren's undergoing surgery, he'll still figure it out.