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**Hot on the heels of her phenomenal American debut, *The Ice Princess*, Camilla Läckberg brings readers back to the quiet, isolated fishing village in Sweden where dangerous secrets lie just beneath the community’s tranquil surface.** During an unusually hot July, detective Patrik Hedstrom and Erica Falck are enjoying a rare week at home together, nervous and excited about the imminent birth of their first baby. Across town, however, a six-year-old boy makes a gruesome discovery that will ravage their little tourist community and catapult Patrik into the center of a terrifying murder case. The boy has stumbled upon the brutally murdered body of a young woman, and Patrik is immediately called to lead the investigation. Things get even worse when his team uncovers, buried beneath the victim, the skeletons of two campers whose disappearance had baffled police for decades. The three victims’ injuries seem to be the work of the same killer, but that is impossible: the main suspect in the original kidnappings committed suicide twenty-four years ago.  When yet another young girl disappears and panic begins to spread, Patrik leads a desperate manhunt to track down a ruthless serial killer before he strikes again. ** ### From Publishers Weekly Swedish bestseller Läckberg's worthy second thriller set in the coastal town of Fjällbacka (after The Ice Princess) opens with a grim discovery—the naked fresh corpse of Tanja Schmidt, a German tourist, on top of the skeletal remains of two young women, later identified as Mona Thernblad and Siv Lantin. All three were killed in the same way, but as Det. Patrik Hedström and his team soon discover, Mona and Siv went missing in 1979, and Johannes Hult, the prime suspect in their disappearances, is long dead. The reason for a sadistic killer's reappearance may be hidden among the many secrets and conflicts of a local clan of religious eccentrics. The troubled Hults, from conniving founder (known as the Preacher) to philandering spouses, show a Ross Macdonaldesque love of twisted family relationships, while Läckberg's colorful, diverse police force, staffed with the competent, the incompetent, and the merely distracted, recalls the humanist touch of Dutch author Janwillem van de Wetering. (May) ### Review “A welcome addition to the swelling ranks of Scandinavian crime writers! A good, solid read.”       ―*Irish Independent* (*Library Journal*) “[Läckberg] is an expert at mixing scenes of domestic cosiness with blood-curdling horror! A must for white-knuckle junkies.”       ―*Guardian* (*Booklist*) “Läckberg’s many-layered story features plot twists and turns galore. Especially effective are her flashbacks . . . Highly recommended for readers who like mysteries set in foreign countries.”       ―*Library Journal* (*Washington Post*) “Fans of Stieg Larsson novels hungry for brooding explorations of the dark side of Swedish society will find much to appreciate in Läckberg’s second mystery, following *The Ice Princess*. . . . [Narrator David] Thorn’s gravelly baritone underlines the brutal murders and ominous undercurrents, fueled by dark family secrets.”        —*Booklist* (*The Bookwatch*) “A clever plot and in-depth characterization aren’t the only qualities that elevate *The Preacher *above most other thrillers. . . .*The Preacher* can go up against the Larsson books head-on when it comes to narrative drive and skillful exploration of family secrets.”        —*Washington Post* “Springs to life in audio.”        —*The Bookwatch*