<p><b>A Swedish crime writer as thrilling as Mankell, a detective as compelling as Wallander . . . </b><br><br>Håkan Nesser's third title in the Van Veeteren series is the dark and compelling <i>The Return</i>.<br><br>An unmissable hospital appointment is looming for Inspector Van Veeteren when a corpse is found rolled in a rotting carpet by a young child playing in a local beauty spot. Missing head and limbs, the torso is too badly decomposed for forensic identification – bar one crucial detail . . .<br><br> Circumstantial evidence soon points to a local man, a double murderer who disappeared nine months before, shortly after being released on parole; a local hero turned monster after being convicted of killing two women over a span of three decades.<br><br> Recuperating after an operation, Van Veeteren is nevertheless directing investigations from his hospital bed, for he is convinced that on
