Death on Demand

Death on Demand is the second book in the Roland Benito series, as it's called. A body turns up in a Danish bog that turns out to be a 25-year old murder victim. Soon, current murders take place that may be connected. Detective Inspector Benito and his team are in a race to track down a possible serial killer as they attempt to solve murders both modern day and decades old. Like the first book, the police investigation is paralleled by local reporter Anne Larsen, who does and doesn't cooperate with the police, and also finds herself trying to tie everything together. Fortunately, her role is a little less pronounced than in the previous novel, as it took away from the Benito side of things. And again there's a side story with the news photographer Kamilla, that, while it builds up some story for her, feels extraneous, as it has nothing to do with the main plot of the book. There's also a couple of other story lines that keep popping up and distracting from the main plot, though eventually they do tie into the main narrative, though they are also more a distraction until they do. While the identity of the killer isn't that hard to figure out as details are revealed early on, the full motivation and connection of everything has a few surprises in store, and the book concludes unexpected directions. For a Nordic thriller it was solid enough and I likely will look for future entries in the series. 3..5 rounded to 4 stars.

Death on Demand is the second book in Inger Gammelgaard Madsen's D.I. Roland Benito series. Benito is an Italian living in Denmark still scarred by the memory of the Cammora's grip on his beloved home city of Naples that continues to affect his life years after he left .

When 2 young boys find a body in a swamp that proves to have been there for 10 years what starts off as a cold case murder investigation kicks off a series of homicidal events in the present day leaving Benito and his crew fighting against the clock to discover who and why. Meanwhile reporter Anne Larson is often ahead of the police as a result of anonymous calls tipping her off.
What follows is a rather complex tale spanning the decades ,as well as continents as the tale moves from Denmark to Africa.

This is a very busy book that can become a bit confusing at first as there's a massive cast of characters and side stories,not all of them relevant to the plot. Author Madsen also seems determined to squeeze in every current Danish societal issue as well which might irritate some. I actually found it quite interesting.......but have scrubbed Denmark from my Bucket list as a result.

An involving and complex tale but,as with the first book in the series,"Username Doll Child" could have done with a bit of trimming of the irrelevant stuff to keep things moving a bit quicker.

Inger Gammelgaard Madsen uses her knowledge of Doctor Without Borders to get involved with Africa and it's treasures which were involved in the murders of a woman twenty years prior and also a Doctor in the present. It bends your mind somewhat but you come out of it with a little bit of a head ache. Knowing Swahili is something that is also a good thing to know. It is interesting to know that they have Italians mixed in with the Danes. I just spent a month in Italy and Roland Benito is Inger's go to guy. He has mixed feeling that they got the right man in custody. And we have many episodes with relations to make you head swirl. She uses a lot of noir in her story so you feel at home.