Fredrika waved away a wasp.

‘So Morgan Sander published the book himself?’

‘Exactly. There could be a thousand reasons why a manuscript is turned down, but it’s usually because the text is of poor quality. Sander’s case was slightly different. The guy could obviously write, but it’s just drivel – it makes no sense. This was the only book he published – towards the end of the 1940s, I think – and when it didn’t attract the acclaim he’d hoped for, he stopped writing. He died a few years later.’

Fredrika ran a finger around the top of her glass.

‘How do you know all this? Why he was rejected and so on?’

‘My student visited various publishing houses and asked about authors they’d turned down. Sander had become something of a story; even younger editors knew about him.’

‘What’s the book about?’

‘I don’t know, but I like the title. I Am Putting Everything Right. A clear statement, no messing around.’

A cool breeze made Fredrika shiver. The fact that the sun was shining didn’t help; the Swedish summer was as capricious as ever.

‘How do you find an author like Morgan Sander?’ she asked.

Spencer picked up his knife and fork again.

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean exactly what I say. Who owns his book? And if you don’t have a copy, how do you get hold of it? How many were printed, how accessible is it?’

Spencer chewed and swallowed.

‘My student found it in the Royal Library, down in the depths of the basement. It was Sander himself who donated it, desperate not to be forgotten. Fewer than a hundred copies were printed. I should imagine most of them have been thrown away over the years as people have tidied up their bookshelves. There are probably a few in antiquarian or second-hand bookshops.’

Fredrika realised they weren’t going to be able to trace the perpetrator that way. He might have stumbled across a copy in his granny’s bookcase, or in a shop in the far north of Norrland. They would never know.

‘Why the questions?’

‘Sander’s name came up in a case.’

They ate in silence. Fredrika drank more wine, more water. She couldn’t help finding it disturbing. The police were looking for a killer who seemed to be obsessed with a writer that hardly anyone had heard of.

Hardly anyone.

Apart from Spencer.

INTERVIEW WITH ALEX RECHT
06-09-2016

Present: Interrogators one and two (I1 and I2), Detective Chief Inspector Alex Recht (Recht)