Dawn has yet to break over Tord Munkberg’s estate, and his dinner guests lie sound asleep within the quiet walls of his home. In the stillness, something shifts. The room begins swaying around Tord. He falls to the side, coughing as his throat constricts. A chilling fear seizes him. Someone has done this to him, someone, who wants to kill him. Tord tries to stand up, desperate for something, anything, that can save him, but it’s too late.
Piercing winds whip the weathered facades of Uppsala’s houses as Liam Lode hurries along the cobblestone streets. Just over six months have passed since he and the retired journalist Greta Sparre revived the Philosophical Society. Their weekly meetings discussing the great philosophers over a glass of red wine have been the highlight of the dark winter months, all though, this night has other topics on the agenda. Greta has invited Liam to the renowned conductor Tord Munkberg’s concert at Uppsala’s cathedral, followed by an intimate dinner at Tord’s grand estate. As he walks under the April sky, Liam doesn’t know yet that the night will unravel in ways he never could have anticipated.
The evening passes by in a blur, filled with Wagner’s delicious tones echoing off the ancient walls in the candlelit church, a lively dinner and interesting conversations. However, the night ends in horror when Tord is found dead in his study, surrounded by music sheets spread out on the floor. Panic ensues among the dinner guests. The police quickly establish that Tord has been poisoned with cyanide. When Sheila, Tord’s wife, reveals that he was in possession of the legendary Eternal Symphony, an immensely valuable score rumored to be the lost work of Wagner’s brother, the mystery intensifies. It seems that the symphony is now missing from Tord’s study.
Liam and Greta begin mapping out the events of the evening, realizing that the killer must be one of the dinner guests; Tord’s wife Sheila had been whispering with her music producer Max, and exchanging sharp words with Tord’s ex-wife Kristina; Tord and Pekka, the church’s janitor, had traded withering glares; and the church’s deacon Cecilia had lurked in the shadows. It seems, that the house is simply brimming with secrets waiting to spill out. This murder was planned, and perhaps it wasn’t the first attempt… Could it have something to do with the missing Eternal Symphony, or is there a different motive entirely? While Liam and Greta search for answers in dimly lit rooms and hidden alcoves, music, greed and philosophy intertwine, each a note in the dark truth that is the killer’s symphony.
A Killer’s Symphony is the second installment of Karolina Schützer’s cozy crime series, set in the moody, atmospheric university town of Uppsala. This closed room mystery follows amateur sleuths Liam Lode and Greta Sparre as they are thrown into the world of classical music in search of a killer growing more desperate by the hour. With its blend of melancholic and warm hues, this novel is the perfect serving of a cozy crime with all the right ingredients.
