Witness of the Fire

Inspector Joona Linna has already spent more time at the crime scene than any other detective. However, he still feels like he' s missed something. He is looking at the girl in bed. Her face is covered with her hands, as if she' s playing hide-and-seek. The whole room is covered in blood, but there is not a single drop on her slender body. Joona observes the corpse, lingering over every detail and thinking. She' s actually still a child, but fate has led her to this room, to a special care center for youth. Maybe she was just unlucky with her parents and foster parents. Maybe they thought he would be safe here…

The police sometimes use the help of spirit mediums when investigating complicated cases, but it is not known that such cooperation has ever borne fruit. That' s why when Flora Hansen calls the public helpline and claims to have been visited by the ghost of a murdered girl, no one pays any attention to her. The hunt for the perpetrator is full of unexpected twists and turns. Each answer found leads to further mysteries. Although the search has reached a dead end, the police continue to ignore Flora Hansen' s phone calls. At first she asked for money for her information, but now she is just begging to be heard.

Lars Kepler is the pseudonym behind Alexandra Coelho Ahndorilová (born 1966) and her husband Alexander Ahndoril (b. 1967). Both like thrillers and decided to create a series of crime novels that would not be associated with their previous work — Alexander is, for example, author of the controversial book about Ingmar Bergman, Director (2006; in Czech: Lidové noviny Publishing House 2010). The novel The Hypnotist (2009; The Guest (2010) became an international bestseller, and its film version was directed by the famous director Lasse Hallström. The second work was the equally successful Paganini Contract (2010; (in Czech: Guest 2011). The third, and so far the last, is Witness of Fire (2011), which is also being released as an audiobook in the interpretation of Pavel Rímský.