I am a sucker for Kurt Wallander

I am a sucker for Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander mysteries. In part because they have great atmosphere, and real characters and a hero who is not so much like a hero. There are always violent crimes, very violent at times, set against a stark dramatic picture of Sweden. I always imagine it cold, and dark and bare where he is. Wallander (detective with the police force in Ystad) is a great and complex protagonist. He seems deeply sad, he questions how he can do what he does, but he doggedly pursues the most daunting of criminals and always figures out the puzzle. I like him because he is brusque and real and doesn't really know how to have a personal relationship but doesn't stop trying. I just finished Sidetracked and I loved it. It was hard at any point to put it down. It starts when a young girl sets fire to herself in front of Wallander. The reader is perhaps even more affected because we have already been introduced to her in the prologue. What follows are a series of brutal murders by a most surprising killer. When Wallander apprehends the villain he stands in the rain and cries. There is so much humanity in him. Anyway, it was very very good.