Cover Reveal + Excerpt: THE CORPSE FLOWER by Anne Mette Hancock
Available October 12, 2021 from Crooked Lane Books
There’s nothing more exciting to me than learning about an up-and-coming Scandinavian crime writer, and today I’m absolutely thrilled to be able to spotlight one such author for CBTB readers! I first learned about Danish crime writer Anne Mette Hancock through social media, where I began to notice all the buzz surrounding her (then brand-new!) Kaldan & Schäfer crime series. Hancock’s debut novel, The Corpse Flower, was awarded the Danish Crime Academy’s debutant prize in 2017; in 2018, Hancock was named “Author of the Year” in Denmark. And to top it all off, two Danish crime writers whose work I love and opinions I very much trust—Sara Blædel and Katrine Engberg—have both raved about Hancock’s work. It’s safe to say I’ve been quite eager to be able to give Anne Mette Hancock’s work a try for myself, and I’m absolutely thrilled that, this fall, Anne Mette Hancock’s debut novel will be published in the US! THE CORPSE FLOWER is the first installment in Hancock’s Kaldan & Schäfer crime fiction series, and today I’m thrilled to be able to reveal the book’s cover exclusively for CBTB readers!
In THE CORPSE FLOWER, a Danish journalist finds herself drawn into an ongoing murder investigation with ties to her own personal history. When journalist Heloise Kaldan begins receiving cryptic letters from an alleged killer, she finds herself drawn into a complex web of lies, all of which seem to hint at a connection between herself and a suspected murderer. To get to the bottom of the mystery, Heloise will have to dig into the dark secrets in her own past, and confront someone in her past that she swore she would never revisit.
From its gorgeous cover to its very intriguing plot and compelling protagonist, THE CORPSE FLOWER looks poised to deliver a fantastic read for those of us who can’t get enough of Scandinavian crime fiction! I have been eagerly anticipating the day that this book would be published in English for quite a while now—it looks right up my alley, and I am beyond excited to get my hands on a copy of it as we get closer to its US release. CBTB readers can get an exclusive glimpse into THE CORPSE FLOWER in today’s blog post! Read on to learn more about the book, view its gorgeous cover, and read an exclusive excerpt from it! Many thanks to Anne Mette’s US publisher, Crooked Lane Books, for giving us this exclusive glimpse into this thrilling 2021 release!
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Cover Reveal: THE CORPSE FLOWER by Anne Mette Hancock
About THE CORPSE FLOWER:
A Danish journalist digs deep to uncover a web of lies that stretches back to a grisly murder, but knowing the truth might put an end to her story.
It’s early September in Copenhagen, the rain has been coming down for weeks, and 36-year-old journalist Heloise Kaldan is in the middle of a nightmare. One of her sources has been caught lying, and she could lose her job over it. And then she receives the first in a series of cryptic and ominous letters from an alleged killer.
Wanted in connection with the fatal stabbing of a young lawyer three years earlier, Anna Kiel hasn’t been seen by anyone since she left the crime scene covered in blood. The police think she’s fled the country and have zero clues as to her motive. But homicide detective Erik Scháfer comes up with the first lead when the reporter who first wrote about the case is found murdered in his apartment. Has Anna Kiel struck again, or is there more than one killer at large? And why does every clue point directly to Heloise Kaldan?
Meanwhile, the letters keep coming, and they hint at a connection between Anna and Heloise. As Heloise starts digging deeper, she realizes that, to tell Anna’s story, she will have to revisit the darkest parts of her own past–confronting someone she swore she’d never see again.
About Author Anne Mette Hancock:
Anne Mette Hancock has a bachelor’s degree in History and studied journalism at the Roskilde University and Berlingske. She was born in the small town of Gråsten in Denmark and has lived in both the US and France. Today Anne Mette lives in Copenhagen with her husband and two children.
In 2017 she made her debut as an author with Ligblomsten (The Corpse Flower), where we are introduced to journalist Heloise Kaldan and police officer Erik Schäfer. This poignant suspense novel awarded her with the Danish Crime Academy’s debutant prize in 2017.
The second book in the series, Mercedes-Snittet (The Collector), was published in 2018 to great acclaim. That very year Anne Mette Hancock was named Author of the year in Denmark. Her third novel Pitbull was published in January 2020.
Connect with Anne Mette on Instagram @annemette.hancock.
Excerpt: THE CORPSE FLOWER by Anne Mette Hancock
Chapter 3
Demokratisk Dagblad’s offices were in a listed building in Store Strandstræde whose antiquated, regal expression and decor matched the paper’s conservative views. The vaulted ceilings were high, the walls decorated with handmade wallpaper, and the glass in the old casement windows was so thin that Heloise was always freezing her butt off during the winter months.
She parked her bicycle in front of the building and nodded to a couple of guys from the paper’s sales department who were smoking, sheltered from the rain on a café bench across the street. A black awning stretched out above them, filled to bursting with water, and drops of rain trickled down the big metal posts that held it up. Heloise watched the canvas, half expecting it to split above their heads.
One of the men returned her greeting with a cheerful, “Hey, Kaldan, what’s up?”
His buddy leaned toward him without taking his eyes off Heloise and whispered something that made them both smirk.
She turned away and swiped her card through the electronic lock to the right of the entrance. She entered her personal code, and the door made a buzzing, mechanical sound before it opened.
Heloise chose to climb the stairs to the news desk on the third floor and jogged up, taking two steps at a time. Karen Aagaard was waiting for her on the landing. They had always been on good terms, and Heloise liked and respected her, but they had never been close. Heloise knew that Aagaard lived in ritzy Hellerup, that she was married and that her son was in the military, but apart from that she had no notion of her editor’s private life—or vice versa. It was a level of intimacy that suited Heloise just fine, especially today.
“Let me guess: you don’t believe in umbrellas, is that it?” Aagaard studied Heloise’s soaked clothing quizzically.
Heloise smiled and shook off some of the raindrops. “Yeah, I’m just not that grown up.”
“I assume that you’ve read today’s editorial?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Heloise gave a light shrug. “What else could Mikkelsen write?”
“I suppose you’re right, but he was seriously pissed off when I spoke with him earlier. If you hadn’t produced so many of the paper’s scoops this year, I really think he’d kick you out on your ass. I’m still not a hundred percent sure you’re in the clear.”
“Thanks. That was exactly the pep talk I was hoping for.” Heloise opened the door to the open plan office. “After you, boss.”
“There’s nothing more to the story than what you’ve already told us, is there? Something The Shovel might dig up that I should know about?”
“Such as?”
“I don’t know. Anything that might make you appear worse than you already do? And a spontaneous no would have been much more reassuring, let me tell you.” Karen Aagaard looked at her over the rim of her tortoiseshell glasses.
Blurred images of naked bodies, sweat, and salty kisses appeared like a runaway slideshow in Heloise’s mind. She wanted to be helpful, because she didn’t enjoy being the author of a story that didn’t hold up to scrutiny, but she also didn’t want to share details of her private life. Not only because it was none of her boss’s business. She was also too proud to ever admit to trusting Martin.
“No,” she said, placing a reassuring hand on her editor’s shoulder. “There’s nothing more to the story. Let’s just get it over with, shall we? Where’s The Shovel?”
“He should be here by now.”
Karen Aagaard stuck her head inside the conference room halfway down the editorial corridor. There was no one there.
“He was still in his car when he called me, so perhaps he hasn’t arrived yet. Grab yourself a coffee, but stay on this floor. I’ll let you know when he gets here.”
On her way to the kitchenette, Heloise passed the pigeonholes. It was rare for her to receive actual mail these days. Today, however, a big pile of letters was waiting for her.
She carried the letters and a cup of instant coffee to the investigative section, swung both feet up on her desk, and opened the first envelope. It was a heavy thing, nine pages of densely written outrage about the use of child labor in India. The same theme recurred in letters two and three, while the fourth contained a small, yellow Post-it, bearing a single word:
Slut!
“Wow, that’s original,” she said, holding up the Post-it note to her colleague, Mogens Bøttger, who was sitting on the other side of the double desk.
He looked up from his notepad and reacted with an unimpressed raising of an eyebrow.
Heloise scrunched up the note along with the envelope and threw the paper ball toward the wastebasket at the far end of the room. It landed on the uneven herringbone parquet floor well clear of its target.
“Swish!” Bøttger said in mock admiration. “The NBA will surely be waiting to scoop you up if Mikkelsen kicks you out.”
“He won’t.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure, if I were you.”
“He won’t fire me,” Heloise stated.
She picked up the next envelope and started opening it with.
“He fired the one with the warts,” Bøttger declared in a singsong voice, referring to a fellow reporter who had just been canned for having invented a source. The firing had echoed throughout the building and left chief editor Mikkelsen with a burst blood vessel in one eye. He had been incandescent with rage.
“She damn well deserved it,” Heloise said, “but my case is completely different. I acted in good faith. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t do things differently if I could turn back time—the bright light of hindsight and all that—but Mikkelsen and I, we . . .” Heloise shook her head dismissively. “He’s not going to fire me.”
She unfolded the next letter and started reading. Bøttger went on talking, but the sound of his voice faded away as a cold, uncomfortable tingling spread inside her.
It was a short letter.
It contained only a few sentences written in a neat hand, but the words made her mouth go dry and a cold, bubbly sensation fill her chest.
Bøttger’s voice cut through just as Heloise realized she had stopped breathing. “But you really shouldn’t let anyone tell you—”
“Mogens,” she interrupted him. “Didn’t you cover a story a few years ago about a lawyer who was murdered?”
“Huh?” He looked blankly at her across the desks and straightened up slowly in his chair when he saw that she was serious. “Who are we talking about?”
“That lawyer who was murdered. Was it in Kokkedal or Hørsholm or somewhere up north? What was his name?”
“His name was Mossing. And he lived in Taarbæk. What about him?”
“Did you cover that story?”
In the investigative section, Mogens Bøttger specialized in crime and social affairs, while Heloise was responsible for business and consumer issues and only rarely dealt with violent crimes.
“No, I was still on the news desk back then. It must have been Ulrich. Why are you asking?”
“What was her name? The woman they think did it?”
“Anna Kiel. And it’s not something they just think. They know. She was caught leaving the scene on a security camera in Mossing’s driveway. And when I say caught, I mean she stood staring directly into the lens for several minutes before leaving the crime scene without trying to remove or damage the camera. Covered in blood from head to toe, frozen like a statue. She just stood there gazing at the camera without moving a muscle. A total psycho.”
“Where is she now?”
“I don’t know. She was never found. Why?”
Heloise went over to Bøttger and placed the letter in front of him. She leaned over him while they both read it.
Dear Heloise.
Have you ever seen someone bleed to death?
It’s a unique experience. Or at least it was for me, but then again, I had been looking forward to it for a long time.
I know they say I have committed a crime.
That I must be found, tamed and punished.
I haven’t.
I won’t be.
I can’t be.
I already have been.
. . . And I’m not done yet.
I wish I could tell you more, but I have promised not to.
While I am denied your presence, Heloise, give me at least through your words some sweet resemblance of yourself.
Anna Kiel
Excerpt courtesy of the publisher.
Book Details:
Publisher : Crooked Lane Books (October 12, 2021)
Language : English
ISBN-10 : 1643858289
ISBN-13 : 978-1643858289
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