Mystery fans have long grown used to the idea that certain places on Earth are a magnet for mystery. These places are usually rural, often scenic, sometimes even cosy – and yet, year after year, the community is plagued by a string of mysterious murders that only the resident crime-solvers can puzzle out.
Don’t be fooled by the sunny weather, stylish beach houses and well-off locals: the tiny Swedish resort island of Sandhamn is at the top of the twisty mysteries list – or at least, it is if Sandhamn Murders is any guide.
Based on Viveca Sten’s hugely popular series of crime novels, it’s now in its eleventh season (and 25th year). Right from day one, there’s been two reasons to keep coming back: mysteries that consistently turn out to be more complex than they first seem, and the personal dramas of financial lawyer and prosecutor Nora Linde (Alexandra Rapaport).
You’d think her day job would be enough to keep her busy, but first renting and now owning a summer home on Sandhamn has given her a front seat to murder. Over the years she’s tackled everything from murders on party boats to alcohol smugglers turned kidnappers, drug overdoses to school shootings, human trafficking to the discovery of a couple of thirty year-old skeletons in a basement.
It might be a resort island, but on Sandhamn, crime never takes a holiday.
Fighting financial crimes might be how she makes her living, but on Sandhamn a mystery (each investigation plays out across two one-hour episodes) could just as easily kick off with a body being found on a beach or tangled up in a fisherman’s net. Seems that when you live on an island, a lot of strange things wash up on shore.
Her personal life hasn’t been short of twists either. While her ex-husband is technically still around, and her two (now grown) children occasionally drop by, her first big island love (and the island’s chief detective) Thomas is long gone. She clearly has a type: she then fell for his replacement, Alexander Forsman (Nicolai Cleve Broch).
The chemistry was there right from the start. Unfortunately, so were Alex’s efforts to reconnect with his ex for the sake of his daughter. For several years, it seemed like the stars were never going to align for the pair – not that their unrequited longings ever stopped either of them from solving whatever mysteries came their way.
Last season saw Alex struggling to recover from a police station bombing from the end of the previous season, which concluded with a post-explosion cliffhanger that involved him flat-lining, so it was hardly surprising he wasn’t fully up to speed for months afterwards. No spoilers as to how it all played out; let’s just say that when this season begins, Alex is back in shape, Nora is back at work, and the pair haven’t seen each other for months.
Everyone’s finally at a point where they can go their separate ways and live their own lives… and then a business leader dies at an event he’s hosting on the island. It was no ordinary party either: he was launching a charity foundation to honour the memory of his dead daughter, and it doesn’t take long for financial irregularities to become a possible motive for the crime.
For Alex and long-time partner Valpen, AKA “Puppy” (Julius Fleischanderl) – he’s never going to shake that nickname, though he’s finally starting to put his rookie days behind him - this is all business as usual. Then the island’s new police chief, Rakel (Marall Nasiri) throws a spanner in the works. If there’s a possible financial angle to the murder, who better to handle the legal side of the investigation than Nora? And just like that, the gang’s back together… with more than a few awkward silences thrown into the mix.
The situation might be new, but the mysteries are as reliable as always, with the twists coming thick and fast (you know you’re in for a wild ride when one of the murder suspects is themselves kidnapped). The new chief is clearly setting the agenda here, and Nora’s already taking a shine to her; at least Alex has Puppy to help him deal with having his ex on the case.
It wouldn’t be the Sandhamn Murders without a steady undercurrent of unrequited love. It also wouldn’t be the Sandhamn Murders without murders – and kidnappings, and robberies gone wrong, and police cover-ups, and financial wrongdoings, and surprise twists, and an ever-growing list of suspects for all of the above.
It might be a resort island, but on Sandhamn, crime never takes a holiday.
Sandhamn Murders season 11 is now streaming at SBS On Demand. Seasons 1-10 are also available now.
Stream free On Demand
Sandhamn Murders
series • Crime drama • Swedish
MA15+
series • Crime drama • Swedish
MA15+
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