The Corpse Flower set in Copenhagen Anne Mette Hancock

Submitted: 28th April 2022

Copenhagen’s Corpse Flower

Who knows what a corpise flower is? Is it a clever title like a play on words or is it an actual flower? Well, that made me want to read the book and when I found out the answer…

The Corpse Flower is one that smells like…yes, a dead body apparently. I have not been unlukcy enough to see or smell one but a quick google was enough to think that I prefer daffodils any day.

However, such a title was enough to draw me in…

BookTrail the locations in The Corpse Flower

Boarding Pass Information : The Corpse Flower

Destination : Copenhagen

Author guide: Anne Mette Hancock

Genre: crime fiction

Food and drink to accompany: Danish pastry with coffee.

#Bookreview

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BookTrail the locations in The Corpse Flower

The Corpse Flower is the first instalment in the Heloise Kaldan and Detective Erik Schafer and this is a cracking thriller. Firmly set in the Danish city of Copenhagen.

First of all, that title struck me as it seems so odd. Was there such a thing as a flower called a Corpse Flower. Well, I had to google this and it turns out it is an Indonesian plant (real name Amorphophallus titanium). Its called this because the flower emits a smell similar to rotting flesh apparently. Lovely!

I found this to be a unique and captivating read as there’s lots of psychological threads here. This is a novel of revenge but not as you might think. OF course, on the other side of the coin, there’s forgiveness too.

However, this is one dark read. Storylines involving murder and a dead lawyer as well as a letter from the past….The police have a lot of clues to solve and the author takes the reader along for the ride. This did really well in its native Denmark and I’m not surprised. I liked the fact that one of the main police characters was a woman and the suspect of a murder is also a woman. The links between the two were interesting to discover.

Talking of Denmark, the city of Copenhagen provides an ominous backdrop and this is gives a keen sense of time and place to proceedings. There’s a link to France too and things get really realy dark. Disturbingly so. If books about child abuse and the like turn your stomach as they do mine, this is never going to be a book I want to remember but it is hard hitting and powerful . That is a given. Just a bit too similar to Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in the level of violence and disturbing goings on for my liking.