The stark landscape of the French Pyrenees becomes a darkly oppressive setting for secrets, madness and murder in THE FROZEN DEAD, the highly acclaimed crime novel by Bernard Minier, now available in English translation. It’s the story of the small mountain town of Saint-Martin-de-Comminges, witness to three grisly murders and the outsiders who are trying to catch a killer before he or she strikes again.

The victim of the first murder is actually a horse, and Commandant Martin Servaz wonders why he has been brought into the investigation. But the horse was killed and displayed in a horrific and ritualistic manner, and just happened to have belonged to Éric Lombard, one of the richest and most powerful men in France. The idea that the death and display of the horse was just the beginning of something sinister proves true when, shortly thereafter, a man from Saint-Martin is found murdered --- slowly hung from a bridge, also in a ritualistic way. The murder of a third man from the town, a close friend of the first, confirms that there is a serial killer at large and that other men in that social circle, including the mayor, are in grave danger.

"Minier’s debut, skillfully translated by Alison Anderson, is atmospheric, creepy and mesmerizing. Slower and steadier than American crime novels typically are, Minier builds tension page after page..."

Servaz works hard to put all the pieces together, including the possible connection of these crimes to a string of teenage suicides 15 years earlier. He has the help of enigmatic Captain Irène Ziegler and a local judge, Gabriel Saint-Cyr, but answers and theories are slow to materialize. As the days go by, Servaz begins to feel sick and weak, which hinders his efforts as well. When the DNA of renowned psychopath Julian Hirtmann, institutionalized at the nearby Wargnier Institute, is found at the first crime scene, the investigators also must look at him as a suspect and examine the possibility of a security breach at the Institute. There, a young Swiss psychologist named Diane Berg has just begun a year of intense work on site. She, too, suspects a connection between the facility and the crimes, and begins a secret investigation of her own. No one seems to be telling the whole truth, and no one seems safe as Servaz and his team look to the past to try to stop another brutal murder in Saint-Martin.

Minier’s debut, skillfully translated by Alison Anderson, is atmospheric, creepy and mesmerizing. Slower and steadier than American crime novels typically are, Minier builds tension page after page, only occasionally faltering. The book could be shorter and still successful, but Minier draws readers in with interesting and mysterious characters, intriguing plot developments and a formidable landscape that comes alive on the page. The efforts of Berg, feeling claustrophobic at the Wargnier Institute and doubtful of the commitment she made, nicely mirror the work that Servaz does and the questions he asks about the case.

Servaz is a particularly fascinating character. A lover of Mahler and quoter of Latin, approaching middle age and concerned for the well-being of his teenage daughter, he is hitting a stride in his career and has a good reputation. Minier provides him with enough detailed yet open-ended backstory to suggest that he may appear in a future book, but THE FROZEN DEAD is a terrifically entertaining novel on its own.