January brings us more Sara Blaedel. THE STOLEN ANGEL is the second installment in her Louise Rick series to be published at the beginning of 2018 (following THE RUNNING GIRL) and picks up about six months after the somber events of that worthy title. Kudos to Blaedel’s publisher and translator Martin Aitken for getting readers in the United States up to speed on Blaedel’s productivity and the events of Copenhagen Detective Inspector Louise Rick. Those who have been following Louise closely will welcome THE STOLEN ANGEL, which thus far is Blaedel’s most intriguing work in the series.

As might be expected, the book is comprised of two separate plots that proceed along parallel tracks for a bit before intersecting. This is standard procedure for the majority of contemporary mystery stories, but Blaedel does a particularly good job of using it in two important ways. First, finding the common element between two very diverse plotlines seems almost impossible. Yet bring them together she does, and in THE STOLEN ANGEL, she manages the task while startling the reader. Secondly, Blaedel tends to have the different mysteries sooner rather than later in her books. She does this once again here, springing forth a revelation at about the halfway point that doesn’t change everything but certainly sends the story spinning in a new direction.

"There are a lot of moving parts to the plot, though Blaedel keeps everything well-oiled and moving with nary a squeak as she leads the reader through the book to a series of startling and satisfying conclusions."

Let’s talk about those plots for just a moment. The first involves a collector of sorts whose macabre interests focus on a terrifying tableau that he is constructing, and adding to, as the novel commences. I don’t want to tell you what it is, but it’s sure to send a chill up and down your spine. The second concerns Denmark’s wealthy Sachs-Smith family, which has provided grist for secondary plotlines running through previous volumes in the series. The book’s title refers to a religious icon known as the Angel of Death, which had been exhibited in the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople until its disappearance in 1453. Rumors had long circulated that the Sachs-Smith family had discovered the icon and smuggled it out of Turkey decades earlier.

As we learn early on in THE STOLEN ANGEL, those rumors were true, a secret passed down to immediate members of the family. So when a replica --- also in the family’s hands --- goes missing, and a demand is made for the original, one family member initiates a scheme to locate the original, which has been hidden away for several years. There are a lot of moving parts to the plot, though Blaedel keeps everything well-oiled and moving with nary a squeak as she leads the reader through the book to a series of startling and satisfying conclusions.

Though her next novel, THE UNDERTAKER’S DAUGHTER (a sample of which is included at the end of this book), appears to take place outside of Louise Rick’s world, there is nothing to indicate that we have seen the last of Louise and her Copenhagen environs. That’s a good thing, as THE STOLEN ANGEL will leave both long-term fans of Blaedel and casual readers of her work wanting more.