Borkman's Point, by Hakan Nesser

I found this book in a Canadian bookstore and just finished it, and now I will look for more by this author.  It is more engaging than many of the other Swedish mysteries I have read, it is well plotted, and the characters are just plain NICE.  
After two grisly axe murders in the small coastal town of Kaalbringen, Inspector Van Veeteren is called away from his vacation to help the local police find the killer.  The police chief is soon to retire; the two experienced cops become friends over good wine and chess, while they and the rest of their force gather information and assess clues.  The policemen are a diverse bunch with varying degrees of ability. My favorite is Officer Bang, who is usually sent out for pastries; he always salutes and marches right off on his mission.
Nesser uses small, telling details to describe each major character, including the possibilities of romance or family issues, but the solution of the crimes is always foremost.  He has a wry sense of humor which keeps the reader entertained even as the clues pile up.
I see from the Amazon website that there are several more Neser books available.  I'm ready!

A Bitter Truth, by Charles Todd

Among the several parent-child mystery-writing teams currently producing, Charles Todd is one of my favorites.  It is a mother and son team, unclear how they have divided the work but their novels are entertaining, if rather bland.  They are working on two series, both set during World War I in Britain: Ian Rutledge is one detective, a shell-shocked officer haunted by one of his men; the other, which I prefer, is the series featuring Bess Crawford, a nursing sister.
In A Bitter Truth, Bess, home on a brief holiday leave, finds a woman in distress on her doorstep and takes her in.  As a result she is gathered into the web of secrets in a large unhappy family, whose problems include the death of a beautiful young daughter several years previously. Bess tries to help her new friend untangle some misundestandings, but their efforts are complicated by a couple of murders.
It's a leisurely read, and not a violent book by any means.  Bess herself seems rather wooden, but I find the setting interesting, the background believable, and the stories a nice relief from more demanding fiction. I'm pretty fed up with Ian Rutledge, though, so it is only the Bess Crawford thread that I'll be continuing to read.

People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks

The Book, in this case, is the Sarajevo Haggadah, many hundreds of years old, one of the earliest Jewish illuminated books.  In Brooks' novel, a gifted and dedicated conservator, entrusted with salvaging the book, finds herself wondering about its history.  She discovers certain small clues, which lead the reader into a series of historical set pieces dramatising its possible history.
The idea of working backwards through history is a promising one for fiction, and I found the plot engaging my attention throughout.  Unfortunately, the individual incidents are cliched: we have the Holocaust episode, the Expulsion of the Jews Episode, and so on.  By the time we reach the climax of the story, once again in contemporary history, we are almost ready to accept one more predictable tale, but Brooks is better than that; she gives us a rousing climax and finale.
I enjoyed it but I was disappointed that so much of the book was so predictable.

Snow Job, by William Deverell

There's something wonderful about Canadian humor. Sometimes it is folksy and traditional, like the stories told on CBC broadcasting, which may involve ice skating or lost keys or the memories of a childhood fishing trip.  Some classic Canadian humorists told tall tales just for the fun of including a pun, or a surprise ending.  Some, like William Deverell, enjoy producing antic, complicated, fast-moving, barely-exaggerated tales based on satirical views of Canadian politics.
This tale involves such ingredients as election strategies, a lawyer who is a reformed alcoholic married to a Green Party member of Parliament, a group of women who wander away from their tour group in exactly the wrong country, a pot-dealing shade-tree mechanic with ambitions to fly hot-air balloons, and a spy with emotional issues. That's only a small part of the cast of characters.
There is also political assassination, coups, ruthless megalomanical rulers, and eco-terrorism.  But in a good way.  Savannah didn't mean to climb into the wrong bed; she has a sleep-walking disability.
Just hop on, buckle up, and settle down for a romp through a political thicket which reminds us that as off-putting as our electoral politics might be, Canadian loonies are not restricted to the dollar coin.

Thirty-three teeth , by Colin Cotterill

 "Dr. Siri Pauboun, reluctant national coroner, confused psychic, disheartened communist," is the national coroner of Laos.  At seventy-three, he may seem a bit old for the job but there aren't many opposing candidates; Laos in the 1970s is struggling to survive following the departure of the Americans and the Russians and everybody else who has been making a mess of the country. In this novel, the second of the series, Siri begins to learn about his relationship with spirits who seem to be visiting him, as he tries to discover who or what has caused the deaths of several people in rather gruesome fashion.
We are in for many stories in this series, all of them fascinating. Siri's friends, the bureaucrat Civilai, the policeman Phosy, nurse Dtui who is large and earnest and brilliant and shy, come and go, against a backdrop of Vientiane where it is always hot (Siri on his motorcycle: " it was like riding into the blast of a hair-dryer set on hot.") and the struggle to find food and just go about the business of living is relentless.
The mysteries are not highly complex -- we read them for the pleasures of sharing experiences with the characters.  The author has a drily humorous voice and has developed his characters to be diverse, loving, and brave.
I have read this and one other, later, book and I look forward to finding more.