Fans who are missing Inspector Morse, the famous fictional British detective who, unfortunately, has been killed off, should try reading the Inspector Van Veeteren mysteries by Hakan Nesser (translated by Laurie Thompson; Doubleday). Van Veeteren, like Morse, is a curmudgeon who likes classical music and is good enough at his job that he doesn’t have to be polite. The stories have enough twists and turns to keep things moving, but it’s the characters, all of whom carry on (often hilarious) inner monologues that show us what they really think of both their colleagues and the people they have to question, that made me warm to this series. I read both Borkmann’s Point and The Return, during my summer holidays, and I’m watching for the next installment.