Swedish / Sweden
Mördarens apa
(The murderer’s monkey)
Wegelius, Jakob
(text/illus.)
Stockholm: Bonnier Carlsen, 2014. – 617 p.
ISBN 978-91-638-7738-4
Injustice | History 1900 | Journey | Lisbon | Monkey | Murder
Reading age: 8+
White Ravens issue: 2015
Lisbon around 1900: Chimpanzee Sally Jones, engineer on the “Hudson Queen”, must witness Chief, captain of the “Sally Jones” and her best friend, being falsely accused of murder and thrown in jail. Sally Jones finds shelter with fado singer Ana Molina and a new job with the instrument maker Luigi Fidaro; yet day and night she still thinks of Chief and wishes to prove his innocence. A winding path that leads all the way to India may make this possible. “Mördarens ape” feels charmingly antiquated thanks to its setting and the story’s accompanying intricate black-and-white drawings. Despite or perhaps because of this, it has everything that a good book needs: a captivating plot, masterfully presented. With his great enthusiasm for storytelling, Jakob Wegelius creates a detective-adventure novel featuring original characters and a gradually building level of suspense.