Small touches in the novel hold up an interesting mirror to America, as when a policeman says about a "slaughterhouse" of a crime scene, "It was worse than you could imagine. And it feels interesting and fresh enough, perhaps partly because it takes place in Sweden, land of exotic names, bitter winters, and police who don't carry guns. Mankell efficiently and compellingly fulfills the mystery-police-procedural genre requirements: brutal murders, red herrings, dead ends, epiphanies, media leaks, social problems, ineffectual government officials, unpredictable action scenes, believable supporting characters, and a flawed but good protagonist. For the rest of the novel, Wallander wrestles with (or ignores or exacerbates) his personal problems as he marshals his policeman techniques, colleagues, and instincts to try to solve the brutal mystery. The only thing that gives him pleasure (albeit mixed with melancholy) is listening to opera. His wife left him three months ago, his once suicidal daughter is now estranged, his demanding and resentful father is going senile, he's visited by a black woman in lonely erotic dreams, he is overweight, and he is not pretty when he drinks. Who could do something like that? And why? And why did the attackers feed couple's horse before vacating the scene of the crime? And can veteran detective Kurt Wallander apprehend the criminals? At forty-two, Wallander is not in great shape. In the summer we take part in shows, performing in front of a public audience.Faceless Killers (1991), Henning Mankell's first Kurt Wallander detective/police novel, opens with an aged Swedish farmer waking up in the middle of the night on Janutrying to dismiss his feeling that something dreadful has just happened: “After all, what could happen here? In the little town of Lenarp, just north of Kade Lake, on the way to beautiful Krageholm Lake, right in the heart of Skane? Nothing ever happens here." He knows that "People like us don't have any enemies." Alas, as he soon learns, his neighbors have just been savagely attacked, the husband bashed and cut to death and the wife beaten and noosed. Wychwood provides training for those wishing to take part in the battle re-enactment with the adequate safety measures.
These range from national, multi-society events such as the Battle of Hastings or the Battle of Camlann at Tintagel, which attract up to 2,000 warriors - infantry, cavalry and archers - and include living history encampments, to smaller events where we are hired to entertain the public with crafts and fighting amongst ourselves.
For instance, we recently performed at Oxford Castle.įighting at a show is very different from fighting at battle practice!You stand in the shield-wall, surrounded by the shoulder companions who fought at your side many times before. Strangers about whom you know nothing are also standing by your side. Your liege-lord is all you share in common.Īs the mist clears, you can see the enemy army assembling. Rank upon rank of your foes draw up in front of you. Will any of your trusted friends be among them? Will you live to feast with them another day? As you watch the enemy in silence, you wonder how many good men are going to fall today. The shield-walls clash, and the battlefield echoes with the Saxon battle cry. In the desperate fray of the hack and slash of close combat you can rely only on your skills and the resolve of your shoulder companions to stay alive. While the brave die in battle, the rest of us laze around a camp-fire. Hang around, chill out, eat sausages and have a look around the village. Living history villages comprise several re-enactor's tents, where we display our crafts, get on with kit making and talk to members of the public.
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