Mysteries to Die For Book Club: "Faceless Killers" by Henning Mankell

Name: Mysteries to Die For Book Club: "Faceless Killers" by Henning Mankell
Start: 2026-05-21T14:00:00-04:00
End: 2026-05-21T15:00:00-04:00
Location: Bookstore1Sarasota

Schedule

Thu May 21 2026 at 02:00 pm to 03:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Bookstore1Sarasota | Sarasota, FL

Join Elsie Souza for an international reading journey through the world's most captivating mysteries, from Nordic noir to British whodunits.
About this Event

The Mysteries to Die For Book Club is led by Elsie Souza, reading M**der, mayhem, and marvelous prose. From Nordic noir to British whodunits, each book reveals how crime and storytelling cross borders, and what our favorite detectives can teach us about culture, justice, and the human heart. May's selection takes us to southern Sweden with one of the most iconic detectives in modern crime fiction: Kurt Wallander.
This month, we're reading Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell - the gripping first novel in the internationally bestselling Wallander series. When an elderly couple is brutally attacked at their remote farmhouse, the dying victim utters a single word: "foreign." What follows is not just a search for a killer, but a slow-burning investigation into fear, prejudice, and the unraveling of a community. As Wallender navigates the case (and his own personal struggles), Mankell delivers a masterclass in atmosphere, tension, and the moral complexities beneath the surface of everyday life.
We will meet in person at our store location at The Mark, 117 S. Pineapple Ave. The book club is $17, which includes a copy of Faceless Killers to be picked up at Bookstore1 any time before our meeting. Themed refreshments will be served!

ABOUT THE BOOK:

It was a senselessly violent crime: on a cold night in a remote Swedish farmhouse an elderly farmer is bludgeoned to death, and his wife is left to die with a noose around her neck. And as if this didn’t present enough problems for the Ystad police Inspector Kurt Wallander, the dying woman’s last word is foreign, leaving the police the one tangible clue they have–and in the process, the match that could inflame Sweden’s already smoldering anti-immigrant sentiments.
Unlike the situation with his ex-wife, his estranged daughter, or the beautiful but married young prosecuter who has peaked his interest, in this case, Wallander finds a problem he can handle. He quickly becomes obsessed with solving the crime before the already tense situation explodes, but soon comes to realize that it will require all his reserves of energy and dedication to solve.

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK:

ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE‘S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME • The mystery thriller series that inspired the Netflix crime drama Young Wallander • From the dean of Scandinavian noir, the first riveting installment in the internationally bestselling and universally acclaimed Kurt Wallander series.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Henning Mankell’s novels have been translated into forty-five languages and have sold more than forty million copies worldwide. He was the first winner of the Ripper Award and also received the Glass Key and the Crime Writers’ Association Golden Dagger, among other awards. His Kurt Wallander mysteries have been adapted into a PBS television series starring Kenneth Branagh. During his life, Mankell divided his time between Sweden and Mozambique, where he was artistic director of the Teatro Avenida in Maputo. He died in 2015.