Worn by his daughter Puck's appetite for macabre detail, John Ensted, Professor of Egyptology, is sceptical about their prospects of a peaceful holiday. but as they set off for Skoga, the small Swedish lakeside town, Puck and her husband,Edwin Bure, are in high spirits. However, the Professor's fears are soon justified. Thotmes III, the Professor's sacred white cat, is the first to discover the body of the young man behind the lilac bushes. Plunged into the victim's heart is the Professor's Egyptian paper knife...but who is the man and why was he killed? Puck's insatiable curiosity leads her to make her own enquiries and soon discovers that well kept secrets and ancient scandal smoulder beneath the surface of the idyllic town. When Christer Wick, well known Stockholm detective, arrives, the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place. NO MORE MURDERS is a crime fiction classic that helped inspire the new BBC4 drama Crimes of Passion.

マリア・ラングの本作は、スウェーデンののどかな風景の裏に潜む人間の業を冷徹に描いた傑作です。エジプト学教授の父と好奇心旺盛な娘パックが織りなす知的な対話は、謎解きに格調高い彩りを添えています。古風な因習と情熱的な欲望が交錯し、平和な日常が崩壊していく様を克明に綴る筆致こそが、本作の持つ文学的真髄と言えるでしょう。 ドラマ版との相乗効果も見逃せません。映像が五〇年代の北欧の美を強調する一方で、原作は登場人物の心に潜む暗い影を重層的に掘り下げています。文字から立ち上る心理描写と映像が補完する耽美な空気感。この両輪が合わさることで、北欧ミステリ特有の静謐な狂気がより鮮烈に浮かび上がり、読者の心を強く惹きつけるのです。