1
The Keeper of Lost Causes
In the first Department Q book, homicide detective Carl Mørck blames himself after he and two cops were caught in a shooting. When he returns to work, he’s “promoted” to a new cold case department, where he decides to begin with the case of a disappeared liberal politician who went missing five years ago and is presumed dead.
Carl Mørck tackles another cold case in The Absent One, the brutal double-murder of a brother and sister that took place twenty years ago. Though one of the suspects confessed, Carl doesn’t believe it was solved.
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In the third Department Q book, Carl—along with Assad and Rose—investigate a mysterious message in a bottle written in blood, a cry for help from two brothers imprisoned in a boathouse. Department Q soon realizes they are on the hunt for a serial killer.
The fourth book finds Carl dealing with new evidence in the case that got him sent to Department Q on the first place, so he’s distracted when he’s presented with the case of Rita, who went missing in the 80s. New evidence has just emerged, and Carl, Rose, and Assad learn that numerous other people disappeared the same weekend.
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5
The Marco Effect: A Department Q Novel
The Marco Effect sees Department Q working not quite a cold case. Fifteen-year-old Marco wants to be a normal Danish teenager, but his uncle Zola forces him to steal and beg. When Marco discovers a dead body linked to Zola, he goes on the run. Carl sets out to find (and save) Marco, leading him on a trail that extends outside of Denmark and into the heart of a dark cover-up.
6
The Hanging Girl: A Department Q Novel
Carl and Department Q (which now includes newcomer Gordon) investigate the tragic cold case of a 17-year-old girl who disappeared from the Danish island of Bornholm, only to be found dead hanging from a tree. Over the course of their investigation, they try to stop a string of new murders.
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Rose’s dark past comes to the forefront in the seventh Department Q novel, where Carl and his team are charged with solving the mystery of the death of an elderly woman in a Copenhagen park—a case that has a striking similarity to one from over a decade ago. In addition, Department Q is under pressure to deliver results, and if they don’t solve the case, their department will be shut down.
“Victim 2117” is the name the newspapers give the 2,117th refugee to die in the Mediterranean Sea—but for Department Q, the unnamed victim is a link to Assad’s buried past. Because for a terrorist named Ghaalib, Victim 2117 is step one in a plot years in the making. Can Carl and co. stop the attack before it’s too late?
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The penultimate book in the Department Q series, The Shadow Murders, begins with what appears to be the suicide of a woman on her 60th birthday. Carl is confused why the case is sent to his squad, but his superior is convinced it has to do with an unsolved case from 1988. But soon, he and Department Q are convinced that there is a sinister murder scheme at play.
The 10th and final Department Q novel finds Carl framed for drug trafficking and murder. His Department Q team—Rose, Assad, and Gordon—must disobey direct orders to solve the case, but can they clear his name in time to save his life?
Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, celebrities, the royals, and a wide range of other topics. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram.
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