A pretty good police procedural. I also thought it felt very authentic to how the Copenhagen police department might go about solving multiple crimes. If I have a complaint it’s that one of the murders wrapped up a little too easy but then again....I am sure that actually happens. ( )

DNF. Got bored and lost interest. ( )

A young woman is found strangled in a park and a male journalist has been killed in the backyard of the Royal Hotel in Copenhagen. Detective Louise Rick, the only female homicide detective, is put on the case of the young girl but very soon becomes entangled in solving the other homicide as well when it turns out her best friend, journalist Camilla Lind, knew the murdered man.

Karoline Wissinge, a young nurse, was found dead a year after her younger brother died in a highly publicized car accident. On the same night, Frank Sorensen, a newspaper reporter on the crime beat, was found in the hotel parking lot. Initially the death was thought to be the result of a drunken fall, but it is later confirmed to be murder, with all the earmarks of a hit. Are the two deaths related? Does it have anything to do with the burgeoning drug scene?

Detective Rick is a pragmatic, by the book detective while Lind is a hungry crime reporter, driven by ambition and sometimes volatile in nature, who will not pass up any chance to get a story, even if it puts her life in danger. Can Rick keep Lind alive and out of trouble as the two grapple with two high profile murders?

Midnight Witness is a very appropriate book to review after Val McDermid’s 1979, the last mystery I read, for several reasons. First, McDermid is considered Scotland’s Queen of Crime while Blaedel is Denmark’s Queen of Crime. Both feature female journalists as central characters and highlight the difficulties faced by women in male dominated professions. And finally, both novels have good plots and endearing characters. They are books about crime but also books about friendship and loyalty.

One reviewer said that “…the Louise Rick novels are must-reads for fans of Scandinavia’s female police detectives, such as Anne Holt’s Hanne Wilhelmsen and Helene Tursten’s Irene Huss.” Another reviewer said that this is a good entrée into Nordic Noir and a third reviewer said Louise Rick is “…an approachable, binge-able crime series.” I found the book to be a short, easy read, and it kept my attention throughout. More than a cozy but less than a blood and guts police procedural, Midnight Witness will satisfy fans of both.

Sara Blaedel is perfect for fans of Lisa Gardner, Tami Hoag and Tess Gerritsen. ( )