"Green Dust". A Danish book about a police officer who's investigating what looks to be an 'ordinary' murder, but which turns out to be tied into a drug empire. Quite an interesting read, especially since it describes the life of a Danish police officer quite thoroughly and, according to a friend of mine who works for the police, rather accurately.

Reread in 2014 and weirdly enough d this a lot more than on my first read-through, so I've upgraded my rating from 3 to 4 stars. Quite amusing to read this after having gotten addicted to CSI and discovering how many things are much the same ( AFIS) and how many absolutely aren't (CSI are playing a bit fast and loose with how long it takes to get results from a DNA test).

I did think the friendship between Louise and Camilla was a bit more tell than show in this book unfortunately. It wasn't always entirely obvious why they were friends, but if I recall correctly, this improves in the later books.2005 2014 2021 ...more15 s Javier903 243

2,5 ??

Si tuviera que usar una sola palabra para definir “Testigo de medianoche” sería decepcionante. No sé si fue culpa de la traducción (había algunas frases que parecían traducidas con el Google translate) o que es la primera novela de la autora, pero no me ha parecido para nada memorable.

A pesar de haber dos tramas y dos investigaciones ninguna de las dos es especialmente destacable. No entiendo por qué prácticamente todo el libro se centra en la investigación de la chica asesinada para que luego la resolución sea sobre el caso del periodista muerto, y el asesino de la chica sea nombrado casi de pasada en los cinco últimos minutos.

¿Cómo no es posible que nadie en todo el Cuerpo de Policía ni una periodista que se supone muy avispada pudiesen averiguar quién estaba detrás del asesinato del periodista cuando yo me lo imaginé prácticamente desde el principio?

La historia se centró demasiado en las vidas personales de Louise y Camilla, hay escenas muy alargadas y demasiados personajes (¿en serio son necesarios 7 policías diferentes?). Al principio me costó un poco centrarme con tantos nombres, especialmente porque es un audiolibro y muchos de ellos sonaban parecidos.

A pesar de no haberme parecido una novela especialmente destacable seguiré con la serie, porque me la han recomendando encarecidamente y aún tengo esperanzas de que mejore.

9 s Emma58 15

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??? ??? ???? ?? ???????????, ??????????? ????? ???? ???? ?????? ??? ????? ??????-??? ??? ?????? ??? ?????? ???????????????? ?????? ????????, ? ?????????? ?? ???????? ?????????? ??? ????? ??? ?????????? ??? ??? ????? ??? ??????????.
???? woman power ?? ??????, ???? badass ??????????????? ???, ??? ?? ????????????? ??? ??????? ???????? ????????? ????????????, ????????? ??? ????????????? ?????????????? ????? ?? ?????????? ??? ?? ???????? ??? ???????????.
?????? ??? ????? Sara Blaedel; ????? Sara Blaedel!8 s Tras207 51

3.5/4

A gripping read - if a little stilted at times. Unsure if that is down to the translator or the fact that this was her first book. Possibly a bit of both? I've read the first 2 books in the Undertaker's Daughter series and found them to be much better reads (in terms of the quality of the writing). But I enjoyed this sufficiently to want to persevere with the series.9 s María Alejandra1,132 50

Aburrido, lentísimo, sin chispa ni acción. Ni cuando se descubre al asesino pasa nada. Personajes meh…destacándose Camilla, la amiga de la policía por insoportable. Increíble que la policía creyera todo de puntillas y no sospechara nada. No lo recomiendo.8 s Alan1,212 70

Generally speaking, I'm a fan of Nordic Noir, especially the works of Jo Nesbø, Jussi Adler-Olsen and the Millennium/The Girl books, which is why I decided to finally give Sara Blædel's series a try. In those other series, one of the keys to the plots is that the protagonists are all damaged in one way or another, and through their investigations they find redemption and new life. The Midnight Witness (a.k.a. Green Dust) isn't really the same, aside from being a crime novel. While the writing itself is quite solid, the story line isn't quite the dark, brooding kind, and is more police procedural. The novel is ostensibly about Louise Rick, a homicide detective whose only real "damage" is the fact that while going to deliver bad news to a victim's next of kin becomes overwhelmed with grief and gets sick, which is frowned upon by her colleagues and superiors. Moreover, nearly half the book is about her newspaper reporter friend Camilla who betrays Rick's trust by writing a story based on something she was told in confidence, and who comes across as being whiny and too quick-tempered over how she is treated at the paper and how she feels she should be treated. Though this ends up being central to the story, the effect makes the novel feel more some NBC weekly buddy cop show - The Uneasy Detective and The Hot Tempered Journalist. Plus, there was what presumably was a major "unexpected" plot twist toward the end, which I totally saw coming about halfway through the book. I wouldn't say the novel was that bad, but I didn't it as much as I thought I would, and am debating if I want to give more of the series a try.6 s David229 8

"The Midnight Witness" by Sara Blaedel is a murder mystery set in Copenhagen. I hadn't realized that this is Blaedel's debut novel. It was published in Danish in 2004 under the title "Grønt Støv" (Green Dust). I read the edition published in 2018 - as "The Midnight Witness" - which is the first English translation. The sleuth is a homicide detective - Louise Rick - of the Copenhagen Police Department. As expected, it reads as a police procedural but with surprisingly little attention to actual clues. The conflicts between Louise and her friend Camille, and Louise and the other cops, drives most of the drama. Oddly, the initial murder of a young woman peters out. The murders of two reporters takes over the story but Louise doesn’t solve this case. She is there as the solution is given to her by a secondary character. As for that young woman's murder way at the beginning of the novel, Louise seems to solve that 'off-stage' from pretty minimal clues. In about two off-handed sentences tucked into the last chapter, Louise tells us who did it but by then I had more-or-less forgotten about that particular crime ten or twelve chapters back.read-in-2019-fiction5 s Darlene667 6

This is the first book I have read by this Danish author and I definitely will be reading more from Ms Blaedel. Although I know absolutely nothing about Copenhagen I really did enjoy this book. It was fun getting to know a smart female detective, Louise Rick and her best friend, reporter Camilla Lind. They are both stubborn and determined women. Rick, being a homicide detective , often has to be very careful what she tells her friend about an investigation because Camilla is a crime reporter who is always looking for an inside scoop.5 s Shawna3,592 4,705

2 stars - Crime/Mystery2023-reads 2stars audiobook ...more4 s Marichu278 97

En mi blog: https://lecturasdemarichu.blogspot.co...

Una serie a la que le tenía ganas desde hace tiempo pero no estaban editados en español todos ni correlativos, ahora Jentas los ha reeditado en orden y acaba de publicar el octavo con lo que, a por ellos!! Empiezo con el primero y ya vamos viendo...

Bueno pues no está mal, es una policiaca típica nórdica aunque es light, no hay escenas escabrosas ni gores, lo típico, asesinatos que pueden estar conectados o no....asesino que pasa desapercibido...

Los personajes principales son la detective Louise Rick y su amiga la periodista Camilla Lind, ambas están metidas en la investigación de los asesinatos que les pueden pasar factura personal y laboralmente. Los personajes que los rodean a destacar son el compañero de Louise y su pareja, ambos le dan algo más de aderezo a la historia aunque sin tirar muchos cohetes.

El asesinato de un periodista y una joven ponen a trabajar al departamento de Louise y al periódico de Camilla. Rick tiene que descubrir al asesino y Camilla dar la noticia antes de que se les adelante algún otro periódico. La amistad entre ambas puede parecer una ventaja aunque en ocasiones les da problemas de ética y confianza.

La detective Rick es la única mujer de su departamento y en la trama refleja algunas pinceladas aun sobre la discriminación de la mujer en ciertos sectores laborales.

La protagonista me gusta bastante y en general la trama está bastante bien si no fuera por la lentitud y por tanto nombre ilegible que parece que estamos ante un catálogo de Ikea y que hace que te descentres de la historia.
4 s Kathy3,576 252

I'm on a roll...yet another book I do not care to finish. Not for me.abandoned3 s oshizu340 30

This book was a 3.5 star mystery for me. After agonizing over whether to round it up or down, I have rounded it down. I didn't mind about having guessed the true perp halfway through the story.
What bothered me about this book was the homicide detective Louise Rick's best friend, Camilla Lind.
I didn't Camilla one bit. And since Camilla is apparently the protagonist's permanent sidekick in this series, I'm not sure I can continue to Book 2.
Can Camilla's portrayal be blamed on the translation?4-2020-read-in mystery-crime-fiction region-europe-north ...more3 s Roger1,068 11

The Midnight Witness is the first book in Sara Blaedel’s Louise Rick series of police procedurals. This initial offering is a little slow at first but in this novel Blaedel is setting all her pieces on the board-and rest assured the pace does pick up. Something is rotten in Denmark-specifically Copenhagen. Rick finds herself investigating the murder of a young woman found in a public park as well as that of a veteran crime reporter. I think it’s a really good idea to spice up your reading journey by looking at offerings from other countries. The rhythms and language choices are just a little different from what Americans are used to and it is refreshing to experience a different slice of life. I find most Nordic crime fiction to be really accessible and enjoyable. You should check out authors Blaedel, Asa Larsson, Jo Nesbo, and Camilla Lackberg. 3 s T.J. FoxAuthor 1 book13

I'm not certain if the major barrier for me here was the cultural differences in how other countries' police forces operate or something entirely different, but I just could not get on board with this and the way any of the police officer characters were presented. I don't think a single one came across as anything other than an amateurish, bumbling idiot. So many different officers with their hands in investigative pies and yet they don't really know what those other officers or investigators are doing or what they've found out?! There was no clear process of procedure of things that would automatically, routinely happen in every investigation. The whole police side of this book just felt clumsy at all levels. It is kind of terrifying to think this is the way actual police departments may work in other countries.

The two major characters, Louise and Camilla, were kind of horrible. Louise's character came across as completely flat. I never got any kind of sense of her personality other than she is rather cold and unemotional. Except we are told she broke down, so I guess that means she has emotional depth? Camilla. What do I say about Camilla? Um... she is that character in every scary movie that everyone watching is screaming at the screen, "DON'T GO IN THERE!" knowing they are actually going to be that stupid. Oh, and she is an emotional basket case, about as unstable as 100 year old dynamite.

Outside of being kind of blindsided by the lack of what I have come to expect in a typical police/crime drama (things process, procedure, basic intellect and deduction rather than snap judgements and assumptions), I was bored. Almost exactly nothing of note happens in probably 80% of this book. The majority of that only happens in the last 10%. The plot was just really uninteresting. Probably because you spend most of it wondering where the actual, experienced police are.3 s Ana382 2

Very disappointing book with predictable ending and tons of unnecessary characters with strange names. I get that this is Danish book and that names are Danish but I just couldn't keep up with all those strange names. There was merely a plot, nothing special was happening, investigation about two murders was moving slowly, we didn't have any valuable information or evidence until somewhere near the end. Louise Rick's life got most attention which made me think that focus of the book is mainly on her and not on the criminal cases. Person responsible for all that drug troubles and homicides was obvious and there weren't any surprises. I also had problems with all those unnecessary colleagues of Louise, there were to many of them.
I wonder if maybe it is a bad translation because I read book on English that's also not my native language. So maybe the combination of both made this book a nightmare to me.

Camilla was getting on my nerves with her recklessness, for one reporter she should have been smarter and keep a low profile.
I will continue reading Louise Rick's adventures because after reading Missing Girls (book that is later in the series), in order to continue to Killing forest, I realized that I need to read the previous ones to understand context because past relationships keep coming up.
But honestly, the worst Criminal novel I have read so far!3 s VickiLee1,105 1 follower

The novel begins on an interesting enough premise - a young woman is found dead after a night out with friends and a well-known as well-known journalist, two seemingly unrelated deaths. The novel is heavy on characters and Louise Ricks, the primary protagonist, a hard-working police officer and her friend Cassandra, a journalist, get involved in the who and why of these murders.

I didn’t feel particularly empathic towards any of the characters as they were relatively shallow and one dimensional. They were either happy or mad and there wasn’t much more emotional dimension than that. They also seemed very focused on self,

Then the plot veered off into drug related matters and that’s where it lost me. I’ve grown bored with drug trafficking plots that seem to be a favorite for folks. There were quality aspects to the novel, enough to capture my interest and keep me reading, but I found the plot predictable and lacking in innovative subject matter.crime journalists nordic ...more3 s Alejandra ArévaloAuthor 3 books1,528

Empieza lento y de concluye en chinga pero está bueno pa pasar el rato. No lo siento adictivo como suele ser la novela escandinava pero voy a ver qué otras cosas me encuentro de la autora para conocerla más porque dicen que es LA novedad de este género actualmente.3 s Mal WarwickAuthor 31 books444

She may be Denmark's favorite author, but the latest entry in her series of detective novels is disappointing. The Midnight Witness is a police procedural, and so many other stories in that category, the cast is large. Other authors such as Michael Connelly, Ian Rankin, and Joseph Wambaugh manage to keep a tight focus on their protagonists. However, they don't fall into the trap of implying the principals do all the investigative work.

Sara Blaedel only confuses. Her Department A in the Copenhagen Police is full of sketchily drawn characters. And, of course, they all have Danish names that are hard for an American to keep straight. The dialog is sometimes confusing as well. It's difficult at times to tell who's talking. Unfortunately, then, Denmark's favorite novelist disappoints.

The latest in the Louise Rick series by Denmark's favorite author
Louise Rick, Blaedel's protagonist, had been in the Criminal Investigations Department of the Copenhagen Police. One especially brutal case still haunted her. "It took a year before Louise stopped worrying about literally bursting into tears when notifying family members of a death." Now she is with Department A, the special function of which appears to be homicide although the unit also handled rape cases, violent crime, and vice. The investigation Louise is working now involves her closest friend, Camilla Lind, who had "dreamed about becoming a famous war correspondent . . . But something always seemed to sidetrack Camilla, and she had yet to reach any of the world's hot spots." But when a fellow journalist is murdered, Camilla sees a chance to make a name for herself. And Louise is drawn into the murky and dangerous circumstances surrounding the murder.

About the author
Sara Blaedel is the author of the #1 international bestselling series featuring Detective Louise Rick. Her books are published in thirty-seven countries. In 2014 Sara was voted Denmark’s most popular novelist for the fourth time. She is also a recipient of the Golden Laurel, Denmark’s most prestigious literary award. She lives in New York City.mysteries-thrillers2 s Debbie1,014 113

I've seen people say how much they enjoy this series and it's a must read and now I know why! This one was sensational.

Detective Louise Rick is such a strong character but at the same time you see some vulnerability that allows you to connect with her. The story has Rick investigating the case of a young woman strangled in a park and quite soon after, the murder of a journalist. Her best friend Camilla Lind is introduced and woven into the tale, along with Rick's partner and colleagues.

This was a strong police procedural and there was just something special about the characters and setting that really drew me in. I went out right away and reserved the next two at the library.2 s Christopher Peter Schelde Hansen37 29

Lydbog.
God bog når man lige står med opvasken eller er ude på en gåtur. Vil klart forsætte serien!2 s Debra1,659 74

Sara Blædel is among my favorite Nordic Noir authors. If only I spoke Danish -- finding her books might be easier. Luckily, I found this audiobook, narrated by Christine Lakin, on the National Library for the Blind and Print Disabled site!audiobooks mystery-thriller-suspense2 s Lillie945

poor translation coupled with some annoying know-it-all characters2 s - The Polybrary -336 202

~*Be sure to stop by my blog,The Bent Bookworm!*~

The Midnight Witness pulled me in quickly and, barring anything totally off the wall happening, has hooked me for the remainder of this series. I had never read anything in the "nordic noir" genre so I was really eager to see how this would work for me, and it did not disappoint. I felt a kinship with Louise almost immediately, one adrenaline junkie to another.
Suddenly she felt it. All morning she'd been worried it wouldn't show up.
The rush.
The energy came a wave, a familiar feeling that usually came on at a crime scene. It was an injection, adrenaline shooting up her body and into her chest, ending with her scalp prickling. She was ready.
Louise lives for the rush, but it's a pleasant perk to her main goal of getting justice for the victims of crime and their families. I really d the balance of focus on her job and the details of all the workings of the homicide unit with the time spent with her friend/family relationships. I think there was a lot of setup in this book, as in many first-in-a-series books, and we don't get to see much of Louise's back story at all so I'm hopeful that will come more in the sequels.

The story behind the murders here was less compelling than I really wanted it to be, and I was much more interested in the murder of the young woman in the park than that of the journalist. Still, about halfway through I started talking to the characters - a sure sign to myself that I'm invested in the story. I really enjoyed Louise and Camilla's friendship, even while I wonder what kind of trouble a murder detective can get into by being friends with a reporter.

Whenever I read mysteries, I try to form a theory as early in the book as possible. I take notes so that I know exactly where I was in the book when I formed my idea of who-dun-it. My theory kept changing in this one - as soon as I would settle on one suspect, something else would happen and I'd be off on a rabbit trail again. It was great fun. I didn't guess the true murderer until about 20 pages before it was revealed, so huge props to Blaedel on that.

4/5 stars. This is definitely different than most other mystery or thriller books I've read. It's not a thriller - the pace is slower, and it's less gory. There are SOME details of the murder but nothing too extreme. It's also not a cozy mystery - too analytical for that. I guess it's most similar to the Sherlock Holmes type detective novels, but it has more layers of personal relationships in it. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Louise Rick series and Sara Blaedel were brought to my attention by the awesome blog Crime By the Book, and I am so excited to have a new detective series to follow.

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*gasp* Look at me! I finished a book less than a month after buying it!
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