Rising Star: Camilla Lackberg

Just at the moment, many economists must be pondering an alternative profession. Camilla Läckberg proves the benefits of making that break.

Born in 1974, an economics graduate of Gothenburg University, she toiled in the dismal science before taking a writing course and switching tracks. Her crime novels have now topped the Swedish charts four times. In the wake of the aptly chilling 'The Ice Princess', 'The Preacher' (HarperCollins) now appears in Steven T Murray's translation.

Set again in the fishing port of Fjällbacka, it sets detective Patrik Hedström the task of connecting two 20-year-old murders with a new wave of deadly disappearances. As in other Nordic crime writing, the abuses of religious faith loom large as a wildly devout clan comes under suspicion. And a tormented mind turns out to be the coldest place on earth.