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Life after Burnout
Ipsen has ended his career – according to his superiors and colleagues. He is leaving a top job in the Danish police force, where he was able to work internationally – and he was always successful. But, as is well known, at some point in the famous middle of life, doubts arise, insomnia increases, you feel overwhelmed, you work far too much … your wife gets on your nerves … Doctors have certified that Ipsen is suffering from burnout.
Ipsen has drawn the consequences and has been transferred to Bornholm, where he is to watch over the holiday island as head of the criminal investigation department. Before that, there was a divorce because his wife was fed up with a life together that she no longer felt was a life together. She moves to Rügen together with their two daughters, who don’t seem too keen on the move to the provinces. There is a ferry from Rügen to Bornholm, which the children can use at any time … which also indeed leads to visits from the offspring. Ipsen’s father also takes a liking to the island and to Ipsen’s small, rented house with garden – he is a keen amateur gardener, which suits Ipsen because he doesn’t care much for gardening.
But for now, Ipsen is alone. So he has rented only a small house and wants to find some peace and quiet – something like the famous soul relaxation, to find himself, to start enjoying life again …
Bornholm is a suitable location for this, he thinks to himself. A pretty little holiday island with tranquil villages, lots of renovated old houses, plenty of nature, lots of fresh air … plenty of time to read books …
But he has not anticipated life. Life on Bornholm is not just sunshine and beach adventures, shopping in idyllic shops with local craftsmanship and homemade specialities. From a professional point of view, all this sounds more like pickpocketing, lost bicycles, lost identity papers, minor traffic offences – right, but … there are also other crimes, serious crimes.
No sooner has Ipsen set foot on Bornholm’s soil than the first murder case is waiting for him. At first glance, it may have been an accident … but it soon turns out to be a vicious, brutal murder. Ipsen has not yet settled into his new home when he has to return to his work as an investigator and go on the hunt for a murderer. This is not what he had in mind!
Of course, a murder hunt on Bornholm is nothing like the fast-paced daily schedule and obligations of an internationally deployed police officer, who seems to find far too much paper on his desk and in his computer inbox every morning that needs to be read and somehow processed, and is invited to many meetings. But the idyllic tranquillity of the holiday island has been severely disturbed for the time being … and Ipsen begins to investigate in earnest – which he seems to enjoy.
He is assisted by two colleagues, two women: an older, experienced colleague who seems to know Bornholm and all the inhabitants of Bornholm and their personal stories, and a young colleague who enjoys desk work and can elicit from her computer whatever information is hidden somewhere and somehow in databases and on the Internet. So Ipsen is in luck … if it weren’t for his predecessor, who would like to be involved in the ongoing investigation …
Criminal cases on Bornholm, murder cases on Bornholm are just as brutal as on the mainland. Investigations are difficult because family and friends are often involved – and people like to keep things to themselves when the police come knocking. Besides, no one can completely escape their past life, even if they live on an island. When bills need to be paid, even shady characters find their way to the island idyll … and when it comes to dealing with events from the past, one of the people involved can sometimes act frantically if he fears that long-kept secrets could suddenly come to light …
In the end, everything clears up and Ipsen can sit back and relax, because there is also a woman, a new woman in his life. It’s all just beginning … and then there’s another death!
Bornholm as a holiday paradise plays a major role in the novels. It’s almost like the crime novels about the south of France … It makes you want to go on holiday to Bornholm.