Reader: Dick Hill.

Short Stories. Suspense fiction. Mystery fiction. This collection of five stories traces the growth of Swedish Inspector Kurt Wallander into a first-rate detective, from rookie cop to young father to middle-aged divorce~(QC. ~(BIn "Wallander's First Case, " the twenty-one-year-old patrolman's first homicide case involves his next-door neighbor, seemingly dead by his own hand. Wallander is a young father confronting an unexpected threat on Christmas Eve in "The Man with the Mask." In "The Man on the Beach, " he is on the brink of middle age and troubled by a distant wife as he unravels why a lonely man was poisoned. Newly separated in "The Death of the Photographer, " he investigates the murder of the local photographer and discovers some well concealed secrets. In "The Pyramid" he is the veteran detective uncovering connections between a downed plane and the assassination of two elderly sisters.