Book review: The Talented Mr Varg, by Alexander McCall Smith

The distinctive gloominess and phenomenal success of so-called Scandi-noir authors such as Henning Mankell, author of the Wallander books, and Stieg Larsson (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) were always going to make them targets for parody.

Alexander McCall Smith PIC: Kirsty Anderson

The so-called “Scandi-blanc” novels of Alexander McCall Smith, however, are parodies of the gentlest kind: much less dark and seedy than the typical works of the genre – more like a lighthearted distant cousin who was twice removed from the genre’s mother’s side.

The Talented Mr Varg is the sequel to McCall Smith’s The Department Of Sensitive Crimes and it continues the rather uneventful story of Ulf Varg, a detective within the aforementioned department. Everything occurs at a relaxed pace, to the extent that reading the novel feels like a form of meditation. That said, McCall Smith’s deceptively sharp wit is ever-present, particularly in the passages of dialogue where social norms are subtly undercut. There is also a real sense of immediacy to the interactions between characters – at times, it is almost as if you are personally involved in the conversations between Varg and his colleague, Blomquist.

Varg is faced with several conundrums, both personal and professional. He has to wrestle with ideas of identity, and how the ways in which we perceive people are often based on our own insecurities and prejudices, and he must also discover the truth behind the complex facades created by those who wish to use them to further their own ends.

Varg prides himself on his consideration and honesty, but here he must bend police procedures and protocols as he deals with the case of an eccentric Swedish author who is being blackmailed, and that of a travelling family often on the wrong end of stereotypical tropes, relying on his understanding of human psychology and old-fashioned detective work to get results.

Still accompanied by the only lip-reading deaf dog in Sweden, quite possibly the world, Varg is also trying to find a solution for his secret desire to be with a female colleague. Through therapy he begrudgingly tries to find answers to his problems and at one point is offered a golden opportunity to do something about them. However, his insistence on honesty at all times leaves him facing a real philosophical dilemma.

There is much to enjoy in this book in which nothing really happens, however, the highlights are perhaps Varg’s conversations with his neighbour, Mrs Hogfors, who is always asking questions in a manner that goes against the grain of modern political correctness.

The Talented Mr Varg, by Alexander McCall Smith, Little, Brown, £18.99