The Fifth Woman (Swedish: Den femte kvinnan) was published by Ordfront in 1996 and continues the darkening trajectory of the Wallander series. The murders are among the most gruesome in the sequence: an elderly birdwatcher is impaled in a pit filled with sharpened bamboo stakes; a retired car dealer is strangled and tied to a tree; each death is elaborately planned and executed with a cold fury that suggests deeply personal motivation.
Wallander’s investigation reveals that the victims share a common trait: all have committed violence against women — domestic abuse, rape, exploitation — and have escaped justice. The killer is a woman whose own history of victimization drives her to a systematic campaign of revenge. Mankell’s treatment is characteristically complex: the killer’s motives are sympathetically presented (her rage is justified), but the violence is condemned (revenge is not justice). The novel refuses the simple satisfactions of vigilante narrative.
The personal dimension of the novel is equally strong: Wallander’s new relationship with a Latvian policewoman (introduced in The Dogs of Riga) is developing, his father’s dementia is worsening, and his own health — both physical and mental — is deteriorating. Mankell uses these personal threads to humanize the procedural investigation, creating a detective who is not merely solving crimes but living a life shaped by the same social forces he investigates.
Collecting The Fifth Woman
First Swedish edition (Ordfront, Stockholm, 1996): Hardcover with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First Swedish edition: $30–$75
- First English edition (New Press, 2000): $15–$40
- First UK edition (Harvill, 2000): $10–$30