This is another of Laura Lippman's stand-alone novels -- that is, novels outside the terrific "Tess Monaghan" series. "The Most Dangerous Thing" is intriguing, inventive and offers an array of believable characters. It's certainly head-and-shoulders above what passes for suspense novels these days. "The Most Dangerous Thing" is as good as "What the Dead Know", and almost in the same class as "I'd Know You Anywhere" -- my favorite stand-alone Laura Lippman.

"Lesson in Secrets" is the 8th novel in the "Maisie Dobbs" mystery series. Jacqueline Winspear has a gift for capturing the look and feel of England between the two World Wars. Her characters -- some of whom, like Maisie, appear in all of the novels -- are fully fleshed out. Like the other novels in the series, "A Lesson in Secrets" is well-organized, intelligent, thought-provoking. A very good read.

This book is not about Lisbeth Salander. It is about Mikael Blomkvist. The Blomkvist tale is highly improbable: I can't imagine hiring a journalist -- one on the losing end of a libel suit, disgraced, bound-for-jail -- to research and write the history of a prominent, albeit highly-dysfunctional family.

Worse, Larsson's penchant for using 20 words where one or two (or none) will do makes for a rather complex story that's sometimes very difficult to follow, and so a trial to read. (One hopes -- for clarity -- the published version will include a map of Hedeby Island.)

It's hard to say who the book would appeal to, but some knowledge on the reader's part of Swedish society and media is a must. The book's use of everyday detail (way too much, in my view) reminds one of Sue Grafton's novels. Some of the better scenes (typically those featuring Salander!) read a little like Thomas Perry.

But, bottom line, Stieg Larsson is no Henning Mankell...and Mankell to me is the gold standard in Northern European crime fiction.