‘Sandhamn Murders’ is back, and the holiday island is as deadly as ever

Sandhamn might be an idyllic holiday island, but lawyer Nora Linde knows too well that murder never takes a vacation.

Sweden’s ‘Sandhamn Murders’ returns. Source: Distributor

--- This article contains spoilers. Read on if you want a refresher ahead of the new season. Otherwise, we suggest you head to

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and enjoy discovering the story from the start. ---

Across nine seasons, there’s one thing Sandhamn Murders makes very clear: on the Swedish island of Sandhamn there’s one woman all the criminals fear – and she’s not a member of the local police force.

Nora Linde (Alexandra Rapaport) is a lawyer, but don’t expect her to be shouting “objection” in a courtroom. Her speciality is financial law, and for much of Sandhamn Murders she’s been quietly working away at a major bank. Which explains how she could afford to rent a holiday house on the extremely luxe Sandhamn island.

But a lot can change across eight seasons. As season eight unfolds, Nora now works for an elite unit investigating financial crimes; she also inherited a home on the island, making her an occasional landlord. And some of those closest to her, those she relied on the most, have… well, we’ll get to that.

Sandhamn Murders - season 8, Alexandra Rapaport

Alexandra Rapaport as Nora Linde in season 8 of ‘Sandhamn Murders’. Source: Distributor

At first glance, Sandhamn looks like an ideal getaway off the coast of Sweden. The island has it all: fancy villas, casual outfits and plenty of sun as the locals lounge on yachts watching the gorgeous coastline drift by. The only thing that messes with the summery vibes are all the bodies that keep turning up.

In the very first episode of season 1, Nora finds a net-covered corpse while on a (supposedly) relaxing swim. While she doesn’t stumble across corpses every series – sometimes her children find a severed arm, sometimes it’s a violent crime that involves someone she knows – Nora has a knack when it comes to getting friends and neighbours to reveal important information to her. Which makes her very useful to local law enforcement.

Initially based on Viveca Sten’s hugely popular series of crime novels, in the early seasons Sandhamn Murders detectives Thomas Andreasson (Jakob Cedergren) and Carina Persson (Sofia Pekkari) – who was replaced in later seasons by Mia Holmgren (Sandra Andreis) – are the traditional investigators on the case. But Nora turns out to have a talent for unearthing clues, and Andreasson has an eye for crime-solving talent.

Sandhamn Murders - season 4, Alexandra Rapaport, Jakob Cedergren

Nora with Detective Thomas Andreasson (Jakob Cedergren) in season 4. Source: Distributor

Nora is also a mother of two, and when the series begins she’s married to the somewhat unpleasant Henrik (Jonas Malmsjö), whose sins don’t end with not wanting his wife getting involved with murders. It’s a little surprising just how unpleasant he can be early on, and a lot less surprising that their marriage doesn’t last. Though it’s hardly the last Nora sees of him; having an ex show up wanting to rent the spare room feels like the kind of thing about which you should be able to call in the police.

That’s a theme across this series, as just about everyone is separated – which doesn’t mean they’re not hanging around, and doesn’t rule out getting back together – with children who are often less than impressed with their parents’ complicated relationship status. Characters break up, make up and eventually move away… which doesn’t rule out returning for a second chance.

The first five seasons each feature one crime across three episodes; from six onward the number of episodes vary but always with several crimes to solve. The crimes vary a bit in their connection to Nora, especially once the wider cast has settled in. But it’s a small island, and no matter whether it’s murder, drug dealing, bullying gone wrong, domestic abuse, smuggling, financial crimes or, well, more murder, eventually Nora gets involved.

Could all her crime-solving activity just be a way to get close to Andreasson? It’s hard to deny the spark between them, even if they spend most of the early episodes doing just that, skilfully managing to juggle things so that when one of them is single the other is in a relationship and vice versa. For people so good at figuring out the motives of others, they sure can’t quite get their personal lives together.

The idyllic location of ‘Sandhamn Murders’. Source: Distributor

The biggest upheaval on the island came at the start of season 7, when it was revealed that Andreasson, who’d earlier gotten back (and then broken up again) with his ex-wife, had now moved to Copenhagen to be closer to their daughter. Does killing the audience’s hopes and dreams count as a murder?

Fortunately, there was too much crime on Sandhamn to leave the island without a lead detective. Enter Alexander Forsman (

Beforeigners

’ Nicolai Cleve Broch), who just happens to be separated with a young daughter. He’s a bit more fiery than Andreasson, a bit more proactive – but in season 8 he’s also trying to make it work with his ex, which means the chemistry between him and Nora has to be put on hold.

Henrik is still on the scene, acting like a jerk. Another of Nora’s ex’s, pilot Jonas (Stefan Gödicke) is also back on the scene, hoping to repair the relationship his cheating destroyed. And while tackling financial crimes might seem like a full-time job, Nora is never far from a corpse.

For someone who lives on a holiday island, she really could use a break.

Nine seasons of Sandhamn Murders are now streaming

at SBS On Demand