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Abusive husband busting through a hotel door with an axe to assault his wife and child? Sounds familiar. But it's just a throwaway scene in this rather odd procedural/Scandinoirish series. It's supposed to be a 5-episode season but it's more like two seasons of 3 and 2 episodes respectively, as they pertain to the investigations of unrelated cases. Brevity is the soul of wit or something, and kudos to the show for being efficient and economical. I admit I'm the first to gripe when shows pad the runtime with extraneous twists and goofy red-herrings. Here, however, the show goes to the inverse extreme since the investigations are so truncated and straightforward that their resolutions are banal; plus the characters don't get quite enough development to make an impression.

Åremorden (The Åre Murders) is a TV series based on Viveca Sten's books. The series' leading character is a police officer Hanna Ahlander (Carla Sehn), who has been suspended from her job in Stockholm and dumped by her partner when she moves to her sister's vacation home in Åre. The first, second, and third episodes are based on the "Offermakaren -Hidden in Snow" book. The fourth and fifth episodes are based on the "Dalskuggan - Hidden in Shadows" book. I really liked the fourth and fifth episodes because they were filmed according to the book. I believe that there should be a second season which consists of the other three books. I give seven over ten for the first season because of the episodes four and five.

Cinematography and scenery is beautiful and lifts the crime series. We want to see more of this, maybe some episodes from the Norwegian border ? I live in Trondheim, Norway, and Åre is close to this city. Åre is the major alpine sports ski resort in Sweden and also popular place to visit by Norwegians. Åre is close to Norwegian border.

Now, about the series.

It is a more like a Crime Drama. The swedes are good at making "Dark Crime" TV series. The "Beck" crime series should serve as a benchmark for quality in the genre of crime series from Sweden. Despite financial backing from Netflix to create the series, it comes a bit short. Maybe I would expect it to be more scary and exciting. Instead, it feels a bit boring and drama oriented. Don't expect that much excitement in the series. There are some car chasing, but the overall script for possible future episodes of the series should focus more on less drama and more action.

I agree with the other reviewers, the problem with the series is the script. The location is beautiful and it's nice to have a series not set in Stockholm or Malmo or.... In general I have no problem with the cast. Episodes 1-3 are one story, 4 & 5 a second story.

Hanna is a stereotype of a green detective who goes off on her own and doesn't take orders from her senior partner. She has maturing to do and admits that she should have waited and not gone alone. One would think after her recent Stockholm experience, that she'd look before she leaps.

I'm a big fan of the "Beck" series set in Stockholm, that series has a really good cast and superior scripts. This is not a Beck, but it's better than some other Swedish police procedurals..

I'm also a fan of "Sandhamn Murders" also from Viveca Sten mystery novels. Different cast, writers and different production companies. I'd like to see more Swedish crime dramas from Netflix.

Don't miss these Netflix thriller episodes from Sweden. Three different murder stories well packed and fast paced guessing all the time who the real murder could be. It was not simple to solve but it was interesting to discover with the detectives the traces. It was never boring. Wonderful landscapes offered a special atmosphere for solving these mysteries. The main police woman and the police man delivered a respectable performance and the director had a good hand to create very suspenseful and breathtaking series.

If you like Scandinavian thrillers check out the Valhalla Murders. For all these reasons it deserves 7/10.