My Name is Jensen by Heidi Amsinck

On a Copenhagen street corner a murder victim lies buried in snow. Jensen, a newspaper reporter, stumbles on the body on her way to work. She is horrified to recognise the corpse as the young man she saw sitting alone on the pavement the night before. If she had stopped to help him find shelter from a blizzard, he would not have been stabbed to death. Overwhelmed by guilt, she sets out to discover his identity and track down the murderer. Jensen is determined to discover why, on the last night of his short life, the boy was holding a piece of cardboard bearing the single word ‘GUILTY’.

My Name is Jensen is a classic scandi noir novel with a strong emphasis on contemporary issues. Soon after the murder of the boy known as Casper, three more rough sleepers are found stabbed to death in Copenhagen. D.I. Henrik Jungersen, who is Jensen’s married lover, leads the police team on the case. At first everyone assumes the murders are the work of a serial killer who hates homeless people, but Jensen takes an open-minded approach to the investigation. As she uncovers information about Casper’s past, she is constantly forced to change tack in order to follow up new leads. A journey begun in the frozen city takes her to wide-ranging locations: a home for disturbed youths, a dental surgery, a seaside retreat in the off-season, a commune in the country. For a long time neither Jensen nor Henrik can crack the mystery, because all the characters they investigate have rock-solid alibis.

The greatest strength of Heidi Amsinck’s first novel is her many-faceted cast, who will make a firm basis for a series. Jensen herself comes across as a talented and caring young woman who has temporarily lost her way in her career. She returned from London to Copenhagen to work as a special reporter for Maegrethe, the tough newspaper editor who was her first mentor, but so far the move is not working out for either woman. Jensen’s stubborn and reckless personality combined with her deep concern for the underdog make her a brilliant investigative journalist, but she has very little support in her personal life. She is trying to end her relationship with Henrik, who adores her but is even more devoted to his children. A platonic (on Jensen’s side at least) friendship with Ebsen, a powerful politician, offers her protection from the wicked outside world in the form of free accommodation and the loan of Aziz, a loyal bodyguard. Gustav, Margrethe’s problem teenage nephew, is dumped on Jensen for work experience, and turns out to be a mixed blessing. Of all the interesting personalities Amsinck has created, my favourite is a ‘firmly analogue’ retired reporter who inhabits the basement of the newspaper offices. Henning’s long memory and old-school filing system play a part in Jensen’s project.

Amsinck’s pared-down journalistic style of writing conveys the pathos and pain of murder scenes without resorting to bloodthirsty details. Her chapters are short, which moves the story briskly along. The life and death of the young boy Jensen finds dead in the street are presented sympathetically enough to engage the sympathy of the most hard-bitten reader. The conclusion of My Name Is Jensen is satisfying and believable. I was left with only one question in my mind. Even canny Margrethe first employed Jensen on a hunch, without any qualifications. What exactly is the quality this young woman has that convinces everyone, from a senior politician to a street coffee seller, to trust her utterly? Perhaps I will get my answer from the next book in the series.