The Shadow Lawyer is a timely and absorbing crime novel, looking back to Iran during Khomeini’s rise to power in 1979, when a Norwegian embassy councillor in Teheran and his Iranian wife are forced to flee, together with several members of her family.

Many years later we encounter the refugees again, in Norway 2017, in and outside of an Iranian diaspora community. They are doctors and lawyers now, some of them live with Norwegian partners, others don’t.

When Anna, an Iranian member of the community, is found dead in her home, suspicions are raised against the man she once betrayed. Since the case has ties to Iran, a joint investigation is launched, between Asbjørn Skar, the police superintendent at Kripos, the Norwegian National Criminal Investigating Service and investigator Liv Lindemann from PST, the Norwegian Police Security Agency. But should they really be looking at the past to solve this murder mystery?

The Shadow Lawyer is an elegant, ambitious and intelligently told thriller that still manages to be eerily realistic.