The Leopard: An Inspector Harry Hole Novel
Page 59
But you have those who know the odds, and then you have those who know the outcome. At a racecourse in South Africa they recently found pipes under the starting gates. The pipes contained compressed air and mini-darts with tranquilizers that could be fired into the horses’ stomachs by pressing a remote control.
Katrine Bratt had informed him that Sigurd Altman was booked into a hotel in Shanghai. It was barely an hour’s flight away.
Harry cast a final glance at the front page of the program.
Those who know the outcome.
“It’s just a game.” Herman Kluit used to say that. Perhaps because he used to win.
Harry looked at his watch, got to his feet and started to walk to the tram. He had been tipped off about a promising horse in the third race.
A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
AND THE TRANSLATOR
JO NESBØ is a musician, songwriter, economist and author. His first crime novel featuring Harry Hole was published in Norway in 1997 and was an instant success, winning the Glass Key Award for best Nordic crime novel (an accolade also won by Peter Høeg, Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson). His previous Harry Hole novels include The Redbreast, Nemesis, The Devil’s Star and The Snowman. He lives in Oslo.
DON BARTLETT lives in Norfolk, England, and works as a freelance translator of Scandinavian literature. He has translated, or co-translated, Norwegian novels by Lars Saabye Christensen, Roy Jacobsen, Ingvar Ambjørnsen, Kjell Ola Dahl, Gunnar Staalesen and Pernille Rygg.