Vares: Gambling Chip

Jussi Vares gets briefly infatuated with Sole Petterson, a rich and capricious divorcee. But when her body is found hanging in a bird-watching tower, his self-assurance flies out of the window. Police investigations come to a standstill. Vares promises to help Timo Petterson solve the mystery of who wanted his sister dead. Sole's ex husband is the co-owner of a cat food cannery factory turned suddenly prodigiously rich. Before the convoluted scam reveals Vares its secrets, a lot of things happen. Influential people are seriously opposed to Vares nosing around those responsible of manipulating the names of a senior home elderly population. A gun-for-hire, Stahanov, gets an assignment. Timo finds his wife in the arms of a known banker, and while nurturing a desperate vendetta to get even, he ran across their bodies, shot at the bottom of an empty swimming pool. In the end the clues lead to a familiar person and more deaths are unavoidable. Assisted by his friend Marku, the police commissary, Vares tightens the noose. Why a shredded gaming chip shows up in Danny the cat's bowl of food? —Bob Buckingham