The overdose: A white car is parked by a side road in the beautiful landscape of Scania in southern Sweden. A child sits alone without an adult in sight. The child's father has been reported as missing, while the mother is in a psychiatric institution, unresponsive and apathetic. Kurt Wallander's failing health sees Linda take the lead in the case. It will touch her deeply as she discovers that the child has been unscrupulously tricked, exploited and humiliated. Linda has never been so committed to solving a case. She has her boyfriend and colleague Stefan Lindman to help her, but even Kurt is drawn in, unknowingly and against his will.

The African: An international oil drilling company hires private investigator Varg Veum to find their missing systems designer, Arne Samuelsen. Varg discovers the headless body of a woman jammed into the fridge in Arne's apartment - and is promptly knocked unconscious. When he wakes up the body is missing. Varg has to clear his name and confront a ruthless extortionist in a maze of deception and sexual ambiguity.

Mastermind: Someone has infiltrated the Ystad police station, effectively closing it down for several critical hours. The culprit is everywhere and nowhere, like a virus that is noticed far too late. At the same time, Kurt Wallander is trying to comprehend the connection between his colleague Martinson's daughter Therese and a woman found hanged. And why has someone left a chopped-off doll's head in a field? What is behind all these events, which must have taken years of planning? Wallander and Martinson are soon behaving like hunted animals.