THE WOMAN INSIDE takes place in Sweden as its author, M. T. Edvardsson, is Swedish. So it's a translation. And with translations we run the risk that they will not read the way the author intended. So maybe I would have given THE WOMAN INSIDE more than three stars if I were Swedish and had read this in its original Swedish. As I see it in English, though, the writing style seems too simplistic. But the story is a good mystery.

Steven, a doctor, is married to Regina, who is sickly and spends most of every day in bed. She takes lots of drugs. Steven and Regina are wealthy.

Karla is a law student who also works as a maid (which is called "cleaner" in Sweden) twice a week for Steven and Regina.

Bill is down and out. His live-in girlfriend, who had been supporting him financially, died, and he now is always short on money. So he is always borrowing money, which he doesn't pay back and which he usually gambles away. But his intentions are good. He cares more than anything about his 8-year-old daughter, Sally. Yet (and I wonder if this is a Swedish thing that isn't looked down on in Sweden), he sleeps in the same bed with Sally every night. Edvardsson speaks of this casually, as if it is a normal thing.

Bill rents a room to Karla.

Jennica (a compromise between "Jennifer" and "Anica") is a student who meets Steven online. They meet in person and become romantically involved. But he tells her his wife died.

When Steven and Regina are found dead in their mansion, police suspect Bill. They interrogate him and various other people, including Karla and Jennica. Throughout the book are these interrogations interspersed with the story in chapters told from the points of view of Karla, Bill, and Jennica.

This organization adds to the mystery. You won't know who killed Steven and Regina until almost the end. And then it doesn't end. The story continues.

I won an ARC of THE WOMAN INSIDE through bookishfirst.com.