Inga Lindström: Leg dich nicht mit Lilli an (2015)

The young detective Lilli Hellberg becomes chief of police on Borgholm, a small, quiet Swedish island. Her very first job puts her in a senior position. Since she comes from the capital, Stockholm, she has to get used not only to the responsibilities of her new post but also to rural customs. People on Borgholm are unhappy, too: Hermann Lund used to head the police station before he insulted his superior and was demoted as a result. The island’s crime rate is almost zero, and there has been no crime to solve for years. But the behaviour of her colleagues on the island is worse than Lilli expected. They accept gifts from residents and cover for their friends. Lilli wants to put an immediate stop to this. For example, the butcher Petter had his hunting licence revoked for a year, yet he still hunts in the woods, something the police officers he gets along with have always tolerated. The house Lilli is to live in belongs to Agnes Bergdahl, Commissioner Lund’s daughter. Lilli’s neighbour Malte, who keeps leaving the island, falls head over heels in love with her and tries various things to get closer to her. But Malte is on the island for another reason, too: his sister Nena. She is in a relationship with Adrian Barati, a diplomat’s son who occasionally visits a house on the island provided to his father by the Hungarian embassy. He parties there with his friends, drugs are in circulation, and they hold illegal street races. Although Malte knows about this, he cannot report it to the police because his sister is involved, too, and she is the only one who does not have a diplomatic passport. Lilli’s landlady, Agnes Bergdahl, is interested in art and collects paintings. At the moment, she is looking after a painting worth ten million kronor that is soon to be sold. Lilli’s mother Uta, who studied art, wants to take a look at the valuable painting. It is protected by an alarm system, as are other paintings, including paintings Adrian Barati has had placed there that are virtually worthless. Barati sets Malte’s sister the task of testing how effective the alarm system is. Shortly afterwards, Barati disables the system, breaks down the door and takes the valuable painting. He plans to flee to Hungary with it. The island police officers know about the heist but have no proof, and because of his status they can neither stop nor search the diplomat’s son. But now Lund’s good connections on the island come in handy: one quick phone call is all it takes, and the ferry does not set off, leaving Barati unable to leave the island until they can nail him. At first he refuses to cooperate, but then he returns the painting after all, afraid of losing his diplomatic status. In the end, not only do Lilli’s mother and Hermann Lund get together, having got along well from the start, but things also work out between Lilli and Malte, since he no longer has to protect his sister.