The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Forty years ago 16 year-old Swedish Harriet Vanger disappeared. Believing she has been murdered, her wealthy but aged uncle Henrik Vanger wants the mystery solved so he hires investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist to go over the old police records, Henrik's own information and the family information to try to solve the mystery of her disappearance. Blomkvist is in the midst of a libel trial and being the partner and publisher of a prominent magazine, forced to take a 3-month "vacation" he steps down and agrees to Henrik's lucrative proposal. Needless to say, the Vangar family is less than happy to have Blomkvist digging up the dirty laundry of their past and when he hires Lisbeth Salander, genius hacker, to work on the investigation with him, the plot gets thicker. We have romance, mystery, attempted murder, corruption and a fine story. I wholeheartedly recommend this book. Sandy Penton.