The discovery of a mutilated female body in a children’s playground sets in motion a race against time for the Copenhagen police as a link to the missing pre-teenage daughter, assumed dead, of a Danish minister is established.
A six-episode miniseries, The Chestnut Man is a thrilling police procedure narrative as top detective, Thulin (Danica Curcic) struggles with the pressures of the investigation and the demands of being a single mother. The temporary posting of an Interpol agent, a generally disliked Hess (Mikkel Boe Følsgaard), as her partner does not help. As more bodies appear, the leaving of a chestnut man at each scene provides the only lead.
An autumnal palette adds to the sinister mood and threat as the case of the missing child is reopened. Thulin and an unconventional Hess build a rapport as they and head of forensics, Genz (David Dencik) piece together the clues wih pressure mounting from the minister Rosa Hartung (Iben Dorner) and her husband Steen (Esben Dalgaard Andersen) to find their daughter.
Based on the Søren Sveistrup novel Kastanjemanden, The Chestnut Man is superior crime thriller fiction confidently handled by a well-seasoned Danish cast.
Rating: 70%
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