Amager is linked to two strands of the novel’s criminal history: the site of a 2007 attack on Danish police officers and the later discovery of a body in a box when a barrack there was demolished. These references make the place a point of return for investigations in which evidence and older violence surface long after the events themselves.

The 2007 Police Shooting

On January 26, 2007, Anker Høyer was murdered, Hardy Henningsen suffered permanent physical damage, and Carl Mørck was shot. More than seven years later, police investigators reported that the crimes had been committed with the same weapon, which was then in their possession. The barrack on Amager was associated with the site of the shooting of the three Danish police officers.

The Barrack and the Box

When the barrack was torn down, a dismembered body in a box was found on Amager. At a later press conference, Terje Ploug recalled the name given to the body, tying its discovery to the demolished structure and the earlier police shooting. The discovery gives the location a second role in the case history: demolition brings concealed evidence into view.

Connections to Other Murders

The account also identifies a murdered man found on Amager as the uncle of a younger man who was later murdered with a nail gun in a car-repair shop. The younger man’s killing connects the Amager discovery to a separate investigation, extending the location’s significance beyond the 2007 attack. Together, these references present Amager not as a fully described setting but as a recurring geographic marker for cases whose links emerge through recovered evidence and relationships between victims.