Book description
The final classic installment in the excellent Martin Beck detective
series from the 1960s - the novels that have inspired all Scandinavian
crime fiction.
Widely recognised as the greatest masterpieces of crime fiction ever
written, these are the original detective stories that pioneered the
detective genre.
Written in the 1960s, they are the work of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo -
a husband and wife team from Sweden. The ten novels follow the fortunes
of the detective Martin Beck, whose enigmatic, taciturn character has
inspired countless other policemen in crime fiction. The novels can be
read separately, but do follow a chronological order, so the reader can
become familiar with the characters and develop a loyalty to the series.
Each book will have a new introduction in order to help bring these
books to a new audience. Praise for 'Roseanna':
'The writing is elegant and surprisingly humorous - if you haven't come
across Beck before, you're in for a treat.' Guardian
'I have never read a finer police story.' Los Angeles Times
'The decalogue about the Swedish Chief Inspector Martin Beck created by
Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo during the 1960s and 1970s are indeed classic
police fiction. They changed the genre. Whoever is writing crime fiction
after these novels inspired by them in one way or another.' Henning Mankell
'If you haven't read Sjowall/Wahloo, start now.' Sunday Telegraph
'Their mysteries don't just read well; they reread even better.
Witness, wife, petty cop or crook - they're all real characters even if
they get just a few sentences. The plots hold, because they're ingenious
but never inhuman.' New York Times Per Wahlöö was born in Göteborg,
the son of Waldemar and Karin (Svensson) Wahlöö. After graduating from
the University of Lund in 1946, he worked as a journalist, covering
criminal and social issues for a number of newspapers and magazines. In
the 1950s Wahlöö was engaged in radical political causes, activities
that resulted in his deportation from Franco's Spain in 1957. After
returning to Sweden, he wrote a number of television and radio plays,
and was managing editor of several magazines, before becoming a
full-time writer.
Maj Sjowall is a poet. She lives in Sweden.
