A few weeks ago, I read what turned out to be the second in the Martin Beck series of novels by Sjöwall and Wahlöö. The first is Roseanna, in which we’re introduced to the detective and his colleagues. This book, in a newly published imprint, is introduced by Henning Mankell, a long time favourite of mine. The Sjöwall and Wahlöö series undoubtedly had quite an influence on him.
What’s notable about this book is the sheer length of time that takes place between the body turning up and the case being solved. It takes them months to even find out the name of the dead girl. Evidently the police forces in Sweden at the time were not as heavily over-worked as current day British police are, since it’d take a real high-profile case to afford that much time over a mystery body.
But Beck plugs away and slowly but surely he inches ever closer to solving the case. There’s something wonderful about his communications with another detective who he never meets but is named Kafka.
The next pair of books don’t get the snazzy new covers until January, so I’m just going to have to wait. And it’s not as though I couldn’t read solely Scandinavian fiction between now and then, given some of the titles I’ve got stored up!