With a New Introduction by Henning Mankell. The masterful first novel in the Martin Beck series of mysteries by the internationally renowned crime writing duo Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö (“the best writers of police procedurals in the world”), finds Beck hunting for the murderer of a lonely traveler.On a July afternoon, a young woman’s body is dredged from Sweden’s beautiful Lake Vattern. With … Vattern. With no clues Beck begins an investigation not only to uncover a murderer but also to discover who the victim was. Three months later, all Beck knows is that her name was Roseanna and that she could have been strangled by any one of eighty-five people on a cruise. As the melancholic Beck narrows the list of suspects, he is drawn increasingly to the enigma of the victim, a free-spirited traveler with a penchant for casual sex, and to the psychopathology of a murderer with a distinctive–indeed, terrifying–sense of propriety.
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I just discovered this Swedish writing couple, Maj Sjowell and Per Wahloo.They are considered the inventors of the police procedural. After Per died in 1975, she stopped writing. I enjoyed being immersed in the workings of the Stockholm police.
After watching the series, I’ve gone back to find the books on which the series was based. The books have only the vaguest resemblance to the series, but still a very good story.
Some misogynistic things which make it harder to appreciate now.
A pioneer of Scandinavian murder mysteries.
Nice to go back to the first Beck mystery. The Scandanavian detectives are a sorry lot, but so very human! I never wonder why they end up divorced, but they do solve their mysteries!
The debut novel in the Martin Beck series. A really good book. Some of the dialogue was a bit unnatural, but that could be due to the fact it was translated into English from Swedish. At times the cops seem to get more upset with the people they are interviewing than seems required, but all in all a good book.
I was bored. I realized during the book that it’s a police procedural. It reads like non-fiction. It’s just not my thing.
This book is one of ten books in the series of books and if they are all written in this way, that is, stretching, articulate and welcoming, then I found myself a new set of tension books to become addicted to it.
The story in itself is about a homicide detective, possibly the best police detective ever. He tries to decipher a case that would not …
Among the best of mid 20th century Scandinavian mystery writers
It was a ‘retro’ detective story, before cell phones and DNA testing, and computer searches. The main character is a somewhat hypochondriac, fussy detective. Not the handsome ex-soldier heartthrob of today’s detective tales. He is doggedly determined however and eventually gets his murderer.
This is the first book in the story of crime. I had read The Laughing Policeman earlier. This book introduced the main characters and locale for the whole series. Interesting police procedural that keeps you reading until the end.
First of a series. Read them in order.
This book begins one of the best police procedural series ever written. It defined what is now accepted as the Scandinavian thriller.
The story itself is rather interesting. The manner is which it is told by the authors is akin to watching grass grow—when there is little rain? No detail is too small and insignificant to be overlooked. it was a real “grind” for me to stick with it and finish this book. In retrospect the book would have made a good short story—very short.
1st of the 10 wonderful Martin Beck police procedurals. All of them are terrific.
Swedish crime fiction is almost a genre in itself. This is the first novel from the husband and wife team and I definitely want to read the 9 others. It is almost unemotive and largely dialogue. Characterization comes with understanding the nature of the players over the course of the story. Nobody gets very excited, there are no car crashes …
I liked the book very much
Excellent police procedural.
An old classic, which if written today would become a new classic. Great writing, good plot.
A very good historic police procedural although irrelevant due to passage of time and obvious violations of civil rights. Still entertaining after all this time.