Roseanna by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo

Roseanna is the first book in the Martin Beck police procedural series published in Swedish in 1965 and translated in English by Lois Roth. I read The man who went up in smoke , The Fire Engine that Disappeared and The Man on the Balcony in this series. Planning to read all the other books in the series, I read the first one at last.

The body of a woman in her late twenties is found while dredging of Lake Vattern. The local police at Motala headed by Ahlberg and Martin Beck from Stockholm police try to find out about the woman. There is no missing woman report identical to the woman found dead. Who is the woman? How did she end up in the canal? Why is nobody looking for her?

The story uses a matter-of-fact narration and is very straightforward and engaging, starts with the finding of the body in a lake to the apprehension of the perpetrator of the crime. The following monologue by Martin Beck gives an insight into Martin Beck and sets the tone not only for this novel but also the other books in the series, at least the ones I have read.

'You are stubborn and logical, and completely calm. You don't allow yourself to lose your composure and you act only professionally on a case, whatever it is. Words like repulsive, horrible, and bestial belong in the newspapers, not in your thinking. A murderer is a regular human being, only more unfortunate and maladjusted'

Martin spends sleepless nights trying to find out about the dead woman and her killer. As in real life, things don't happen in a jiffy. It takes time to get the first break. They learn that the victim is Roseanna, an American travelling alone in a cruise ship, limiting the suspects to the eighty-five passengers and crew of the ship. Did one of the eighty-five people kill her? Or is it somebody else? To track eighty-five people is no easy job, especially when the passengers belong to different countries, but with the help of authorities in other countries they track them. After the first break there is some activity and then again there is a lull and finally the case is solved. The case takes months to solve but Martin and Ahlberg are determined to find the culprit and find they did.
A great beginning to a great series.

The Fire Engine that Disappeared by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo

The Fire Engine that Disappeared is the fifth book in the Martin Beck series, police procedurals, written by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo. In this book Martin Beck of Stockholm plays a very small role and his team solves the mystery.

A man commits suicide in Stockholm and the police find Martin Beck's name written on a paper in his home. Was the man planning to call Martin Beck to inform him about anything? The case is suicide and is closed.

A man is under surveillance and his apartment complex bursts into flame. While the policeman in charge Gunvald Larsson saves the lives of eight residents, the man under surveillance and two others are dead. The fire Engine takes forever to reach the spot. The Fire Engine seems to have disappeared. But this is not the only fire Engine that disappears. Ronn, one of the officers in Beck's team, gifts his son a Fire Engine which also disappears. The boy has been unwell and did not leave the home for a while but his foot long fire engine has disappeared. Will Beck and his team solve the problem of the real and toy Fire Engines that disappeared?

I liked the underlying humour and turn of phrase in the book. For Example,

The question of the cause of the fire was Melander's headache, apart from the fact that he had never had a headache.

The blow that produced a veritable constellation of stars was delivered before lunch on the following day, that is, Wednesday, the twentieth of March, and it was Kollberg who quite undeservedly received it.

Interaction between the pathologist and Kollberg is funny. First the crime scene personnel pick up everything and anything and put in an evidence bag for analyses and then Ronn calls up and says the case has been closed and they can throw everything away. Then Larsson calls up to say that the case isn't closed and it's very important. Then Hammar tells him the case is closed. Then Beck calls up enquiring if they found something unusual. When the Pathologists has something important to say he cannot reach any one of them.

As a police procedural the story portrays the conflicts between different police personnel. While Kollberg believes that 'Larsson is not what you'd call a great brain', Larsson believes Sckake is a fool. While they disparage one and another and definitely dislike one another, they all work together efficiently producing results. Melander does the crime scene. Larsson solves the mystery of the (real) Fire Engine that disappeared with help from Ronn. Skacke, who hopes to become the Chief of Police, does the door to door, 'Operation Door-Knocking', to find the mysterious caller. Finally, it is police inspector Mansson of Malmo, third largest city in Sweden, who unties the major knots in the story and also solves the mystery of the toy fire engine that disappeared. Interesting Police Procedural.

I read the second book in the series The man who went up in smoke last year. I look forward to reading all the other books in this series.

Translated from the Swedish by Joan Tate and first published in English in 1971.

The Black Path by Asa Larsson

The Black Path by Asa Larsson is third book featuring Rebecka Martinsson. When the story starts with the recovery of Rebecka Martinsson from a trauma, I started wondering if I made a mistake by picking up the third book, without reading the first two. Looking into some reviews on the internet, I found that The Black Path works quite well as a standalone. Now to the story.

A woman is found murdered in an 'ark', a fishing cabin with a hole in the floor through which one could fish from a hole in the frozen lake. Inspector Anna-Maria Mella and Sven-Erik Stalnacke start investigating the case. Who is the murdered woman? What is she doing alone in the Ark? Who killed her and why?

Once you know who the victim is, you know who did it too. The story develops into the possible motives and how she is murdered. Rebecka after the trauma moves to Kiruna and helps with the investigation. While Anna-Maria is involved in the field work part of the investigation, Rebecka scours the internet for information and analyses the financial information of a leading industrialist to help with the investigation. We get insight into Rebecka's childhood, why she lived with her grandmother and the family life of Anna-Maria.

The backstories of various key players (read suspects) are narrated and the various story arcs converge together leading to the final denouement. One aspect that caught my attention in this story is the concept of Maternal love. Rebecka's mother is not able to cope up with the responsibilities of motherhood and finally leaves her with her grandmother. Ester is brought up by foster parents, and longs for appreciation from her foster mother. It did look like Ester's foster mother loved her, but why can't she appreciate the fact that Ester is a better artist than her. Why should she be so cruel? While Ester's character and story is interesting, I couldn't help wondering the purpose of her story. It does add up in the end-in the Black Path.

Translated from Swedish by Marlaine Delargy, The Black Path is a gripping police procedural.

Note: If you wonder what an Ark looks like. I think it is the cabin in the book cover.

The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell

When a life-raft floats up the coast of Ystad, Sweden, with two well-dressed men shot dead, Kurt Wallander starts his investigation. Who were these men and where were they from? How long did the life-raft float before reaching Sweden? There looks to be some connection with Latvia and Major Karlis Liepa from Riga visits Sweden to help Wallander with the case.

Wallander from the beginning hopes to push on the case to some other country. When the opportunity appears, won't he be happy? Only circumstance turn around, Major Liepa is murdered in Riga and Wallander is obliged to visit Riga to help in the investigation. Not knowing the language is not just the trouble, why is the Riga Police keeping watch on him and Baiba Liepa contacts Wallander secretly. What is happening here? The story is placed in the background of the freedom movement in Latvia in 1991.

Why is Wallander called to Riga? The Latvian police could have closed the case without causing much trouble. Wallander has quite an adventure, a small-town detective from Sweden, gets involved in greater things than he could ever imagine. When his adventures take a nightmarish turn, what will Wallander do? The Dogs of Riga are on the scent of Wallander, will he able to keep them at bay and find the truth. The hunter is closing on the prey. But who is hunting the hunter?

I have never seen a police officer in fiction who is so keen to push the case to somebody else. And when the time comes to quitting the case, he clings to it. The story moves away from the initial murders into international conspiracies and freedom movement. Wallander has a sense of somebody watching him throughout. We get a feel of what it is to live in a country under Soviet influence just before the fall of Soviet Union, under constant vigilance. Mankell plays a nice little trick in the end. This book is translated from Swedish by Laurie Thompson and published in English in 2001. An exciting adventure. I look forward to read more books featuring Kurt Wallander.