The Man Who Went Up in Smoke

”Martin Beck, the born detective and famous observer, constantly occupied making useless observations and storing them away for future use. Doesn’t even have bats in the belfry-they couldn’t get in for all the crap in the way.” For those fans of Kurt Wallander there will be a deja vu moment when you......more

With the first snow storm of the year hitting my area, it seemed like a great time to pick up a Swedish mystery novel. I figured I could put on a comfy sweater and sip some coffee while reading about the Stockholm police tracking criminals across a gloomy winter landscape that matched the view out m......more

I could hear the cigarettes and bourbon tearing apart narrator Tom Weiner's vocal chords as I listened to his reading of The Man Who Went Up in Smoke, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Weiner's voice adds aural texture to a book overflowing with atmospheric texture; he compliments the Martin Bec......more

The second of ten in a series by the Swedish crime writing duo Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, with an introduction that makes it clear this pair paved the way for other serious police procedurals that respect the work of the work of every day cops. And takes them seriously as human beings. Character-dr......more

A Swedish national, a "sports" journalist, goes missing in Budapest, behind the "Iron Curtain." It's the height of the Cold War, and Swedish homicide detective Martin Beck, about to enjoy his vacation, is sent, instead, to look into the disappearance. A Canadian boy would expect a 70s Budapest to be......more