Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall

I can only guess at the pronouncement of these names. I remember seeing their books on the shelves of libraries for years but I never once picked one up. They are a wife and husband writing team and they jointly wrote ten mysteries set in Sweden. I think I was put off by the difficulty of the names and my conclusion that someone who sound so foreign could not possibly write a book that would hold my interest, but boy was I wrong.

Last Sunday, as I was leaving Wichita I made my usual stop at Barnes & Noble for a large coffee to go for the 100 mile plus trip back to this corner of the prairie, and I saw a copy of Roseanna by Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall being offered at half price with the purchase of another book of greater or equal value. Having been bitten by the Swedish mystery bug some while ago, I picked it up. The edition in my hand had a "New" introduction by Henning Mankell plus a glowing comment by Michael Connelly on the back cover. The book was first published in 1965 with the wife and husband writing alternate chapters. It took a little bit of faith for me to trust Mankell and Connelly on the power of this nearly 50 year old writing to still be readable, relevant, and interesting. They delivered the goods.

The book introduces Swedish Detective First Grade Martin Beck, whose angst-ridden character carries through the 10 book series. These are police procedurals from the days before cell phones, fax machines, email, computer databases, wire taps, and the host of electronic survelience devices police rely on today. I thought it might matter but it did not, the story is not "old-timey" because of these missing items, if anything the story is stronger because of the reliance on ingenuity and doggedness to get the job done.

The story in Roseanna opens with the discovery of the nude body of a young woman found during the dredging of a canal used by cruise ships during the summer months. No clues are found. But through hard work the woman is traced to her roots as a librarian from Lincoln, Nebraska (somewhere in the middle of the United States) and the story takes off. This was one of those rare books that from the first sentence I knew I had chosen well and that my interest was in the hands of masters. I am purchasing as many of the ten books in the series as I can find available. This writing team and their skill have earned their place on the "must read" lists of mystery readers, you won't be sorry. The books will be available for check-out mid-December.

The titles in the Martin Beck series are:

1. Roseanna (1965)
2. The Man Who Went Up in Smoke (1966)
3. The Man on the Balcony (1967)
4. The Laughing Policeman (1968)
5. The Fire Engine that Disappeared (1969)
6. Murder at the Savoy (1970)
7. The Abominable Man (1971)
8. The Locked Room (1972)
9. Cop Killer (1974)
10. The Terrorists (1975) The husband Per Wahloo died before this last mystery was finished and Maj Sjowall finished it alone.