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Stieg Larsson. What a writer.

Start with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Next read The Girl Who Played With Fire.

Now wait. Next will come Castles in the Sky. Then it will be over.

He died. What a dirty trick.

He waited until he had the first two mysteries written before he even contacted a publisher. He finished the third novel in the trilogy but there will not be any more.

These were all written in Swedish and translated by Reg Keeland who did an excellent job, not that I have compared the texts, just that the story that comes through is complete and indistinguishable as a translation and no footnotes are required to make sense of the story. So much of what I have read over the last year has been in translation and there are some unsung heroes out there doing great work.

The first book in the trilogy has been made into a successful film in Sweden that we can only hope makes it to the US with subtitles. I would love to see these stories on the screen.

These are big stories with complex plots, lots of action and twists and turns. They are the kind of story that drives one to keep at turning those pages for whatever comes next. The characters are interesting, expecially the female protagonist, Lisbeth Salander. She is one tough cookie.

Give these books a shot, you won't be sorry.