The second book in the classic Martin Beck detective series from the 1960s -- the novels that shaped the future of Scandinavian crime writing. Hugely acclaimed, the Martin Beck series were the original Scandinavian crime novels and have inspired the writings of Stieg Larsson, Henning Mankell and Jo Nesbo. Written in the 1960s, 10 books completed in 10 years, they are the work of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo -- a husband and wife team from Sweden. They follow the fortunes of the detective Martin Beck, whose enigmatic, taciturn character has inspired countless other policemen in crime fiction; without his creation Ian Rankin's John Rebus or Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander may never have been conceived. The novels can be read separately, but are best read in chronological order, so the reader can follow the characters' development and get drawn into the series as a whole. 'The Man Who Went Up in Smoke' starts as Martin Beck has just begun his holiday: an August spent with his family on a small island off the coast of Sweden. But when a neighbour gets a phone call, Beck finds himself packed off to Budapest, where a boorish journalist has vanished without a trace. Instead of passing leisurely sun-filled days with his children, Beck must troll about in the Eastern Europe underworld for a man nobody knows, with the aid of the coolly efficient local police, who do business while soaking at the public baths -- and at the risk of vanishing along with his quarry.

The Man Who Went Up in Smoke

Wahlöö, Per

Sjöwall, Maj

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Harper-perennial

Finished just a few weeks before Per Wahloo's death, The Terrorists is the last Martin Beck mystery, a marvelous summing up of the series. The series finale finds Beck attempting to save an American diplomat from the bloody hands of a terrorist group. The book is, in effect, a marvelous summing up of the series. The story centers on the visit of an American senator to Stockholm. Martin Beck tries to protect him from an international gang of terrorists, while they decide that Beck too should be removed from the scene. Interwoven with this basic story are two fascinating subplots. One, a classic mini-mystery, is the story of a millionaire pornographer bludgeoned to death in his own bathtub. The other is the story of a young girl, a Swedish hippie caught up unexpectedly in the maze of police bureaucracy. As in other Martin Beck books, the plot comes together in a totally unexpected climax.

The Terrorists (The Martin Beck)

Mystery

Harperperennial

Xmartin Beck Series Cop Killer

Xmartin Beck Series Abominable

Harpercollins Specials

The shocking sixth novelin the Martin Beck mystery series by the internationally renowned crime writing duo by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, finds Beck investigating a brutal assassination.When Viktor Palmgren, a powerful Swedish industrialist is shot during his after-dinner speech in the luxurious Hotel Savoy, it sends a shiver down the spine of the international money markets and terrifies the tiny town of Malmo. No one in the restaurant can identify the gunman, and local police are sheepishly baffled. That's when Beck takes over the scene and quickly picks through Palmgren's background. What he finds is a web of vice so despicable that it's hard for him to imagine who wouldn't want Palmgren dead, but that doesn't stop him and his team of dedicated detectives from tackling one of their most intriguing cases yet.

Murder at the Savoy

Pantheon

Commissioner Martin Beck's associates begin a search for a ladder truck whose disappearance resulted in the death of eleven people

FIRE ENGINE THAT DISAPPEAERD (Their a Martin Beck Police Mystery, 5)

Vintage

The incredible fourth novel in the Martin Beck mystery series by the internationally renowned crime writing duo Maj SjÃwall and Per WahlÃÃ, finds Martin Beck heading a major manhunt in pursuit of a mass-murderer. On a cold and rainy Stockholm night, nine bus riders are gunned down by a mysterious assassin. The press portrays it as a freak attack and dubs the killer a madman. But Superintendent Martin Beck thinks otherwiseâ€”one of his most ambitious young detectives was among those killedâ€”and he suspects it was more than coincidence. Working on a hunch, Beck seeks out the girlfriend of the murdered detective, and with her help Beck reconstructs the steps that led to his murder. The police comb the country for the killer, only to find that this attack may be connected to a case that has been unsolved for years.

The Laughing Policeman

Pantheon Books

Martin Beck and the Stockholm police search for the individual responsible for killing a police captain in a hospital room

ABOMINABLE MAN

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

A woman robs a bank. A corpse is found shot through the heart in a room locked from within--no firearm in sight. To the eerily intuitive Inspector Martin Beck, these seemingly disparate cases are facets of the same puzzle, and solving it is of vital importance. Only by finding our what happened in the locked room can Beck--haunted by a near-fatal bullet wound and the demise of a soulless marriage--escape from an airtight prison of his own. From its classic premise, The Locked Room accelerates into an engrossing novel of the mind. Exploring the ramifications of egotism and intellect, luck and accident, and set against the backdrop of the inspired deductions and monstrous errors of Martin Beck and the Stockholm Homicide Squad, this tour de force of detection bears the unmistakable substance and gravity of real life.

The Locked Room

With its wonderfully observed lawmen (including the inimitable Martin Beck), its brilliantly rendered felons and their murky Stockholm underworld, and its deftly engineered plot, The Laughing Policeman is a classic of the police procedural and "must reading for anyone who claims to be [a student] of the best detective fiction" (Saturday Review).

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sjöwall, Maj. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Sjöwall, Maj

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sjöwall, Maj. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Man Who Went Up in Smoke

The Terrorists (The Martin Beck)

Xmartin Beck Series Cop Killer

Xmartin Beck Series Abominable

Murder at the Savoy

FIRE ENGINE THAT DISAPPEAERD (Their a Martin Beck Police Mystery, 5)

The Laughing Policeman

ABOMINABLE MAN

The Locked Room

The Laughing Policeman