Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
Widely recognised as the greatest masterpieces of crime fiction ever written, these are the original detective stories that pioneered the detective genre.
Written in the 1960s, they are the work of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo – a husband and wife team from Sweden. The ten novels follow the fortunes of the detective Martin Beck, whose enigmatic, taciturn character has inspired countless other policemen in crime fiction. The novels can be read separately, but do follow a chronological order, so the reader can become familiar with the characters and develop a loyalty to the series. Each book will have a new introduction in order to help bring these books to a new audience.
‘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.
Reviews of The Man Who Went Up in Smoke
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‘The decalogue about the Swedish Chief Inspector Martin Beck created by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo during the 1960s and 1970s are indeed classic police fiction. They changed the genre. Whoever is writing crime fiction after these novels in inspired by them in one way or another.’ Henning Mankell
‘If you haven’t read Sjowall/Wahloo, start now.’ Sunday Telegraph
‘Their mysteries don’t just read well; they reread even better. Witness, wife, petty cop or crook – they’re all real characters even if they get just a few sentences. The plots hold, because they’re ingenious but never inhuman.’ New York Times
More from Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö
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The Abominable Man (The Martin Beck series, Book 7)
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The Locked Room (The Martin Beck series, Book 8)
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Cop Killer (The Martin Beck series, Book 9)
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The Terrorists (The Martin Beck series, Book 10)
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The Laughing Policeman (The Martin Beck series, Book 4)
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The Fire Engine That Disappeared (A Martin Beck Novel, Book 5)
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Murder at the Savoy (The Martin Beck series, Book 6)
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Roseanna (A Martin Beck Novel, Book 1)
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The Man Who Went Up in Smoke (A Martin Beck Novel, Book 2)
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The Man on the Balcony (A Martin Beck Novel, Book 3)
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The Terrorists
Paperback -
Cop Killer
Paperback -
The Locked Room
Paperback -
The Abominable Man
Paperback -
Murder at the Savoy
Paperback -
The Fire Engine That Disappeared
Paperback -
The Laughing Policeman
Paperback -
The Man on the Balcony
Paperback -
Roseanna
Paperback -
The Martin Beck Series: Books 1–4
Other -
The Laughing Policeman
Ebook -
Cop Killer
Ebook -
Murder at the Savoy
Ebook -
The Abominable Man
Ebook -
The Locked Room
Ebook -
The Terrorists
Ebook -
The Fire Engine That Disappeared
Ebook -
Cop Killer
Paperback -
The Terrorists
Paperback -
Roseanna
Paperback -
The Man on the Balcony
Paperback -
The Laughing Policeman
Paperback -
The Fire Engine That Disappeared
Paperback -
The Abominable Man
Paperback -
Murder at the Savoy
Paperback -
The Locked Room
Paperback -
The Man Who Went Up in Smoke
Ebook -
The Man on the Balcony
Ebook -
Roseanna
Ebook -
The Man Who Went Up in Smoke
Paperback