Before Stieg Larsson, There was Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo

With the hype and phenomenal success of the Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson, a lot of news outlets have been asking the natural but obvious question: who's the next big breakout star? Is he or she Scandinavian? Or from some other country? Or not writing thrillers? But too many of these pieces seem to think the Scandinavian crime wave began in the past decade or so and don't reference Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, whose 10-book "Story of Crime" novels featuring the ordinary, dour but always fascinating detective Martin Beck not only paved the way for Scandinavian crime writers, but for the genre as a whole.

I've wanted to write about Sjowall & Wahloo for many months, ever since Vintage started reissuing the books with striking new covers (cribbed from the UK editions, published by HarperCollins) and introductions from notable types like Henning Mankell, Val McDermid and Michael Connelly explaining how each book and the whole arc merits close reading. Then I found out for myself starting with ROSEANNA, working my way through the tenth and final book THE TERRORISTS, which is reissued today. And that book, in particular, seems a natural segue to Larsson's books - it's the most overtly political, the most pointed, the most rooted in frustration at the system and outrage over how women are abused and tossed aside by system, and by men.

There's much more detail in my essay, which runs today at The Daily Beast, but the quote that really hit home how Sjowall & Wahloo influenced Larsson comes near the end of the series, when Beck is told this: "Violence has rushed like an avalanche throughout the whole of the Western world over the last 10 years. You can't stop or steer that avalanche on your own. It just increases. That's not your fault."

(For further reading, see the Guardian's profile of Maj Sjowall, still alive at age 75, and Tom Nolan's 2009 Sjowall/Wahloo essay in the WSJ.)

Comments

[Graham]

I enjoyed your article, but FYI the link goes to page 2.

[I.J.Parker]

They are indeed wonderful, much better than Larsson. It's a great pity that we come upon some of the truly great mystery writers decades after they struggled to become known.

[Ralph H.]

What I.J. said. They set the standard, creating vastly more interesting characters and not descending so readily into Nordic gloom. _The Laughing Policeman_ remains one of the very best police procedurals ever written.

[Norman]

The Terrorist the tenth in the series was written a mere 35 years ago, Roseanna 45 years ago, so it is nice that the mainstream have finally recognized the position of Martin Beck and his team in the history of crime fiction. Even the less well known of this series such as The Locked Room and The Fire Engine That Disappeared are far better than many of the modern books.
The younger generation are very lucky to have the new Harper Perennial and Vintage reissues because I read Roseanna and Cop Killer back in the 1970s and spent hours in used book stores looking for the rest of the series.

[michaelfmcgrath@gmail.com]

Thank you for your article.As always you are focussed on the most interesting people. However I am puzzled by your comment about royalties. This is not reflected in the Guardian article?

[naomirand]

These are the writers who made me a mystery reader. Years ago my mother turned me on to these books. Excellent job on this.

[kathy d.]

Absolutely! Agree with you about Sjowall and Wahloo. Have read three of the 10 books; this year read "The Laughing Policeman," and "The Locked Room" (what incredible minds figured out this unique solution and the complexity of the intertwining plots). Plan to start with "Roseanna," and read the rest.