Having been glued to the Danish detective series The Killing with its morose heroine detective Sarah Lund I've been wanting to dip my toe into the genre of Scandi-crime novels.
Radio 4 recently adapted the classic Swedish crime novel Roseanna by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo who famously wrote the Martin Beck series after putting their children to bed. Roseanna was so riveting on the radio I knew I had to read the book.
The body of a young woman is spotted in the scoop of a dredger clearing a Swedish lake. Detective Martin Beck is bought in to investigate and he begins the painstaking process of identification which takes several weeks as no missing person has been reported. After discovering her identity he then attempts to unravel the events which resulted in her death.
Before internet, mobile phones and sophisticated forensics the process is time-consuming with long periods of inactivity and boredom. Beck, however is tenacious and assisted by his able colleagues he finally makes a breakthrough.
Published in the 1960's this classic police procedure novel has barely dated. Although you may wince at a couple of the expressions used to describe women it is not gory or excessively violent. I now want to read more in the Martin Beck series and I'm also going to try Liza Marklund.
Any Scandi-crime recommendations would be very welcome. Season's Greetings to all bloggers and readers!