The Man Who Went Up in Smoke by
Maj Per Sjowall
pbk out August 06
(Harper Perennial)
at £6.99
This is the second in the Martin Beck series, happily being reissued by Harper, and it
benefits from a thoughtful introduction by Val McDermid, as well as useful
supplementary notes, including an interview with Sjowall (Wahloo died over 30 years
ago.) McDermid emphasises that Beck is part of a team and argues that, when the
books about him first appeared, 'crime writers were supposed only to entertain. The
Swedish duo demonstrated that there was a different way to write about murder.' I'm
not convinced that Sjowall and Wahloo were ahead of, say, the likes of Julian Symons
and Margaret Millar, but their inventive approach means that their writing remains
fresh today. An interesting read.
(
Martin Edwards
- author of the highly acclaimed Harry Devlin Mysteries)
; width=){kind=small}
The Man Who Went Up in Smoke by
Maj Per Sjowall 
