The Man on the Balcony
We alternately call them crime novels or detective fiction; may even trivialize them as “mystery stories”, inadvertently classifying them with the likes of the Five-Find Outers. They include some of my favourite authors: Colin Dexter, Reginald Hill, H.R.F. Keating, Val McDermid, Ian Rankin, Ruth Rendell… and it’s only recently that I have learnt that another term for this sub-genre of fiction is the “police procedural”. And this term, in turn, throws up two names: Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö.
The Man on the Balcony is the third book in the Martin Beck series by this husband–wife team. The series is so-called because it features a Stockholm-based police detective of the same name as the central character, even though his colleagues appear to get just as much print-space.
Without further ado, read the review. More will follow as soon as I am able to get hold of the other books.
~PD
7 January 2009 at 1:55 pm
Ooh, seems interesting~ It’s not my favorite genre but I may have to check it out.
13 January 2009 at 6:28 am
We call them “Deckare” here in Sweden and is considered what to write if you wanna have any chance of earning monies. *nods* I know such things. It says so in the newspapers too. So there.
14 January 2009 at 11:31 am
The best way to read these books is chronologically – you can see how the characters develop, how the very nature of Swedish society changes over the years, sometimes in tandem with the changes taking place in the characters’ lives, or their interpersonal relationships. As one of introductions pithily stated, Stockholm is as much a character as any of the other people in the books. This is a good one – the lack of twists and turns in no ways takes away from what is a very good police procedural.
I agree with you entirely about the translation – but yes, the stilted language somehow makes it more endearing, more European, if you know what I mean. It’s a huge relief to not have to read senseless Americanisms on each page! And I’ve always thought, too – why are Martin Beck and Gunvald Larsson (easily my favourite
) always referred to by their full names? No one else is!
This series is among the best books I’ve read in a long time. Buy them all.
14 January 2009 at 12:32 pm
Stockholm being a character — that’s a good one. I had this urge to want to go there and see the place, before I realized this is forty years ago!
By the way, try Henning Mankell (if you haven’t already). It’s a lot more dark and depressing, but you might enjoy the Europeanness!
And yes, I’m going to pick up the rest when I get a chance to go to Midlands next!