Reviews

• “Superb suspense from Sweden. Let no mystery authority worth the appellation miss Roseanna … It introduces the most satisfying police officer since Gideon, Martin Beck … I have never read a finer police story.”

• “… a perfectly straight [police] procedural, Roseanna, and a very good one.”

• “”For the Simenon market—implacable realism and impeccable precision.”

• “If this exciting and realistic Swedish mystery does not wind up on the ”best of the year” list of most reviewers, we’ll be very much surprised. The documentary, plice procedural novel that we usually associate with British or American setting is intensely interesting here against a Swedish background. … This is so good on every count – characterizations, the psychology of the killer, the build-up of suspense and details of police work – that we hope we will be seeing more of these Swedish detectives.”

• “A brilliant novel.”

• “Dedicated, crusty and laconic, drinking too much coffee, smoking too much, eating too little, Martin Beck’s the despair of his wife but absolutely relentless in his pursuit of the criminal and a hero to his men … A wonderfully tough and pleasantly chilling tale.”

• “Q&A technique superbly applied brings home the culprit when a nude female body is dredged up in Scandinavian waters; Inspector Martin Beck does the worrying. Admirably handled by a man and wife collaboration. Come again, please!”

• “It is one of the best detective stories I have ever read.”

• “Sjöwall/Wahlöö are the best writers of police procedural in the world.”

• “For Beck as with Maigret, each investigation is less a riddle to be answered than a human situation to be understood.”

• “Fascinating police routine yarn from Sweden, by a husband and wife team. … Sound in every aspect of crime writing.”

• “Solidly interesting.”

• “Interesting throughout.”

• “A very promising new detective in an equally promising setting.”