Book 1

Roseanna

by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo

Published October 1968
The naked body of a young woman is dredged up from a Swedish canal. She has been sexually assaulted and strangled. But no one has reported her missing and Martin Beck of the Stockholm homicide squad can find no clue to her identity. But then patience, a little luck and good, honest police work turn up a broken-down pleasure boat, information from Nebraska and some tourist's photographs, and gradually Beck's investigation comes to its troubling conclusion.

Book 2

Man Who Went Up in Smoke

by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo

Published 19 March 1970

Perennial relaunch the classic Martin Beck detective series from the 1960s - the novels that have inspired all crime fiction written ever since.

Widely recognised as the greatest masterpieces of crime fiction ever written, these are the original detective stories that pioneered the detective genre.

Written in the 1960s, they are the work of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo - a husband and wife team from Sweden. The ten novels follow the fortunes of the detective Martin Beck, whose enigmatic, taciturn character has inspired countless other policemen in crime fiction. The novels can be read separately, but do follow a chronological order, so the reader can become familiar with the characters and develop a loyalty to the series. Each book will have a new introduction in order to help bring these books to a new audience.

`The Man who went up in Smoke' starts as Martin Beck has just begun his holiday: an August spent with his family on a small island off the coast of Sweden. But when a neighbour gets a phone call, Beck finds himself packed off to Budapest, where a boorish journalist has vanished without a trace. Instead of passing leisurely sun-filled days with his children, Beck must troll about in the Eastern Europe underworld for a man nobody knows, with the aid of the coolly efficient local police, who do business while soaking at the public baths - and at the risk of vanishing along with his quarry.


Book 3

The third thrilling classic instalment in the Martin Beck detective series from the 1960s - the novels that have inspired all crime fiction written ever since.

The Martin Beck series is widely recognised as the greatest masterpiece of crime fiction ever written. These are the original detective stories that pioneered the detective genre and inspired writers from Agatha Christie to Henning Mankell; Graham Greene to Jonathan Franzen. Translated into 35 languages, they have sold over 10 million copies around the world.

Written in the 1960s, they are the work of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo - a husband-and-wife team from Sweden. The ten novels follow the fortunes of the detective Martin Beck, whose enigmatic, taciturn character has inspired countless other policemen in crime fiction. The novels can be read separately, but do follow a chronological order, so the reader can become familiar with the characters and develop a loyalty to the series. Each book will have a new introduction in order to help bring these books to a new audience.

Someone is killing young girls in the once-peaceful parks of Stockholm - killing them after having his own way with them. The people of Stockholm are tense and fearful. Police Superintendent Martin Beck has two witnesses: a cold-blooded mugger who won't say much and a three-year-old boy who can't say much. The dedicated work of the police seems to be leading nowhere, and with each passing day, the likelihood of another murder grows. But then Beck remembers someone - or something - he overheard.

`The Man on the Balcony' balances the most inhuman of crimes with the humanity of the men who must solve it - resulting in a police procedural that is as moving and credible as it is enthralling.


Book 4

The Laughing Policeman

by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo

Published 21 January 1971
The fourth in the Martin Beck series. One blustery November evening someone guns down eight occupants of a Stockholm bus - one of whom was a colleague of Martin Beck's. Eight people together purely by coincidence - perhaps. But, above all, why was that policeman - a solitary and ambitious man - on that bus?

Book 5

The excellent fifth classic installment in the Martin Beck detective series from the 1960s - the novels that have inspired all crime fiction written ever since.

Widely recognised as the greatest masterpieces of crime fiction ever written, these are the original detective stories that pioneered the detective genre.

Gunvald Larsson sits carefully observing the dingy Stockholm apartment of a man under police surveillance. He looks at his watch: nine minutes past eleven in the evening. He yawns, slapping his arms to keep warm. At the same moment the house explodes, killing at least three people.

Chief Inspector Martin Beck and his men don't suspect arson or murder until they discover a peculiar circumstance and a link is established between the explosion and a suicide committed that same day, in which the dead man left a note consisting of just two words: Martin Beck.

Written in the 1960s, they are the work of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo - a husband and wife team from Sweden. The ten novels follow the fortunes of the detective Martin Beck, whose enigmatic, taciturn character has inspired countless other policemen in crime fiction. The novels can be read separately, but do follow a chronological order, so the reader can become familiar with the characters and develop a loyalty to the series. Each book has a new introduction in order to help bring these books to a new audience.


Book 6

Murder at the Savoy

by Per Wahloo

Published April 1972
The sixth thrilling installment in the Martin Beck detective series from the 1960s -- the novels that have inspired all crime fiction written ever since. Widely recognised as the greatest masterpieces of crime fiction ever written, these are the original detective stories that pioneered the detective genre. When Viktor Palmgren, a powerful industrialist, is casually shot during an after-dinner speech, the repurcussions -- both on the international money markets and on the residents of the small coastal town of Malmo -- are widespread. Chief Inspector Martin Beck is called in to help catch a killer nobody, not even the victim, was able to identify. He begins a systemic search for the friends, enemies, business associates and call girls who may have wanted Palmgren dead -- but in the process he finds to his dismay that he has nothing but contempt for the victim and sympathy for the murderer! Written in the 1960s, they are the work of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo -- a husband and wife team from Sweden. The ten novels follow the fortunes of the detective Martin Beck, whose enigmatic, taciturn character has inspired countless other policemen in crime fiction.
The novels can be read separately, but do follow a chronological order, so the reader can become familiar with the characters and develop a loyalty to the series. Each book has a new introduction in order to help bring these books to a new audience.

Book 7

Abominable Man

by Major Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo

Published 12 July 1973
The striking seventh novel in the Martin Beck mystery series by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, finds Beck facing one of the greatest challenges in his professional career.

The gruesome murder of a police captain in his hospital room reveals the unsavory history of a man who spent forty years practicing a horrible blend of strong-arm police work and shear brutality. Martin Beck and his colleagues feverishly comb Stockholm for the murderer, a demented and deadly rifleman, who has plans for even more chaos. As the tension builds and a feeling of imminent danger grips Beck, his investigation unearths evidence of police corruption. That’s when an even stronger sense of responsibility and something like shame urge him into taking a series of drastic steps, which lead to a shocking disaster.

Book 8

The Locked Room

by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo

Published 16 May 1974

Meet the characters from the hit BBC series, Beck.

The eighth book in the classic Martin Beck detective series from the 1960s and 70s – the novels that shaped the future of Scandinavian crime writing.

In one part of town, a woman robs a bank. In another, a corpse is found shot through the heart in a room locked from within, with no firearm in sight. Although the two incidents appear unrelated, Detective Inspector Martin Beck believes otherwise, and solving the mystery acquires the utmost importance. Haunted by a near-fatal bullet wound and trying to recover from the break-up of his unhappy marriage, Beck throws himself into the case to escape from the prison that his own life has come to resemble.

Written in the 1960s, these masterpieces are the work of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo – a husband and wife team from Sweden. The ten novels follow the fortunes of the detective Martin Beck, whose enigmatic, taciturn character has inspired countless other policemen in crime fiction. The novels can be read separately, but do follow a chronological order, so the reader can become familiar with the characters and develop a loyalty to the series. Each book will have a new introduction in order to help bring these books to a new audience.


Book 9

Cop Killer

by Per Wahloo

Published 1 July 2010
The shocking ninth novel in the Martin Beck mystery series by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö finds Beck investigating parallel cases that have shocked a small rural community.
 
In a country town, a woman is brutally murdered and left buried in a swamp. There are two main suspects: her closest neighbor and her ex-husband. Meanwhile, on a quiet suburban street a midnight shootout takes place between three cops and two teenage boys. Dead, one cop and one kid. Wounded, two cops. Escaped, one kid. Martin Beck and his partner Lenart Kollberg are called in to investigate. As Beck digs deeper into the murky waters of the young girl’s murder, Kollberg scours the town for the teenager, and together they are forced to examine the changing face of crime.

Book 10

The Terrorists

by Major Maj Sjowall and Tom Weiner

Published 1 January 1976
The final novel in the Martin Beck mystery series by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö is a masterful, all consuming tale that rushes toward a thrilling, unexpected climax. With a new introduction by Dennis Lehane: "Tension so thick the reader could crack a tooth."
 
An American senator is visiting Stockholm and Martin Beck must lead a team to protect him from an international gang of terrorists. However, in the midst of the fervor created by the diplomatic visit, a young, peace-loving woman is accused of robbing a bank. Beck is determined to prove her innocence, but gets trapped in the maze of police bureaucracy. To complicate matters a millionaire pornographer has been bludgeoned to death in his own bathtub. Filled with the twists and turns and the pulse pounding excitement that are the hallmarks of the Martin Beck novels, The Terrorists is the stunning conclusion to the incredible series that changed crime fiction forever.