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Loading... The Locked Room (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) (original 1972; edition 2009)by Maj Sjowall, Per Wahloo
Work InformationThe Locked Room by Maj Sjöwall (1972)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Maybe even 4.5 stars! While the locked room part of the mystery was not as clever as John Dickson Carr's, it was a great backdrop to Martin Beck's recovery (from his injury in the previous book) and Sjowall & Wahloo did a great job entwining it with the series of bank robberies that Kollberg and others are investigating. But what really lifts this police procedural from above average to excellent is the look at 1971 Sweden that we get and the snide comments about bureaucracy (and the District Attorney is a wonderful character in this sense!). And the irony of the ending was also satisfying despite the fact that Efter sjukskrivningen p.g.a. skottskadan i Den vedervärdige mannen från Säffle, får Martin Beck uppgiften att lösa ett fall med ett mord i ett slutet rum. Fallet kompliceras av att det förekommit vissa misstag tidigare i undersökningen. Samtidigt leder undersökningen Beck till den frispråkiga hyresvärdinnan Rhea Nielsen, som han blir kär i. This entry in the series is longer than usual and even more full of depictions that make Sweden seem about as bad as the worst parts of America. But somehow it isn't that depressing. Martin Beck is recovering from the trauma at the end of the last volume and is investigating a locked room murder. Meanwhile, there is a string of bank robberies going on that are taking up most of his staff's attention. The progression of Beck's personal life story is at least as interesting here as the dual plots, which you can bet will converge in some improbable manner by the end of the book. Audiobook narrator Weiner is excellent as always. no reviews | add a review
Belongs to SeriesMartin Beck (8) Belongs to Publisher SeriesLa memoria [Sellerio] (828) rororo thriller (2345) Den svarte serie (71) Zwarte Beertjes (1577) Is contained inHas the adaptationNotable Lists
Fiction.
Literature.
Mystery.
HTML:The stunning eighth installment in the Martin Beck mystery series by the renowned Swedish crime writing duo is a masterful take on a classic locked room mystery. With an introduction by Michael Connelly: "One of the most authentic, gripping, and profound collections of police procedurals ever accomplished." A young blonde in sunglasses robs a bank and kills a hapless citizen. Across town, a corpse with a bullet shot through its heart is found in a locked roomwith no gun at the scene. The crimes seem disparate, but to Martin Beck they are two pieces of the same puzzle, and solving it becomes the one way he can escape the pains of his failed marriage and the lingering effects of a near-fatal bullet wound. Exploring the ramifications of egotism and intellect, luck and accident, this tour de force of detection bears the unmistakable substance and gravity of real life. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)839.7374Literature German literature and literatures of related languages Other Germanic literatures Swedish literature Swedish fiction 1900-1999 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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We meet some interesting characters along the way: Mauritzon, the professional crook; Monita, the amateur crook; Rhea Nielsen, a possible love-interest for Beck, as well as a whole cast of police and crriminals.
Underlying it all is the authors' contempt for modern Swedish society, which doesn't always ring true. But the story convinces, especially in the ending, when not all loose ends are neatly tied up. A good read. ( )