Maj Sjöwall, one half of a Swedish crime-writing couple credited with inventing the “Nordic noir” genre, has died aged 84, her publisher said on Wednesday.
Sjöwall, a pioneer of gritty realism and an inspiration to modern crime writers, “passed away today after an extended period of illness,” Ann-Marie Skarp, head of publisher Piratforlaget, told AFP.
With her partner Per Wahlöö, who died in 1975, Sjöwall penned a 10-book series centred on the dour, middle-aged and decidedly unheroic Martin Beck and his team of detectives in Stockholm’s National Homicide Bureau.
The duo penned the series decades before the likes of Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson made the genre a worldwide hit.
The Martin Beck books have been translated into 40 languages, according to news agency TT, and served as the source material for dozens of movies.
read more here @ The Guardian
I picked up these two in my local secondhand book store - they were the only two and I nearly put them back - glad I didn't.
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