Saturday, 5 November 2022

Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö - Roseanna

 

Rating: 4/5
 
Review:
very good early Scandi-crime 
 
I thought Roseanna was very good indeed.  It won’t be everybody’s cup of Aquavit because it is quite slow, methodical and atmospheric and the lead detective, Martin Beck, doesn’t have a Complicated Personal Life and a lot of Inner Demons, but I found it very gripping and involving.

First published in 1965, Roseanna begins with the body of a woman emerging naked from a river bed.  Martin Beck and his team have to find out who she was, deduce how she got there and use all sorts of ingenuity first to identify a suspect and then to incriminate and capture him, all of which takes many months of careful work, frustration and occasional inspiration and success.  It sounds a bit flat, but I thought it was terrific; full of atmosphere, a realistic view of police work and very believable, engaging characters.

The ending was a slight let-down.  There’s a rather overblown action climax and then a somewhat Maigret-esque interview, neither of which quite rang true to me.  Nonetheless, I thought it was very good overall and I’m looking forward to more in the series.

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