Mystery Monday: Henning Mankell
--by Hanje Richards
Because I am a huge mystery fan, "Mystery Monday" was born. Because I like to read mysteries in order, I'm going to list and talk about them in chronological, rather than alphabetical, order.
If an author has written more than one series (and many authors have), I'll talk about different series in different posts to keep things as clear as possible. For those interested in reading some of the featured titles, I've noted at the end of each book's summary whether it's available at the Copper Queen Library or at another library in Cochise County through Interlibrary Loan (ILL).
Henning Mankell (born February 3, 1948) is a renowned Swedish crime writer, occasional children's author and dramatist, best known for a series of mystery no
vels starring his most iconic creation, Inspector Kurt Wallander.Mankell was born in Stockholm, Sweden, and grew up in Sveg (Härjedalen) and Borås (Västergötland). Mankell's father, Ivar, was a judge and his grandfather, also called Henning Mankell (1868–1930), was a composer. At the age of 20, he started a career as author and assistant director at the Riks Theater in Stockholm. In the following years, he collaborated with several theaters in Sweden.
In his youth, Mankell was a left-wing political activist and a strong opponent of the Vietnam War, South African apartheid, and Portugal's colonial war in Mozambique. In the 1970s, Mankell moved from Sweden to Norway and lived with a Norwegian woman who was a member of the Maoist Communist Labor Party of Norway. Mankell took part in the party's activities but never himself joined the party.
After living in Zambia and other African countries, Mankell was invited to become the artistic director of Teatro Avenida in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. He now spends at least half the year in Maputo working with the theater and writing.
Recently, he built up his own publishing house (Leopard Förlag) in order to support young talents from Africa and Sweden.
He is married to Eva Bergman, daughter of Ingmar Bergman. On June 12, 2008 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate from the University of St Andrews in Scotland.
The Kurt Wallander, Linda Wallander and Stefan Lindman Series are intertwined.
Kurt Wallander is a fictional police inspector living and working in Ystad, Sweden. In the novels, he solves shocking murders with his colleagues. The novels have an underlying question: "What went wrong with Swedish society?" The series has won many awards, including the German Crime Prize and the British 2001 CWA Gold Dagger for Sidetracked. The ninth book, The Pyramid, is a collection of short stories about Wallander's past.
The English traslations are not being published in order. This list is in the order in which they occur in the timeline of the series. (Information from http://www.inspector-wallander.org/)
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The Pyram
id - Revealing a side of Wallander that we have never seen, the long stories collected in The Pyramid are vintage Mankell. Here, we see Wallander on his homicide first case as a twenty-one-year-old patrolman, as a young father facing unexpected danger on Christmas Eve, as a middle-aged detective with his marriage on the brink, as a newly separated investigator solving the brutal murder of a local photographer, and finally as a veteran detective, with his signature methodical and instinctive work style, discovering unexpected connections between a downed plane and the assassination of a pair of spinster sisters. In these five riveting tales, we watch Kurt Wallander come into his own not only as a detective but as a human being. (available through ILL)
id - Revealing a side of Wallander that we have never seen, the long stories collected in The Pyramid are vintage Mankell. Here, we see Wallander on his homicide first case as a twenty-one-year-old patrolman, as a young father facing unexpected danger on Christmas Eve, as a middle-aged detective with his marriage on the brink, as a newly separated investigator solving the brutal murder of a local photographer, and finally as a veteran detective, with his signature methodical and instinctive work style, discovering unexpected connections between a downed plane and the assassination of a pair of spinster sisters. In these five riveting tales, we watch Kurt Wallander come into his own not only as a detective but as a human being. (available through ILL).
Faceless Killers - It was a senselessly violent crime: on a cold night in a remote Swedish farmhouse an elderly farmer is bludgeoned to death, and his wife is left to die
with a noose around her neck. And as if this didn’t present enough problems for the Inspector Kurt Wallander, the dying woman’s last word is foreign, leaving the police the one tangible clue they have – and in the process, the match that could inflame Sweden’s already smoldering anti-immigrant sentiments.
Faceless Killers - It was a senselessly violent crime: on a cold night in a remote Swedish farmhouse an elderly farmer is bludgeoned to death, and his wife is left to die
with a noose around her neck. And as if this didn’t present enough problems for the Inspector Kurt Wallander, the dying woman’s last word is foreign, leaving the police the one tangible clue they have – and in the process, the match that could inflame Sweden’s already smoldering anti-immigrant sentiments..
Unlike the situation with his ex-wife, his estranged daughter, or the beautiful but married young prosecutor who has piqued his interest, in this case, Wallander finds a problem he can handle. He quickly becomes obsessed with solving the crime before the already-tense situation explodes, but soon comes to realize that it will require all his reserves of energy and dedication to solve. (available at CQL)
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The Dogs of Riga
- Set against the chaotic backdrop of eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the provincial Swedish detective takes on a probably fruitless task: investigating the murders of two unidentified men washed up on the Swedish coast in an inflatable dinghy. The only clues: their dental work suggests they're from an Eastern Bloc country; the raft is Yugoslavian. But their deaths mushroom into an international incident that takes Wallander to Riga, Latvia, and enmeshes him in an incredibly dangerous and emotionally draining situation, battling forces far larger than the "bloodless burglaries and frauds" he typically pursues in Sweden. In Riga, Wallander must deal with widespread governmental corruption, which opens his eyes to the chilling reality of life in the totalitarian Eastern Bloc. (available at CQL)
Unlike the situation with his ex-wife, his estranged daughter, or the beautiful but married young prosecutor who has piqued his interest, in this case, Wallander finds a problem he can handle. He quickly becomes obsessed with solving the crime before the already-tense situation explodes, but soon comes to realize that it will require all his reserves of energy and dedication to solve. (available at CQL)
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The Dogs of Riga
- Set against the chaotic backdrop of eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the provincial Swedish detective takes on a probably fruitless task: investigating the murders of two unidentified men washed up on the Swedish coast in an inflatable dinghy. The only clues: their dental work suggests they're from an Eastern Bloc country; the raft is Yugoslavian. But their deaths mushroom into an international incident that takes Wallander to Riga, Latvia, and enmeshes him in an incredibly dangerous and emotionally draining situation, battling forces far larger than the "bloodless burglaries and frauds" he typically pursues in Sweden. In Riga, Wallander must deal with widespread governmental corruption, which opens his eyes to the chilling reality of life in the totalitarian Eastern Bloc. (available at CQL) .
The W
hite Lioness - The execution-style murder of a Swedish housewife looks like a simple case even though there is no obvious suspect. But then Wallander learns of a determined stalker, and soon enough, the cops catch up with him. But when his alibi turns out to be airtight, they realize that what seemed a simple crime of passion is actually far more complex – and dangerous. The search for the truth behind the killing eventually uncovers an assassination plot, and Wallander soon finds himself in a tangle with both the secret police and a ruthless foreign agent. Lioness combines compelling insights into the sinister side of modern life with a riveting tale of international intrigue. (available at CQL)
The W
hite Lioness - The execution-style murder of a Swedish housewife looks like a simple case even though there is no obvious suspect. But then Wallander learns of a determined stalker, and soon enough, the cops catch up with him. But when his alibi turns out to be airtight, they realize that what seemed a simple crime of passion is actually far more complex – and dangerous. The search for the truth behind the killing eventually uncovers an assassination plot, and Wallander soon finds himself in a tangle with both the secret police and a ruthless foreign agent. Lioness combines compelling insights into the sinister side of modern life with a riveting tale of international intrigue. (available at CQL).
The Ma
n Who Smiled - A lawyer driving home at night stops to investigate an effigy sitting in a chair in the middle of the highway. The lawyer is hit over the head and dies. Within a week, the lawyer’s son is also killed. These deeply puzzling mysteries compel Wallander to remain on the force. The prime suspect is a powerful corporate mogul with a gleaming smile that Wallander believes hides the evil glee of a killer. Joined by Ann-Britt Hoglund, Wallander begins to uncover the truth, but the same merciless individuals responsible for the murders are now closing in on him. (available at CQL)
n Who Smiled - A lawyer driving home at night stops to investigate an effigy sitting in a chair in the middle of the highway. The lawyer is hit over the head and dies. Within a week, the lawyer’s son is also killed. These deeply puzzling mysteries compel Wallander to remain on the force. The prime suspect is a powerful corporate mogul with a gleaming smile that Wallander believes hides the evil glee of a killer. Joined by Ann-Britt Hoglund, Wallander begins to uncover the truth, but the same merciless individuals responsible for the murders are now closing in on him. (available at CQL).
.Sidetracked - K
urt Wallander is called to a nearby rapeseed field where a teenage girl has been loitering all day long. He arrives just in time to watch her douse herself in gasoline and set herself aflame. The next day, he is called to a beach where Sweden’s former Minister of Justice has been axed to death and scalped. The murder has the obvious markings of a demented serial killer, and Wallander is frantic to find him before he strikes again. But his investigation is beset with a handful of obstacles – a department distracted by the threat of impending cutbacks and the frivolity of World Cup soccer, a tenuous long-distance relationship with a murdered policeman’s widow, and the unshakably haunting preoccupation with the young girl who set herself on fire. (available at CQL)
urt Wallander is called to a nearby rapeseed field where a teenage girl has been loitering all day long. He arrives just in time to watch her douse herself in gasoline and set herself aflame. The next day, he is called to a beach where Sweden’s former Minister of Justice has been axed to death and scalped. The murder has the obvious markings of a demented serial killer, and Wallander is frantic to find him before he strikes again. But his investigation is beset with a handful of obstacles – a department distracted by the threat of impending cutbacks and the frivolity of World Cup soccer, a tenuous long-distance relationship with a murdered policeman’s widow, and the unshakably haunting preoccupation with the young girl who set herself on fire. (available at CQL) .
The Fifth Woman
- Ystad is not a mean-streets sort of town, so when three murders materialize in a space of time unsettlingly short, the first thing Swedish police inspector Kurt Wallander must figure out is whether the cases are connected. It doesn't take him long to decide that they are and that, moreover, there's nothing really subtle about the link. Brutality unites them, he tells his veteran corps of homicide specialists. With an m.o. of sorts established, Wallander launches his manhunt, and then to his surprise – and considerable dismay – realizes that it is, in fact, a womanhunt. In Sweden? A female serial killer? Difficult for him to come to terms with, and yet as bits and pieces of evidence accrue – intangible, yet compelling – that conclusion becomes hard to evade. (available at CQL)
The Fifth Woman
- Ystad is not a mean-streets sort of town, so when three murders materialize in a space of time unsettlingly short, the first thing Swedish police inspector Kurt Wallander must figure out is whether the cases are connected. It doesn't take him long to decide that they are and that, moreover, there's nothing really subtle about the link. Brutality unites them, he tells his veteran corps of homicide specialists. With an m.o. of sorts established, Wallander launches his manhunt, and then to his surprise – and considerable dismay – realizes that it is, in fact, a womanhunt. In Sweden? A female serial killer? Difficult for him to come to terms with, and yet as bits and pieces of evidence accrue – intangible, yet compelling – that conclusion becomes hard to evade. (available at CQL) .
One Step Behin
d - On Midsummer’s Eve, three role-playing teens dressed in eighteenth-century garb are shot in a secluded Swedish meadow. When one of Inspector Kurt Wallander’s most trusted colleagues – someone on whose help he hoped to rely to solve the crime – also turns up dead, Wallander knows the murders are related. But with his only clue a picture of a woman no one in Sweden seems to know, he can’t begin to imagine how. Reeling from his own father’s death and facing his own deteriorating health, Wallander tracks the lethal progress of the killer. Locked in a desperate effort to catch him before he strikes again, Wallander always seems to be just one step behind. (available at CQL)
d - On Midsummer’s Eve, three role-playing teens dressed in eighteenth-century garb are shot in a secluded Swedish meadow. When one of Inspector Kurt Wallander’s most trusted colleagues – someone on whose help he hoped to rely to solve the crime – also turns up dead, Wallander knows the murders are related. But with his only clue a picture of a woman no one in Sweden seems to know, he can’t begin to imagine how. Reeling from his own father’s death and facing his own deteriorating health, Wallander tracks the lethal progress of the killer. Locked in a desperate effort to catch him before he strikes again, Wallander always seems to be just one step behind. (available at CQL).
Firewall -
In the small town of Ystad, a pair of seemingly random events take place within a matter of days: two teenage girls with no apparent motive brutally beat and stab a taxi driver to death, and a remarkably healthy man checks his bank balance at an ATM and then collapses dead on the sidewalk. After two more odd murders, Wallander becomes convinced that the incidents are all connected. The recurring clues demonstrating the vulnerability of society in the electronic age remain just outside of the Luddite inspector's understanding. But once he detects a conspiracy to collapse the world's financial infrastructure on a specific date, Wallander, whose position at work is already imperiled, ignores office politics and protocol to stop the would-be revolutionary. (available at CQL)
.Firewall -
In the small town of Ystad, a pair of seemingly random events take place within a matter of days: two teenage girls with no apparent motive brutally beat and stab a taxi driver to death, and a remarkably healthy man checks his bank balance at an ATM and then collapses dead on the sidewalk. After two more odd murders, Wallander becomes convinced that the incidents are all connected. The recurring clues demonstrating the vulnerability of society in the electronic age remain just outside of the Luddite inspector's understanding. But once he detects a conspiracy to collapse the world's financial infrastructure on a specific date, Wallander, whose position at work is already imperiled, ignores office politics and protocol to stop the would-be revolutionary. (available at CQL)Return of th
e Dancing Master - When retired policeman Herbert Molin is found brutally slaughtered on his remote farm in the northern forests of Sweden, police find strange tracks in the snow – as if someone had been practicing the tango. Stefan Lindman, a young police officer recently diagnosed with mouth cancer, decides to investigate the murder of his former colleague but is soon enmeshed in a mystifying case with no witnesses and no apparent motives. Terrified of the disease that could take his life, Lindman becomes more and more reckless as he unearths the chilling links between Molin’s death and an underground neo-Nazi network that runs further and deeper than he could ever have imagined. (available at CQL)
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e Dancing Master - When retired policeman Herbert Molin is found brutally slaughtered on his remote farm in the northern forests of Sweden, police find strange tracks in the snow – as if someone had been practicing the tango. Stefan Lindman, a young police officer recently diagnosed with mouth cancer, decides to investigate the murder of his former colleague but is soon enmeshed in a mystifying case with no witnesses and no apparent motives. Terrified of the disease that could take his life, Lindman becomes more and more reckless as he unearths the chilling links between Molin’s death and an underground neo-Nazi network that runs further and deeper than he could ever have imagined. (available at CQL).
Before the Frost - 
In this latest atmospheric thriller, Kurt Wallander and his daughter, Linda, join forces to search for a religious fanatic on a murder spree. Just graduated from the police academy, Linda Wallander returns to Skane to join the police force, and she already shows all the hallmarks of her father – the maverick approach, the flaring temper. Before she even starts work, she becomes embroiled in the case of her childhood friend Anna, who has inexplicably disappeared. As the case her father is working on dovetails with her own, something far more dangerous than either could have imagined begins to emerge. They soon find themselves forced to confront a group of extremists bent on punishing the world's sinners. (available at CQL)
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In this latest atmospheric thriller, Kurt Wallander and his daughter, Linda, join forces to search for a religious fanatic on a murder spree. Just graduated from the police academy, Linda Wallander returns to Skane to join the police force, and she already shows all the hallmarks of her father – the maverick approach, the flaring temper. Before she even starts work, she becomes embroiled in the case of her childhood friend Anna, who has inexplicably disappeared. As the case her father is working on dovetails with her own, something far more dangerous than either could have imagined begins to emerge. They soon find themselves forced to confront a group of extremists bent on punishing the world's sinners. (available at CQL)The final book in the series is The Troubled Man (or The Worried Man), with an expected publication date of 2011). Look for it at the Copper Queen Library!
posted by msbw @ 10:52 AM
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