Roseanna

By Maj Sjöwall (died29 April 2020) and Per Wahlöö (died 22 June 1975)

Translated by Lois Roth

Published by Harper Perennial (Harper Collins) https://harpercollins.co.uk/ @HarperCollinsUK

245 pages ISBN 9780007324378

Publication date 10 April 2009 (originally published in 1965)

Roseanna is the first novel in the Martin Beck series. Roseanna has twice been adapted to film, first in 1967 and then in 1993. The fourth book in the series The Laughing Policeman won an Edgar award for best novel in 1971.

I was allowed access to a pdf review copy on Net Galley https://www.netgalley.com/ @NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. 

The cover

I have seen several covers from various editions of the novel, and I think this is probably the least striking. The full series was reissued using this consistent sparse format which make perfect sense and looks good together, but as it is it lacks something for me, its not one to grab you.

From the blurb

On a July afternoon, the body of a young woman is dredged from a lake in southern Sweden. Raped and murdered, she is naked, unmarked and carries no sign of her identity. As Detective Inspector Martin Beck slowly begins to make the connections that will bring her identity to light, he uncovers a series of crimes further reaching than he ever would have imagined and a killer far more dangerous. How much will Beck be prepared to risk to catch him?

My thoughts

A few blog posts ago I was trying to describe the style of an author, there were a number listed on the cover and the nearest I thought was the Martin Beck series by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. Then last weekend I noticed that BBC4 were showing ‘Beck’, he is still very much in it and seems the spirit of Martin Beck now passes down to his grandson, how time flies. I have read the first four in the series (of ten) so I decided to do something I rarely do, go back and read the first in the series.

The version I have includes a foreword by the late Henning Mankell, the creator of the Wallander series of novels which are required reading for fans of Nordic-Noir. His thoughts and observations are just as incisive as one might expect from a master of the genre, so no skipping straight to the action.

Set in the 1960s the novel has dated somewhat and now feels more like an historical crime novel, one that has the advantage of authenticity because it was written then. As Mankell notes, nearly everyone smokes, people go to cafes for lunch and the landline telephone is invaluable. Interestingly there is a conversation about cigarettes being deadly in the dialogue. The other observation I would add is public transport and taxis are used throughout, not many contemporary detectives use the subway. Overall, it does seem to capture the optimism of the time, Sweden was much less affected by World War II, here the shackles of the drab austerity years of 1950s Europe are tossed aside, and we have the beginning of the ‘Swinging Sixties.’

The plot is very straightforward, the body of a naked young woman is found in a Swedish canal and the police must first identify her before they can hopefully track down the killer. A pure police procedural with no real distractions or side stories. Style wise it is very different to British crime novels of the period, very focused and streamlined but also with a cold clinical edge as well. A case of Habitat versus Ikea perhaps? A good example would be the detached comprehensive description of the body even down to the colour of the nipples (areola), cold almost unfeeling but with that professional detachment.

Martin Beck is the central character, and he is always named in full as Martin Beck, unlike the other characters who are usually just a surname. Martin Beck is something of a cold fish, a man seemingly happiest at work or building his model ship. His marriage appears to have dissolved into more of a companionable co-existence, though we discover they once were very much in love. He is emotionally buttoned up and physically a weak specimen, if he hasn’t got a cold he knows he’s going to get one with his bad chest and he’s always suffering with a bad stomach. A hypochondriac? Perhaps, certainly his consumption of coffee and cigarettes coupled with erratic eating habits and long hours are not going to help. Modern readers might recognise these as the manifestations of stress, though I think there may be more at play.

The story is very much plot and procedure rather than character based, other than Martin Beck and the killer the characters are largely forgettable. The killer is what would now be recognised as a high functioning sociopath, here given a well-judged split between charming and deadly. A killer who needed help he didn’t get, so he deserves a tiny bit of empathy. Where it differs to more modern versions of the genre is in the development of what might be regarded as a social conscience, where perhaps more would be made of the killer’s life and issues. Nevertheless he remains an interesting character study.

As with all translated fiction, much depends on the skill of the translator. Here it is good, though definitely feels of the period with some oddities (watching the ‘boob tube’ for watching the television). No doubt a more modern translation would use different vocabulary in some places

Is it worth a revisit, or picking up if you haven’t read it before? I would say yes. All musicians site their influences, some of whom can be rather obscure, and I’m sure that Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö have influenced many writers in the past and indeed the present. It is a finely crafted novel albeit a little bit dated and I’m sure many studying creative writing could learn from it.

Roseanna remains a seminal novel in the development of Nordic Noir and should be of interest to students of the genre and fans of the pure police procedural. A bit of a time capsule but certainly one worth digging up and opening.

Roseanna can be purchased via the publisher’s website here

The authors

Maj Sjöwall was a Swedish author and translator. She was best known for the collaborative work with her partner Per Wahlöö on a series of ten novels about the exploits of Martin Beck, a police detective in Stockholm. In 1971, the fourth of these books, The Laughing Policeman (a translation of Den skrattande polisen, originally published in 1968) won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Novel. They also wrote novels separately.

Sjöwall had a 13 year relationship with Wahlöö which lasted until his death in 1975.

Per Fredrik Wahlöö (5 August 1926 – 22 June 1975) was a Swedish author. He is perhaps best known for the collaborative work with his partner Maj Sjöwall on a series of ten novels about the exploits of Martin Beck, a police detective in Stockholm, published between 1965 and 1975. In 1971, The Laughing Policeman (a translation of Den skrattande polisen, originally published in 1968) won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Novel. Wahlöö and Sjöwall also wrote novels separately.

Wahlöö was born in Tölö parish, Kungsbacka Municipality, Halland. After his studies, from 1946 onwards he worked as a crime reporter. After long trips around the world he returned to Sweden and started working as a journalist again.

He had a 13 year relationship with his colleague Maj Sjöwall but never married. Both were Marxists.

He has been married to Inger Wahlöö, née Andersson. He was brother to Claes Wahlöö.

He died of cancer at Malmö in 1975, aged 48.

Source: Goodreads profile