Wednesday, March 28, 2012

BOOK: The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjowall, Per Wahloo

The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjowall, Per Wahloo, 211 pages

Book 4 of 10 in the Martin Beck Police Mystery Series

I'm starting to get the policemen straight as I read this series, getting to understand their characteristics and relationships. During the end of November, 1967, Stockholm is struck with one of its first mass murderers - nine people are gunned down on a bus. Martin Beck and his homocide cops are set on the task, but with very little info, except that one of their own was on the bus.

This was tight, no extra words, full of welll defined characters, and the sense of Sweden in the late sixties. I'l say again how much this series reminds me of Ed McBain's 87th precinct series - the police, the subtle humor, the police procedural. I loved how all the detectives took different clues, and nearly all ended up at the same place. Very strong police procedural.