Finished at Midnight!

What a heck of a ride! 

Ten books read in a couple of weeks written by another dynamic writing duo - Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall.

You can see why they are dubbed the 'Godparents' of Scandinavian crime fiction, inspiring Henning Mankell, Stieg Larsson, Camilla Lackberg, Jo Nesbo and many more.

Their method of writing alternate chapters each worked well for them, very different to how Ted and Hinemura write. They would sit opposite each other and write different chapters at the same time and yet the style is seamless.

You can see from their first book Roseanna how their style changed and matured very quickly, by the third book The Man on the Balcony  they hit their stride, and then you won't want to stop reading until you reach The Terrorists!

I loved how their realistic and memorable characters grew throughout the series. Each with their own unique quirks, such as Gunvald Larsson and his misadventures with his wardrobe, or Lennart Kollberg's appetite as well as their fascinating back stories which highlight Sweden's recent history. 

Set in the 1960's and 1970's, Maj and Per's dissection of Swedish society's demise through the poor Social-Democratic political administration which is in stark contrast to Sweden's image abroad as a progressive, freedom loving country. Their social commentary is as relevant today as it was back then - scarily so!

One of the fun things I did throughout this series, was follow the police movements throughout Stockholm's streets as they hunted for their quarry. Online maps refreshed my memory from our visits to Stockholm and I found I had walked many of those streets and seen quite a few of the buildings and parks described.

Of course while in Stockholm one must visit the Kvarnen - 'The Mill' - the 100-year-old beer bar where Lisbeth Salander from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, meets up on Tuesday nights with her friends from the rock band Evil Fingers to discuss feminism, music and politics, and to have a drink or two... 

I can't wait to get back to explore more of Stockholm and it's rich literary history!