Each of these reissues of the 1960s-70s Swedish crimes series by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo has an introduction by a current-day crime fiction writer. This eighth in the ten-part series is introduced by Michael Connelly. In his opening paragraph, he assures readers that, if they are about to "hop aboard" and read this book, they are in for a great ride. He did not lie. This is my favorite Martin Beck book so far.It has all the elements that I find so interesting about the series. Sjowall and Wahloo use the vehicle of the detective novel to examine Swedish society, and, in a larger context, Western society, of the late twentieth century. They do it with the clear-eyed irony that such an endeavor demands and they achieve their goal with a wry humor. These mysteries are always meticulously plotted and, while they examine how crime happens, they also manage to explore how a city, a country, or a society can be complicit in those crimes.The writers show the police at their incompetent worst and yet they manage to also convey the doggedness with which these ordinary men - and they are almost all men - pursue the solving of crimes. Even when they quite literally don't have a clue, they keep pushing, probing, poking through the detritus left by criminals until they come up with some sort of a solution. Even if, as in this case, it may not be the correct solution.The start of this tale is all about a bank robbery. Stockholm is experiencing a rash of bank robberies in 1972, and so, in late June, when this one takes place, it seems a part of this epidemic, possibly planned and committed by the same "gang." One thing is different. In this case, one of the bank's customers tried to be a hero and accosted the robber - who promptly shot and killed him.Meanwhile, we learn that Martin Beck, who was shot and seriously wounded at the end of the last book, is just about to return to work after many months of recovery. When he gets back on the job, he is assigned a locked room mystery. A corpse was found in an apartment in a room that had all windows and doors locked from the inside. The corpse had lain there for a couple of months before being discovered. When it finally was examined, it was discovered that it had been shot, but there was no weapon in the room. It is a mystery that will require all of Martin Beck's famous intuition, as well as his dogged persistence, to solve.The main priority of the Stockholm police, however, is solving the rash of bank robberies. In pursuit of that goal, the special team assigned mounts an operation which turns into a scene straight out of one of Peter Sellers' old Inspector Clouseau movies. It is laugh-out-loud, rolling-on-the-floor funny and still gives me chuckles every time I think of it. In the beginning, it seems that the "locked room" corpse and the bank robberies have no links, but, as Martin Beck, in his solo investigation, runs down every lead, it finally becomes apparent that there is a point where the two cases overlap. Finding the evidence to prove it may be a different matter.This story has great momentum. There is never a dull moment or a false step by the writers. The action never lags, and it makes the reader look forward with keen anticipation to the next entry in the series, while at the same time regretting that there are only two left. It really is that good.Yes, definitely my favorite so far.
I could plot out the book and discuss all that action rot, but what really matters in this eighth book in Sjowall and Wahloo’s masterwork can be boiled down to two points: 1. Martin Beck; and 2. the illusions of justice.1. Martin Beck is in less than half of this eighth book. While his friends and colleagues are seconded to the Robbery department trying to solve a murder in a recent bank robbery, and to end a seemingly linked rash of bank robberies entirely, Beck has been handed a case (sort of an act of rehabilitation to ease him back into service after his recovery from a bullet to the chest) of apparent suicide, which turns out to be a classic "locked room" murder. When Beck is around, though, boy does he tower over the story. His quiet investigation is the one that matters; his scrupulous and plodding methodology is the effective methodology; his conscience is the moral core of the series; his love for Rhea Nielson (a lefty landlord he bumps into during his investigation) is a necessary lesson about the characters we’ve come to love in the series, and not just Beck, of whom we learn the most, but even those men who never meet Rhea. is Beck’s tale, even when he’s off-screen, and Beck’s denouement (because it is all his) is as satisfying for us as it is frustrating.2. The illusions of justice loom even larger over the story than Martin Beck. I can’t help feeling that Sjowall and Wahloo don’t believe that justice is something we should aspire to let alone something that is even possible. Not that they come out and say that. But they ask questions and leave them unanswered, making us do the work: is it just for a man to be imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit while being simultaneously acquitted for a crime he did commit? Does the success of one false conviction make up for the failure of what could have been a genuine conviction? Is it just for the perpetrator of one of the killings to go free due to her social standing and circumstances? Is the manipulation of data a just way to expand power? Is a class based society inherently unjust? Is it just to control a person? To impede a person? To listen to one person over another? To judge a person? To have one's own perspective? Is perspective inherently unjust? As I have said, they don't even try to answer these questions. They want us to think about the answers for ourselves, and I adore them for that.This series is better with each installment, and I am increasingly convinced that this is detective fiction of truly literary calibre. Usually I wouldn't want a series of this quality to end, but this time I want to finish it as soon as possible so I can continue the reread I've already begun. It's THAT good.
What do You think about The Locked Room (2015)?
While I liked the two story lines, especially how they improbably tie together in the end, I found some of the political commentary about Sweden to be trying in the eighth book in this series. (Other readers have found this to be more bothersome in Book #6/Murder at the Savoy.) Martin Beck comes back from his convalescence, and is assigned a dead end case, where a retiree is found dead in his locked room and suicide is assumed until they find he has been shot and no gun or bullet casing can be found. In the other subplot, a DA is after a bank robber/killer, who he believes is part of a notorious gang, which has never been violent before. The Locked Room is a double entendre for the first murder and for Martin himself, who in the course of his investigation finds some solace in an unpretentious, caring landlady, Rhea Nielson. (I was disappointed that my e-book did not include the introduction by Michael Connelly.)
—Skip
I first read this book about thirty years ago and I definitely read it more than once. I read it again as I am reading all ten of the books in this series in order. After the grim events of "The abominable man" there is a lot of slapstick farce in this book. Beck has just returned to work after his injury in this previous book and working pretty much on his own solves a murder which took place in a locked room though he cannot prove it to the satisfaction of the court. Kollberg, Larsson and Ronn are on a special squad to deal with bank robberies and this part of the plot provides the humour. Melander is mentioned but does not appear and there is only a brief scene involving Mansson and Skacke in Malmo.I must have conflated some of this book with the final book in the series in my memory because a sub-plot I expected to happen in this book did not happen and a scene which I was sure was in the final book was actually in this one.This is a great read and Beck's personal life takes a turn for the better!
—Rog Harrison
This was my first Martin Beck book, and I'm sure not my last. It was suggested to me by the on-line library bot - I'm glad the bot made the suggestion.Another reviewer said this book was long, and I had the same experience. This book did seem long at first, when there were two completely unrelated incidents. Of course, once I got about 1/4 of the way done, I could see where the two could be related. Then the pace picked up, and towards the end I was furiously "turning" the pages on my e-reader.There were two things I really liked about this book:1. It's funny. There are several times when characters do stupid things. I'm not going to name any because I don't want to spoil anything, just be careful not to be drinking soda when sitting in front of your keyboard whilst reading this book - guaranteed you will laugh and thereby spit out your soda and ruin your keyboard.2. It says a lot about social injustice. Remember, the time period in which this book occurred was the 1970's. Not much as changed in a lot of ways. Bureaucrats are still bureaucrats, and still find ways to mucky everything up despite having state-of-the-art technology that Martin Beck did not. The United States has a lot of working poor and homeless retirees - at least the folks in Martin Beck's world had a place to sleep and cat food to eat.Now that I'm done with this book, I have to find the others. Ready library bot? Here I come!
—Adrienne
