From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

Roseanna (Martin Beck, #1)

Maj Sjöwall,

Per Wahlöö

Start date: November 15, 2022

Finish date: December 6, 2022

Discussion: Buddy reads

Why we're reading this: The first in this acclaimed series
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Buddy reads

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What Members Thought

Mar 17, 2018 John Frankham rated it liked it

Shelves: crime-detective

A re-read in 2023. Feels a bit more hum-drum second time around, and certainly not the innovative whodunnit claimed.

[Addendum: I have just read no. 3 in the series. It is much better, retaining the essential, methodical nature, but with more incident from first to last. Good. March 2018.]

Trumpeted arrogantly as the first of the first police procedural series, with a critical view of the authorities, and of the weaknesses of society, this is just not true. This well-written and fairly enjoyable p ...more

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Aug 31, 2022 Mark Schiffer rated it it was amazing

Shelves: crime, thriller, mystery, nordic-noir, series

When I finished the Erlendur books I decided it might be worth going back to the beginning of Scandi noir. Roseanna was a blisteringly fast and fantastic read. It had just enough detail, and leaned into epistolary/transcript-based storytelling, which I LOVED. It didn't lack for poetry too, the city came alive (for better and for worse). Also, Beck always has a stomachache, which hey, I feel that. Definitely gonna read more of this series. ...more

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Jun 18, 2014 Leslie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mysteries, scandinavian

This first book in the Martin Beck series may have suffered from being read out of order. It was interesting to read the descriptions of Melander and Kollberg in particular, as these colleagues of Beck's recur in most of the books. The mystery itself is in some ways straightforward -- this is much more of a police procedural and less of a 'whodunit'. This is not a mystery in which the reader can solve the case first - information comes to the reader as it comes to the detectives & they find the ...more

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Mar 13, 2015 Tony Fitzpatrick rated it liked it · review of another edition

Nordic Noir is a class of Detective Fiction characterised by dark and dismal climate, gruesome murder, and dysfunctional personal lives of the lead Inspector. Not much different to a lot of the Crime Fiction I read, except that the weather is usually better! Martin Beck is a legend of the genre, with ten police procedural novels detailing his approach to solving murder in Sweden. This is the first - a relatively simple tale of a body found in a canal - no identity, no clues. It spreads over six ...more

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