On a July afternoon, the body of a young woman is dredged from Sweden's beautiful Lake Vattern. Three months later, all that Police Inspector Martin Beck knows is that her name is Roseanna, that she came from Lincoln, Nebraska, and that she could have been strangled by any one of eighty-five people. With its authentically rendered settings and vividly realized characters, and its command over the intricately woven details of police detection, Roseanna is a masterpiece of suspense and sadness
This is the first book in the Martin Beck series, and also the first that I've read. I really liked it. The writing is spare and nicely translated. It is certainly similar to the work of Henning Mankell, but is interesting in that it was originially written in the 1960s, so reflects a different time in Sweden.
I loved this book! I'm a huge fan of Henning Mankell so I was very excited when I learned of this series of Martin Beck crime stories. Very well written, the authors make it so easy to like characters they've created. I also like reading about how other countries view America. Highly recommend this book, which is the first in the series.
