The Laughing Policeman

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Summary: Laughing Policeman Clip
Review: A clip of the title song, "The Laughing Policeman" by Charles Penrose, can be found on the album "Vintage Children's Favorites", for sale at Amazon. I love Martin Beck!

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Summary: Death + Bus + Sex + Great Characters = Good Mystery
Review: A seemingly impossible crime to solve, entertaining and realistic detectives, the turbulent 1960s, and enough sex and death to make any mystery reader content...who could ask for anything more? This book gets off to a great start; I was immediately interested in the crime, and having read quite a few mystery novels, it takes a great deal to get me interested in the crime. As far as I know, there aren't too many authors who have used a mass shooting on a bus, an interesting "mobile" variation on the locked room theme. The detectives then seemed quite realistic, right down to their imperfect home lives. In fact, the brief domestic details only make these detectives more human and sympathetic; the parts about Martin Beck and his daughter are quite touching. Despite these cozy details, there is nothing warm and fuzzy about this novel's detective work. Not only is every clue and deduction plausible, but quite a few surprises lurk behind the corner for the reader. My only complaint about this book would be the female characters. While it is quite nice to see authors comfortable with female sexuality, it is as though they lean a little too far in this direction-are there any women without voracious sexual appetites in this book? Yes, Martin Beck's wife has lost interest, but she is only one among the many. Perhaps, however, this female hunger for sex can be seen as a "plus" in the eyes of some readers.

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Summary: Maybe It's Me..........
Review: but this book just didn't float my boat. I like my books hard-boiled and/or noir and The Laughing Policeman failed on both counts; in fact to be honest I didn't even finish it (after reading over half of it I felt that I at least gave it a chance). Not much is happening here-go figure the critical acclaim!

Rating:
Summary: Well done
Review: I bought this book on the strength of the other reviews already posted, and I was not disappointed. The plot is well crafted and the characters are very interesting. While I wouldn't say it was gripping, it was often difficult to put down. A very good introduction to this series.

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Summary: Comfort Food
Review: I picked up "The Laughing Policeman" after seeing it recommended by both the Washington Post's very reliable Michael Dirda and by "The Corrections" author Jonathan Franzen, who referred to the book as literary "comfort food." Indeed, the book was a perfect fit for the rainy, November days when I read it. The great characters and snappy writing would have earned it four stars, but the heavy-handed political discourse and a sometimes-awkward translation bring it down to three.

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Summary: The best of a generally great series
Review: I read a LOT of mysteries, but I usually either donate them to the library book sale afterwards, or wait to take them out of the library in the first place. The Martin Beck series is one of the few that I've bought, kept for years, and reread numerous times. This novel is probably the best of the bunch: not only is it well plotted and suspenseful, but the characters are people you grow to care about, and their environment (Stockholm in the '60's) is vividly depicted. The authors' political agenda is clear, but they're not simplistic: the police bureaucrats may be idiots, but there are still competent, conscientious policemen with a sense of responsibility and the desire to see justice done; and the authors are no kinder to the misguided social reformers whose starry-eyed zeal led to the excesses of the welfare state. Setting the central events of the novel at Christmas is a nice ironic touch. I highly recommend the whole series, but especially this one. (The film made from the book is a bomb, however: transplanting the story to San Francisco works well at first, and Walter Matthau is convincing as Martin Beck -- but the screenwriters just strung together all the sensational scenes in the novel with no attention to the authors' careful plotting, and the result is a disaster. View it and weep.)

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Summary: Utopia Unraveled
Review: In the traditionally peaceful city of Stockholm around the late 1960's, there occurs an event so shocking that it would grab headlines in the American papers of today. Nine passengers of a double-decker bus are found gunned down one evening with no clues on the identity or motives of the culprit. In a society that prides itself on being immune from the horrors of violent crime, widespread attention and fear are almost instantaneous. What ensues is a fascinating fast-paced tale of a homicide squad, each member with their own style of detection, who frantically attempt to assemble some sort of lead into the case. Superintendent Martin Beck and partner Lennart Kollberg emerge as leaders of the investigation upon learning that one of the victims, Lt. Ake Strenstrom, is a detective in their unit. His presence on the bus immediately arouses suspicion that the atrocity is far from random. In the background of the major investigation is a plethora of minute examinations into the lives of each of the bus passengers as well as the detectives themselves. While the pristine image of Stockholm stands tainted, so do the lives of each of the characters involved. Beck's hunch on his officer's tie to the killings proves to be correct as delving into the mysterious life of his disciple reveals a man inexorably caught up with relentless visions of success, a world of sexual obsession and the lengths people will go for secrecy. Throughout the tale are numerous efforts on behalf of the characters at separation from the violence of American culture, particularly referencing Vietnam, and the struggle that comes with realizing that such a separation is not possible. The riveting story culminates to an ironic twist quite appropriate and dismaying for the pervading social feeling of the period. And even then, the reader is left with some form of relief that the virtues and intentions of people can emerge victorious.

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Summary: Who said commies can't write a great crime novel?
Review: Laughing Policeman puts Martin Beck on the same page as the very best literary detectives of all times. The novel is quick paced, engaging, full of dry wit and not so much full of social commentary as some other Martin Beck books (e.g. otherwise great plot of Terrorists is too often punctuated by anti-capitalist, anti-Vietnam war, anti-government rhetoric - don't get me wrong, I am as much for anarcho-syndicalism as the next guy, just put it in a separate book). The novel is centered around a fictional mass-murder taking place in a Stockholm city bus. Right, if it was Boston or Philly nobody would even care to write a book about it... Anyways, the story is rich with details of actual investigative work - customary to Sjowall-Wahloo tandem - as it is with dumb cops, constantly threatening to riun the whole thing. Fans of Beck stories will find all the usual trappings - door breakings by Gunvald Larsson, the red nose of Einar Rohn, toothpick-chewing Per Mansson, and of course still surviving tandem of crime-busting heavyweights Beck and Kolberg. People who are not yet fans run a grave danger of becoming ones after - or even while - reading this book.

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Summary: A routine police investigation?
Review: Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo's 1968 novel gives readers an insider's view on a group of Stockholm detectives working to uncover the mystery behind an abandoned bus with gunned-down passengers. The actual mystery of the crime isn't as captivating as the way in which the detectives methodically unearth the murderer. Unlike much of traditional detective fiction, Sjowall and Wahloo's story does not center on a star sleuth like Sherlock Holmes, but instead relies on an array of detectives in an organized police force to solve the case. The plot reflects on and questions the popular notion that Sweden is an internally peaceful nation with social utopian goals. Techniques such as mentioning the massive crime statistics in the United States explicitly remind readers of Sweden's reputation as a peaceful nation. However, the story deconstructs Sweden's utopian reputation, and following the perspective of the police force reveals the country's internal nature. The 3rd- person, objective tone helps readers walk in the footsteps of Stockholm's detectives, allowing readers to experience the tedious methods of police work such as contacting long lists of possible suspects. The police force acts as a vessel for readers to peek into the "rougher" side of Stockholm, revealing bigots, impoverished immigrants, and murky criminals. For instance, when examining every passenger's background, the detectives encounter Algerian immigrants and Swedish residents with strong prejudicial hatred. Furthermore, the novel's attention to the detectives' personal lives makes the story more realistic and continues to debunk the Sweden's utopian myth. Somewhat sadly, most of the detectives go home to less than satisfactory environments with strained marriages and stressed family relationships. The mystery ironically concludes by naming a successful Swede, an apparent epitome of ideal Swedish culture, as the mass murderer, implicitly exposing Sweden's failure as a utopian society.

Rating:
Summary: A routine police investigation?
Review: Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo's 1968 novel gives readers an insider's view on a group of Stockholm detectives working to uncover the mystery behind an abandoned bus with gunned-down passengers. The actual mystery of the crime isn't as captivating as the way in which the detectives methodically unearth the murderer. Unlike much of traditional detective fiction, Sjowall and Wahloo's story does not center on a star sleuth like Sherlock Holmes, but instead relies on an array of detectives in an organized police force to solve the case. The plot reflects on and questions the popular notion that Sweden is an internally peaceful nation with social utopian goals. Techniques such as mentioning the massive crime statistics in the United States explicitly remind readers of Sweden's reputation as a peaceful nation. However, the story deconstructs Sweden's utopian reputation, and following the perspective of the police force reveals the country's internal nature. The 3rd- person, objective tone helps readers walk in the footsteps of Stockholm's detectives, allowing readers to experience the tedious methods of police work such as contacting long lists of possible suspects. The police force acts as a vessel for readers to peek into the "rougher" side of Stockholm, revealing bigots, impoverished immigrants, and murky criminals. For instance, when examining every passenger's background, the detectives encounter Algerian immigrants and Swedish residents with strong prejudicial hatred. Furthermore, the novel's attention to the detectives' personal lives makes the story more realistic and continues to debunk the Sweden's utopian myth. Somewhat sadly, most of the detectives go home to less than satisfactory environments with strained marriages and stressed family relationships. The mystery ironically concludes by naming a successful Swede, an apparent epitome of ideal Swedish culture, as the mass murderer, implicitly exposing Sweden's failure as a utopian society.