The Laughing Policeman

by: Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall

Published by: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

Reviewed by Sara Porter

Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall certainly know the meaning of irony. Their novel, The Laughing Policeman, is anything but funny.

Wahloo and Sjowall wrote ten books from 1965-1975 starring Superintendant Martin Beck and his cronies on the Stockholm police force. The series has been republished by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard. In this installment to their mystery series, Superintendant Martin Beck works to solve a mass murder in which a gunman opened fire on a city bus that claims the lives of many, including a young colleague of Beck’s.

The Laughing Policeman is a grim novel with the grittiness and cynicism of a detective noir story. The setting of Stockholm itself is grim. The book is constantly filled with passages of rain, and foul weather perhaps to match the moods of the people involved. Because this book was set during the Vietnam War, there are several scenes of protests, riots, and political activism. Administrators are corrupt. Journalists are more interested in sensational stories than the truth. One gets the impression that tension in Stockholm is just under the surface simmering, waiting for an explosion like the bus shooter.

The grimness also carries over into the characters. All of the detectives have some personal and some very odd grievances. Beck is so unhappily married that he sleeps in a separate bedroom from his nagging wife. It is to a credit that Wahloo and Sjowall follow police procedural novels so well, that Beck the main character really doesn’t contribute to the investigation. He treats this case with a detached manner as his men act around him. Beck’s inactive personality adds to a world that seems to be too dark for its own good.

Armchair Interview says: Well-done mystery set in Stockholm.