The second book in the classic Martin Beck detective series from the 1960s -- th
e novels that shaped the future of Scandinavian crime writing. Hugely acclaimed,
the Martin Beck series were the original Scandinavian crime novels and have ins
pired the writings of Stieg Larsson, Henning Mankell and Jo Nesbo. Written in th
e 1960s, 10 books completed in 10 years, they are the work of Maj Sjowall and Pe
r Wahloo -- a husband and wife team from Sweden. They follow the fortunes of the
detective Martin Beck, whose enigmatic, taciturn character has inspired countle
ss other policemen in crime fiction; without his creation Ian Rankin's John Rebu
s or Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander may never have been conceived. The novels
can be read separately, but are best read in chronological order, so the reader
can follow the characters' development and get drawn into the series as a whole.
'The Man Who Went Up in Smoke' starts as Martin Beck has just begun his holiday
: an August spent with his family on a small island off the coast of Sweden. But
when a neighbour gets a phone call, Beck finds himself packed off to Budapest,
where a boorish journalist has vanished without a trace. Instead of passing leis
urely sun-filled days with his children, Beck must troll about in the Eastern Eu
rope underworld for a man nobody knows, with the aid of the coolly efficient loc
al police, who do business while soaking at the public baths -- and at the risk
of vanishing along with his quarry.
