Bäckström 3: The Sword of Justice

Described by his creator as 'short, fat and primitive', Evert Bäckström is a rather unique homicide detective but he is undeniably the real deal with it comes to modern policing. 
 
This series is blackly comic, thrillingly compelling and utterly real.

The magnificent third installment of the bestselling Backstrom series

Unquestionably among the most entertaining you can find in the season's crop of Swedish crime fiction.

Leif GW Persson is a highly intelligent entertainer, able to make the reader writhe with laughter on one hand and flinch over the sharp and critical depictions of contemporary society on the other ... To put it simply, I haven't had this much fun reading a crime novel in a long time.

Leif GW Persson undoubtedly writes the most entertaining crime literature in Sweden right now, not least because of the priceless police detective Bäckström - a con man whom we love to hate.

Despite - or thanks to - Bäckström's asinine character the plot strands are elegantly woven together into a powerful whole that satisfies the readers' desire for a titillating cast of characters, strange coincidences, and a waft of history.

DS Evert Bäckström is in charge of a rare kind of case. Finding a suspect for the murder of Thomas Eriksson – gangster lawyer and renowned defender of the guilty – isn’t difficult, but narrowing down the long list of people who wanted him dead is almost impossible. Certainly the only thing the detective is mourning is his obligation to process the paperwork. 
 Fortunately, Bäckström has spent his years cultivating a group of questionable acquaintances. His colleagues don’t know that he only closes his cases with the help of these friends. Nor that Bäckström owes them a few favours. But this time they’re all in for a surprise because even the dirtiest cop couldn’t have predicted where this trail would lead or how far from comfortable Bäckström might be at its end.

(The Story of a Crime 3)

Falling Freely, as If in a Dream

The final part of Leif GW Persson's thrilling Story of a Crime sequence which centres around the unsolved murder of Swedish prime minister, Olaf Palme

Clever and sophisticated...Has the feel of a real investigation, carried out by convincing characters and shedding new light on this most perplexing of crimes

Similar to Ellroy in his American Underworld trilogy, this criminologist and author weaves together reality and fiction when he lets a group of honest cops once again scrutinize millions of documents to investigate the murder case. As the conspiracy theory develops the confusion grows. Brilliant.

There's plenty of life in Nordic Noir as Persson reminds us. British writers who complain about the attention given to the Scandinavians should pick this up and see why that is

As well as being an intricately detailed cirme scenario, this is a powerful state-of-the-nation novel. Audacious narrative strategies are par for the course for the award-winning Scandicrims novelist Leif Persson

Leif G.W. Persson is Scandinavia's most renowned criminologist and a leading psychological profiler. He has also served as an advisor to the Swedish Ministry of Justice. Since 1991, he has held the position of Professor at the National Swedish Police Board and is regularly consulted as the country's foremost expert on crime. 
 
He is the author of ten bestselling crime novels including The Dying Detective which won both the Swedish Academy of Crime Writers' Award for Best Crime Novel of 2010 and The Glass Key for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of 2010. 
 
During his career Persson has been the recipient of many other prestigious awards including The Piraten Award, The Swedish Academy of Crime Writers' Award (which he has won three times), The Finnish Whodunnit Society's Annual Award for Excellence in Foreign Crime Writing, The Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel, and The Danish Academy of Crime Writers' Palle Rosenkrantz Prize.

From the grand master of Scandinavian crime fiction—and one of the best crime writers of our time—a new critically acclaimed novel centered around the unsolved murder of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986. 
 
It's August 2007, and Lars Martin Johansson, chief of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation in Sweden has opened the files on the unsolved murder of Prime Minister Olof Palme. With his retirement quickly closing in, Johansson forms a new group comprised of a few trustworthy detectives who doggedly wade through mountains of paperwork and pursue new leads in a case that has all but gone cold despite the open wound the assassination has left on the consciousness of Swedish society. Yet the closer the group gets to the truth, the more Johansson compromises the greater good for personal gain, becoming a pawn for the private vendetta of a shady political spin doctor. Sharply detailed and boldly plotted, Persson's work lifts the veil on one of history's greatest unsolved crimes in a novel that goes toe-to-toe with the best of true crime books. 
 
Shortlisted for the 2015 Petrona Award and the 2015 CWA International Dagger

Bäckström 2

He Who Kills the Dragon

An award winning, darkly comic and compelling Swedish crime novel from a master of the genre

He Who Kills The Dragon is written with a humoristic sledgehammer, and Persson has rarely been so entertaining as he is in this novel, where he sends his eccentric nightmare version of Karlsson On The Roof out on new adventures among drunkards, murderers and an acerbic police force.

An excellent story of a crime, with so many levels and subtleties in the plot that there is only one way to read this book – in one stretch.

In this second installment of Persson’s trilogy of police procedurals featuring the "small, fat and primitive" Evert Bäckström, the grand master’s most appallingly repulsive (and funniest) character is finally given his fifteen minutes of fame by way of his patented combination of laziness, luck, and an unbelievable sense of timing. 
 
A seemingly ordinary murder puzzles Bäckström, who is struggling with strict orders from his doctor to lead a healthier life. His gut feeling proves him right: within days, his team has another murder linked to the first on their hands, and reports of alleged ties to a Securicor heist gone out of control, killing two. The nation needs a hero, and the newly appointed head of the Västerort police force Anna Holt needs somebody to kill the dragon for her. Who better to heed to the task than Evert Bäckström: self-sufficient, ostentatious, devoid of moral, Hawaii shirt-clad, and, latterly, armed?

Bäckström 1

Linda, As in the Linda Murder

Winner of the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel 2014

Leif GW Persson’s sprawling, state-of-the-nation novels make deft use of crime fiction conventions to expose the faultlines of Swedish society. This more closely focused novel is a brilliant exploration of a young woman’s murder, press sensationalism, and the inner workings of a police investigation, with readers reintroduced to the blackly humorous and truly unforgettable police detective Evert Bäckström.

Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year 2014

As the army of Scandinavian crime writers sweeps invincibly onwards, it becomes more challenging for aficionados of Nordic Noir to sort out the wheat from the chaff – although the former is (thankfully) in greater supply. The individual character of various writers’ work can seem similar, but certain talents stand out from the pack. Such is the gifted Leif Persson, whose massive, sprawling, state-of-thenation novels use the mechanics of crime fiction to expose the fault lines in Scandinavian society. Persson, very much his own man in the field, has written his best novel with this one, with its caustic, sardonic tone, it has all the vitality and pungency of its predecessors; its challenging, difficult hero is one of the most distinctive in the field

Persson’s sprawling, state-of-the-nation novels use the mechanics of crime fiction to expose the faultlines in Scandinavian society. Linda has all the vitality of Persson’s earlier books; its difficult hero is one of the most distinctive in the field.

An immense crime story, and not because of the number of pages, but thanks to the narrative energy and the skill to reflect on society and humanity.

Leif GW Persson has a very straight style, with no frills, and his novels show a very deep understanding of the world he writes about. The tough realism of his stories is tempered by irony and comic qualities.

Persson’s new novel is a true delight to read. As usual, the dialogue is sharp-witted, the prose is bubbling with the authors delight in narrating, and the plot’s not too bad either.

Leif GW Persson is unique in this genre; as an author he is exceptional. This is grand reading.

Entertainment paired with realism and high credibility – it can hardly get any better than this.

Winner of the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel 2014 
 
In the middle of an unusually hot Swedish summer, a young woman studying at the Vaxjo Police Academy is brutally murdered. Police Inspector Evert Bäckström is unwillingly drafted in from Stockholm to head up the investigation. 
 
Egotistical, vain and utterly prejudiced against everything, Bäckström is a man who has no sense of duty or responsibilty, thinks everyone with the exception of himself is an imbecile and is only really capable of warm feelings towards his pet goldfish and the nearest bottle of liquor. If they are to solve the case, his long suffering team must work around him, following the scant few leads which remain after Bäckström's intransigence has let the trail go cold. 
 
Blackly comic, thrillingly compelling and utterly real, Linda, As in the Linda Murder is the novel which introduces the reader to the modern masterpiece that is Evert Bäckström, a man described by his creator as 'short, fat and primitive'. He is, without doubt, the real deal when it comes to modern policing.

(The Story of a Crime 2)

Another Time, Another Life

From the grand master of Scandinavian crime fiction comes a critically acclaimed thriller spanning twenty-five years, centered around the still unsolved murder of Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986

Persson uses myriad techniques: detailed, gritty police narrative and cool documentary perspective, to create a sprawling, compelling and idiosyncratic novel. The book has the vitality of its predecessor; it’s not an easy read, but will richly reward those prepared to tackle such uncompromising, ambitious fare.

Stockholm 
 
1975: Six young people take the entire staff of the West German embassy hostage, demanding that the Baader-Meinhof members being held as prisoners in West Germany be released immediately. The long siege ends with the deaths of two hostages and the wounding of several others, including the captors. 
 
1989: When a Swedish civil servant is murdered, the two leading detectives on the case, Anna Holt and Bo Jarnebring, find their investigation hastily shelved by an incompetent and corrupt senior investigator. 
 
1999. Lars Johansson, having just joined the Swedish Security Police, decides to tie up a few loose ends left behind by his predecessor: specifically, two files on Swedes who had allegedly collaborated on the 1975 takeover of the West German embassy, one of whom turned out to be the murder victim in 1989. Johansson reopens the investigation and, with help from detectives Jarnebring and Holt, follows the leads-right up to the doorstep of Sweden's newly minted minister of justice.

(The Story of a Crime 1)

Between Summer's Longing and Winter's End

Ambitious... as well as being an intricately detailed crime narrative this is a powerful state-of-the-nation novel. Those who feel that crime fiction can tackle truly serious issue should pay close attention to Persson's magnum opus

A masterpiece of political and police intrigue

Reminiscent of Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson in its toughness... A philosophically charged tale worthy of Ingmar Bergman-but with lots more guns

Leif GW Persson's books are both brilliant and unique - stylish crime requiems marked by pitch-black humour and an unparalleled satiricat sting

From a country known for terrific crime novelists, Sweden's great crime writer Leif G.W. Persson brilliantly takes the reader into a world of fascinating mystery and secrets

One of the best detective novels ever written in Sweden

One of the best Swedish crime novels of all time

This is not only a compelling crime story to be read without stopping until the last page. It is not only an unforgettable tale with a ferocious and bitter unexpected ending. It is much more. This is a masterpiece

A teeth-gritting political thriller... Authentic with silent anger, tough and utterly haunting

Stockholm. The dead of winter. The temperature is already well below freezing. 
 
A young American dies, falling from a tall building. It appears to be a casual, self-inflicted death. It should be an open-and-shut case. But when Superintendent Lars Martin Johansson begins to delve beneath the layers of corruption, incompetence and violence that threaten to strangle the Stockholm police department, he uncovers a complex web of treachery, politics and espionage. 
 
Johansson quickly realizes that there is nothing routine about this suicide as it soon takes him from domestic drama to the rotten heart of Sweden's government.

Leif G W Persson

Persson is more authentic than Stieg Larsson.

Persson remains unthreatened as the King of Swedish crime writing

Persson combines the humor of Van Veeteren, Håkan Nesser's hero with the energy of Henning Mankell's detective Kurt Wallander.

Read the book for its teeming sarcasm, its humor and its portrait of a dying detective and his tender, almost beautiful, relationships to friends and family – and perhaps to get a sharpened view of morals and revenge.

Retired Chief of the National Crime Police and Swedish Security Service Lars Martin Johansson has just suffered a stroke. He is paying the price for a life of excess - stress, good food and fine wine. With his dangerously high blood pressure, his heart could fail at the slightest excitement. 
 
In the hospital, a chance encounter with a neurologist provides an important piece of information about a 25-year-old murder investigation and alerts Lars Martin Johansson's irrepressible police instincts. The period for prosecution expired just weeks earlier and that isn't the only limitation. Lars Martin Johansson is determined to solve the atrocious crime – from his deathbed. 
 
The inimitable style, distinct voice and dark humour of Leif GW Persson, along with the fascinating exploration of a long-cold murder case, serves to make The Dying Detective a true masterpiece of the genre.

Leif G W Persson

Praise for The Dying Detective

Persson is more authentic than Stieg Larsson.

Persson remains unthreatened as the King of Swedish crime writing

Persson combines the humor of Van Veeteren, Håkan Nesser's hero with the energy of Henning Mankell's detective Kurt Wallander.

Persson is more authentic than Stieg Larsson.

Persson remains unthreatened as the King of Swedish crime writing

Persson combines the humor of Van Veeteren, Håkan Nesser's hero with the energy of Henning Mankell's detective Kurt Wallander.

Persson is more authentic than Stieg Larsson.

Persson remains unthreatened as the King of Swedish crime writing

Persson combines the humor of Van Veeteren, Håkan Nesser's hero with the energy of Henning Mankell's detective Kurt Wallander.

Books by Leif G W Persson

Series by Leif G W Persson

Bäckström3 Books

The Story of a Crime3 Books

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter