---
product_id: 25992134
title: "Roseanna: A Martin Beck Police Mystery (1)"
brand: "maj sjöwallper wahlöö"
price: "13895 Ft"
currency: HUF
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 11
url: https://www.desertcart.hu/products/25992134-roseanna-a-martin-beck-police-mystery-1
store_origin: HU
region: Hungary
---

# Roseanna: A Martin Beck Police Mystery (1)

**Brand:** maj sjöwallper wahlöö
**Price:** 13895 Ft
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

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- **What is this?** Roseanna: A Martin Beck Police Mystery (1) by maj sjöwallper wahlöö
- **How much does it cost?** 13895 Ft with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.hu](https://www.desertcart.hu/products/25992134-roseanna-a-martin-beck-police-mystery-1)

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    What's a Cop to Do if he Can't even Identify the Deceased?
  

*by A***Y on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 5, 2014*

This book is a superb whodunit as well as being steeped in local color that is not commonly seen by American readers.  The corpse is discovered in the very first sentence on page 1, and after that, the entire page is devoted to an explanation of why several bureaucratic offices denied responsibility for the dredging operation and thereby facilitated the discovery, revealing a wry, almost British type of humor that rings profoundly true to anyone who has worked for a government.Moreover, a murder mystery set in the Sweden of the 1960's is a stroke of genius.  The Sweden revealed in the book, an insular place off the beaten track, where English-speaking tourists were as rare as Swedes who could converse in English, rings profoundly true to someone who was there - in childhood, I spent six weeks in Stockholm, in the summer of 1963, and reading the book now in late middle age I find lots to like.  I was there because my father, a criminology professor at an American university, had arranged a study tour to investigate why Sweden, which had none of the triggers that were (and are) believed to cause crime in the US, still had a crime problem.  Sweden was an early Socialist welfare state.  It had free universal health care, free guaranteed pensions, a near-equality of income that made for essentially no poverty, strict gun control laws, and hardly any controls on pornography but very strict controls on what movie violence children could watch.  Practically every Swede was white, in fact, most were blond and blue-eyed, so racism had little room for development.  Our host, Professor Carl-Gunnar Jansson (deceased so I can use his real name), admitted he was paying 80% of his income in taxes, "But it doesn't matter - I'm not saving because my medical care and pension are guaranteed."  Those of us who have enjoyed sports cars, boats, and horseback riding are perfectly aware that having your physical needs guaranteed does not mean you are immune to the desire for additional funds!  Also, even though a child at the time, I accidentally discovered that a nearby park was "home" (at least in summer) to a number of drunks who erected shacks out of scavenged materials.  With ordinary greed, sex, and substance abuse, there is no need of other excuses for people to go to the bad - plenty of crimes will still be committed, as officials informed my father during our visit.Martin Beck, the police investigator who is the hero of the piece, is a middle-aged family man whose wife tries to pamper him but he would rather she didn't.  He builds ship models and fondly remembers sailing in the Archipelago in his youth; the irregular hours are doing bad things to his health - perhaps he's also suffering psychologically from "Scandinavian gloom" - but he's totally committed to finding the murderer once he is put on the case.  He rings profoundly true as a character.  He persists in the chase over many months, involving police professionals in several countries, until he gets the perpetrator.The book moves along briskly even though it's page 5 before we meet Mr. Beck.  Longer than average for a detective novel, it never drags, and for someone who remembers the Sweden of the time there are also occasional place-names, although descriptions are very spare as is appropriate to the genre, to bring back memories.  While the book was originally in Swedish, the translation is excellent, very literate and certainly must be faithful to the original (or the translator actually improved the text).  I recommend it without reservations except for the usual warnings about sex and violence.  If you're afraid to read about those things you wouldn't read murder mysteries anyway!

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Marvelous start to an Exceptional Series
  

*by B***L on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 21, 2013*

This is the first book in a 10 book series by a Swedish husband and wife team. They were written and set in Sweden in the 1960s and 1970s.So there is a lot of smoking and telephoning from phone booths and taking messages.The "Martin Beck" books defined the Scandinavian Noir Detective Genre.Each is a gem and I am putting this review at the first of the series.You read about Martin Beck and his colleagues. They act like any team: each has his own set of skills, each has his own personality, there are some friendships, some deep friendships, and some folks who do not like each other. They solve crimes by doggedly working at them, following up on details, and working until they are lucky. They deduce more than they detect. For example, Martin Beck is annoyed by how various of his colleagues enter his office (knocking, scratching, not knocking) and you come to understand that he is a grumpy introvert. When they come together to discuss and solve, he stands with his right elbow on a filing cabinet.The writing is lovely and I am quite sad that I have finished the series and they are no longer in my life. Even though these are translations, and even though they are translated by different people, the authors' distinctive voice(s) shine in each novel: the language is tight and fond and quite funny. There is distinctive imagery that helps you to know each character. There are Shakespere-like fools for comic relief who are either totally incompetent policemen or more senior police officials. Many of the comic parts parody the overuse of weapons and violence. The structure is strong. Each book has 30 chapters. Similar to Edgar Allen Poe, while there is lots of detail, all of it contributes either to our understanding of the characters or the policemen's understanding of the crime. I read that each author wrote an alternating chapter, and then they edited each other's chapters.Roseanna is about the corpse of an unknown young woman who is found beside a canal. In the beginning, they do not know who she is or where she was killed. The policemen are affected by the poignancy of a young woman dying and no one missing her. In 60s fashion, they contact Interpol and eventually learn that she is from Nebraska and get important help (via correspondence in letters and telegrams) from an American policeman. They think through details and determine which ship she was on, and then track back by gathering images in a very ingenious way. I will let you read the rest.The subtitle is "The Story of a Crime". The Crime is the deterioriation of the Swedish police force and Swedish society toward violence, abuse of others and institutional failures symbolized by the harm done by nationalizing, and militarizing, the Swedish police force. The authors are communists. While I am not a communist, I found the commentary trenchant and interesting. I shudder to think of how they would respond to America in the present. The problems and abuses that they address are timeless. This habit of societal critique continues in the other Scandinavian authors in the genre they started.The people in the books come right off the pages and I felt as though I had a relationship with them.I think that these are the best books that I have read in a very long time. They were apparently quite hard to find in bookstores and I expect that they will zoom in popularity now that they are available electronically. Per Wahloo died as the last book was written and Maj Sjowall is alive today, but these 10 are the totality of their work. I am so glad that two generations of Scandinavian authors have followed their lead.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    An exquisite murder mystery
  

*by K***Y on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 3, 2023*

Sjowall and Wahoo have written a rare and marvellous detective story.  From the mystery of the identity of the body, to the development of the characters, to the final unravelling of the murderer, they have written the perfect murder story.  Evidence of their writer's craft is found in the gripping finale.  It literally had me in the edge if my seat.  Bravo!

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*Product available on Desertcart Hungary*
*Store origin: HU*
*Last updated: 2026-03-17*