Murder at the Savoy

Murder at the Savoy
Arne Dahl

Maj Sjowall

Per Wahloo

The sixth thrilling installment in the Martin Beck detective series from the 1960s – the novels that have inspired all Scandinavian crime fiction.Widely recognised as the greatest masterpieces of crime fiction ever written, these are the original detective stories that pioneered the detective genre.When Viktor Palmgren, a powerful industrialist, is casually shot during an after-dinner speech, the repurcussions – both on the international money markets and on the residents of the small coastal town of Malmö – are widespread. Chief Inspector Martin Beck is called in to help catch a killer nobody, not even the victim, was able to identify. He begins a systemic search for the friends, enemies, business associates and call girls who may have wanted Palmgren dead – but in the process he finds to his dismay that he has nothing but contempt for the victim and sympathy for the murderer…Written in the 1960s, they are the work of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo – a husband and wife team from Sweden. The ten novels follow the fortunes of the detective Martin Beck, whose enigmatic, taciturn character has inspired countless other policemen in crime fiction. The novels can be read separately, but do follow a chronological order, so the reader can become familiar with the characters and develop a loyalty to the series. Each book has a new introduction in order to help bring these books to a new audience.

MAJ SJÖWALL AND

PER WAHLÖÖ

Murder at the Savoy

Translated from the Swedish by Joan Tate

Copyright (#ulink_8c142a89-c410-52b4-8ef4-44b30b96920a)

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authors' imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

4th Estate

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

This ebook first published by Harper Perennial in 2009

This 4th Estate edition published in 2016

This translation first published by Random House Inc, New York, in 1971

Originally published in Sweden by P. A. Norstedt & Söners Forlag

Copyright text © Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö 1970

Copyright introduction © Arne Dahl 2009

Cover photograph © Shutterstock

PS Section © Richard Shephard 2007

PS™ is a trademark of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks

HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

Source ISBN: 9780007242962

Ebook Edition © DECEMBER 2013 ISBN: 9780007323432

Version: 2018-05-18

From the reviews of the Martin Beck series: (#ulink_205a679c-36f5-508f-b2c4-6be09b1fedda)

‘First class’

Daily Telegraph

‘One of the most authentic, gripping and profound collections of police procedural ever accomplished’

MICHAEL CONNELLY

‘Hauntingly effective storytelling’

New York Times

‘There's just no question about it: the reigning King and Queen of mystery fiction are Maj Sjöwall and her husband Per Wahlöö’

The National Observer

‘Sjöwall/Wahlöö are the best writers of police procedural in the world’

Birmingham Post

Contents

Cover (#ua70c99ea-4c88-5798-b1f6-b9f62a112c83)

Title Page (#u27159c44-745b-5065-8a44-7fe7c93eefc1)

Copyright (#u3f5b9bb4-dda5-5134-a766-1a06b556b2de)

Praise (#u9f4d4956-8906-549b-b75d-be0a72109dd9)

Introduction (#u9acda28f-9d1c-5df7-8a98-b591ed703440)

Chapter 1 (#ub12ea304-12c7-5460-9414-1c9b0837293f)

Chapter 2 (#u5fc3c74f-a8bf-570d-8895-cb60cc1e44bf)

Chapter 3 (#u9f22f8dc-a50c-5896-81ef-5a8a1dcaa538)

Chapter 4 (#ud302cc97-c17b-5020-9f25-da3fc4970074)