The Fire Engine That Disappeared

The Fire Engine That Disappeared
Colin Dexter

Maj Sjowall

Per Wahloo

The excellent fifth classic 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.Gunvald Larsson sits carefully observing the dingy Stockholm apartment of a man under police surveillance. He looks at his watch: nine minutes past eleven in the evening. He yawns, slapping his arms to keep warm. At the same moment the house explodes, killing at least three people.Chief Inspector Martin Beck and his men don't suspect arson or murder until they discover a peculiar circumstance and a link is established between the explosion and a suicide committed that same day, in which the dead man left a note consisting of just two words: Martin Beck.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.

The Fire Engine that Disappeared

MAJ SJÖWALL AND PER WAHLÖÖ

Translated from the Swedish by Joan Tate

Copyright (#ulink_8d869aa8-672e-5847-8385-cf2a5035dd53)

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s 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 2007

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 1969

Copyright introduction © Colin Dexter 2007

Cover photograph © Shutterstock

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 non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, 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: 9780007242955

Ebook Edition © AUGUST 2009 ISBN: 9780007343492

Version: 2018-14-05

Praise (#ulink_939eeb55-6361-534c-b407-402f3e8d61e8)

From the reviews of the Martin Beck series:

‘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

Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

Contents

Title Page (#u50de0167-2b46-5629-b09a-729814d60d0e)

Copyright (#u6d328f13-255c-56ff-828f-4e4188fd4004)

Praise (#ua43abdec-0e47-513a-b231-0f3aa4b82d91)

Introduction (#ubff1f52b-d487-528c-b41a-b3c2441f9267)

Chapter 1 (#udf2ab03a-69d2-5ca4-ac8a-dc581e62cba5)

Chapter 2 (#uaec6ca93-d2fc-57ef-9d2c-06cb30839d2d)

Chapter 3 (#u9b056339-dd04-5821-8cce-117a316a5f01)

Chapter 4 (#u5ea90d95-6edf-58df-82c6-d42a9520636e)

Chapter 5 (#u96e25e51-0003-590a-bd88-5e0d3b0cf9b0)

Chapter 6 (#u9b260107-aae9-5dc6-a27a-84abeb72d641)