I liked this much more than the previous one, The Fire Engine That Disappeared, but it still wasn't as good as the first four novels in the series. Here we have the team (including that detective down in Malmo, from the previous two books) sharing the stage, with Martin Beck practically no more prominent than anyone else — yet he is clearly their dour, steady leader. We have a wealthy murder victim with whom no one sympathizes. The social commentary centers on corporate greed, and it's even globalized to some extent. Some of our detectives have to travel over to Copenhagen (a short trip from Malmo, as any viewers of the original TV series The Bridge will know). In the end, it kind of peters out, no bang-up finale, but that's entirely appropriate for this case. Martin Beck's life has finally improved a bit, but he's still a vaguely unhappy man, surrounded by the early decline of western civilization.

The husband and wife team of political activists turned mystery writers, Sjowall & Wahloo, really crank up the social commentary in this sixth chapter in their The Story of a Crime series featuring Martin Beck. It's noticeable because there's very little in the way of crime or police procedural writing and more discussion on the failings of Swedish society in the late 1960's; this time the spoiling of nature by commerce, the government approval of an "illegal" arms trade, the inferior quality of housing for the poor and the huge profits it created for slum landlords and unconscionable loan sharks and the general filth that was allowed to spread on the streets of Stockholm.

The murder that occurs in the dining room of The Savoy Hotel in Malmo is central to the discussion, how a man can walk in to a room in front of dozens of witnesses, shoot a prominent business man in cold blood and calmly escape leaving the combined efforts of a multi-national police force struggling for leads allows the authors to uncover several unsavoury details as part of the investigation. The heroes of this series are painted as bureaucrats and fools pushed around by political men intent on hiding anything incriminating under the carpet, the incompetent state of the police force is highlighted by the blundering buffoonery of the copper on the street and Martin Beck all the while plods onwards now shorn of marital responsibility and happier for it.

There's a lack of enthusiasm for this case from Beck, Kollberg, Larsen et al that caries through to the reader, they hold the victim and the potential perpetrators in equal contempt and seem to be going through the motions simply because their bosses insist upon a speedy resolution. Whilst there's a lot to be said for the way the authors utilised the formula of a police procedural to make political statements, the real pleasure taken from the series is in seeing the journey the protagonists take both in solving the case and their personal lives, the very nature of this novel removes that aspect and in shifting focus further towards the social commentary made Murder at the Savoy the most dated read of the six so far.

Part 1: Roseanna
Part 2: The Man Who Went Up In Smoke
Part 3: The Man On The Balcony
Part 4: The Laughing Policeman
Part 5: The Fire Engine That Disappeared

I loved that the murder took place at a hotel I recently stayed at, and that I know most of the places mentioned in Malmo and Stockholm now after having vacationed those places recently (I actually bought my copy IN Stockholm). However, overall I felt like the plot moved slowly and the end felt very anticlimactic, especially because my version had another 75 pages... but it was all extra material and not some shocking twists and turns. Character development felt pretty flat - despite it being billed a Martin Beck novel, he felt secondary and I don’t really feel as if I know his personality. I liked the development of Månsson, though, and I kind of wish the story had been told from his point of view alone.

With #6 of the Martin Beck series by famed Swedish authors Sjowall & Wahloo under my belt, I will take a break and save the rest of the series for another time. You can see the how these two authors have honed their skills as the series progressed, they are all good, but the overall tightness of the writing and the ease in which they draw their characters and plots increases incrementally with each novel. However it could also be I am getting more familiar with the style and the main protagonists - so it might be a bit of both.

Slušně napsaná kniha, ale za týden už si ji zřejmě nebudu pamatovat. A jako detektivka to moc neobstojí... Sem tam se mihnou levicové povzdechy, proto to v Čs zřejmě v roce 1970 mohlo vyjít :)

The Martin Beck novels are a true balm – gruff, straightforward crime stories that are almost stage dressing for the very domestic, human dramas of the detectives.

As usual with the Beck novels, there's a great sense of time and place. A bonus for me was to be visiting Copenhagen and Malmö at the time! Loved it, as usual. This one really expands and makes more explicit the social and political critique that runs through Sjöwall and Wahlöö's work.

Peccato che si sia perdendo l'intrigo per lasciare più spazio alla critica della società. Magari nei prossimi sarà tutto più equilibrato.