Henning Mankell

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Image:Henning Mankell.jpg Henning Mankell (born February 3, 1948) is an internationally known Swedish author of crime fiction and other books, as well as plays. He is best known for the character Kurt Wallander.

Mankell was born in Stockholm, and grew up in the Swedish towns of Sveg (Jämtland) and Borås (Västergötland). He is married to Eva Bergman, the daughter of Ingmar Bergman. Mankell's father Ivar was a judge and his grandfather, also called Henning Mankell (1868-1930), was a composer.

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Kurt Wallander series

Kurt Wallander is a fictional police inspector living and working in Ystad, Sweden. In the novels, he solves shocking murders with his colleagues. The novels have an underlying question: What went wrong with the Swedish society? The series has won many awards, including the German Crime Prize, the 2001 CWA Gold Dagger for Sidetracked, and the Gumshoe Award for Best European Crime Novel for The Return of the Dancing Master. The final book, The Pyramid (short stories) (not yet translated into English), is a collection of short stories about Wallander's past.

Chronologically (English title, English year of publishing, original title, original year):

Faceless Killers (1997, trans. Steven T Murray), Mördare utan ansikte (1991)
The Dogs of Riga (2003, trans. Laurie Thompson), Hundarna i Riga (1992)
The White Lioness (1998, trans. Laurie Thompson), Den vita lejoninnan (1993)
The Man Who Smiled, (2005, trans. Laurie Thompson) Mannen som log (1994)
Sidetracked (1999, trans. Steven T Murray), Villospår (1995)
The Fifth Woman (2000, trans. Steven T Murray), Den femte kvinnan (1996)
One Step Behind (2002, trans. Ebba Segerberg), Steget efter (1997)
Firewall (2002, trans. Ebba Segerberg), Brandvägg (1998)
The Pyramid (short stories) (not yet translated), Pyramiden (2000)

The following book is not quite a Kurt Wallander book, but it is close (its protagonist is Kurt's daughter, Linda, a police cadet, and Kurt himself is a major supporting character):