Leif G W Persson's Books

Another Time, Another Life

The Story of a Crime (2)

By: Leif GW Persson

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Another Time, Another Life

The Story of a Crime (2)

By: Leif GW Persson

In 1975, six young people stormed the West German embassy in Stockholm, taking the entire staff hostage. They demanded the immediate release of members of the Baader- Meinhof group being held as prisoners in West Germany, but twelve hours into the siege, the embassy was blown up, two hostages were dead, and many others were injured, including the captors. Thus begins Leif GW Persson’s Another Time, Another Life. The story, based on real events linked to the still-unsolved assassination of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme, p icks up in 1989, as the seemingly unrelated stabbing death of a civil servant is investigated by officers Bo Jarnebring and Anna Holt. Under the supervision of their cantankerous, prejudiced, and corrupt superior, Evert Bäckström, the case gets surreptitiously swept under the rug, and the victim is tied to a string of sex-related crimes, despite evidence to the contrary. Another ten years pass before the confounding truth about the murder victim is unearthed. Just as Lars Martin Johansson, a friend of Jarnebring’s, begins his tenure as the head of the Swedish Security Police, he inherits two files from his predecessor, one of which is on the murder victim—who turns out to have been a collaborator in the 1975 embassy takeover. Revealed now are not only the identities of the other collaborators but also the identity of the murderer: an intelligent, capable lawyer a heartbeat away from the top position in Sweden’s Ministry of Defense. With masterfully interlaced plotlines pulled from the darkest corners of political power and corruption, Another Time, Another Life bristles with wit, insight, and intensity.

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418

Publisher

Vintage

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307907058

ISBN 13

9780307907059

Between Summer's Longing and Winter's End

The Story of a Crime (1)

By: Leif GW Persson

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Between Summer's Longing and Winter's End

The Story of a Crime (1)

By: Leif GW Persson

A young man falls to his death from a window in a student dorm in Stockholm, his loose shoe striking and killing the little dog being taken for his evening walk by an old man. It seems to be a mundane suicide—at least that’s what the police choose to think. But the young man is American, not Swedish, and there are a couple of odd things about his room when they search it. . . . From these tiny beginnings, Leif GW Persson slowly begins to unravel a puzzle that gets larger and larger as it becomes more and more complex, until it sweeps us into a web of international espionage, backroom politics, greed, sheer incompetence, and the shoddy work of Sweden’s intelligence force that leads to the murder of the prime minister. The first novel in a dark and dazzling trilogy that has become the defining fictional account of the unsolved 1986 assassination of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme—an event that triggered the biggest criminal investigation in recorded history—Between Summer’s Longing and Winter’s End is a riveting insider’s combination of black satire, thriller, psychological drama, and police procedural by a writer universally acknowledged as Sweden’s leading criminologist.

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562

Publisher

Vintage

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307379477

ISBN 13

9780307379474

The Sword of Justice

A Bäckström Novel

By: Leif G. W. Persson

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The Sword of Justice

A Bäckström Novel

By: Leif G. W. Persson

In the magnificent third installment of the internationally bestselling Bäckström series, the irascible detective becomes entangled in an investigation with—incredibly—strange ties to Tsar Nicholas II, Winston Churchill, and Vladimir Putin. A Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Original. Murder isn't often good news. But when DS Evert Bӓckström is told that Thomas Eriksson—a mafia lawyer and renowned defender of the guilty—has been killed, he can't help but celebrate, perhaps with a little vodka. Bäckström's good mood is spoiled, however, when he's assigned to the frustrating case, as narrowing down the list of people who wanted Eriksson dead is almost impossible. It's miles long! Fortunately, Bӓckström has spent years cultivating a group of questionable acquaintances and shady associates who will prove invaluable in solving the crime—as long as his colleagues don't find out about these illicit connections, or that Bӓckström owes them a few favors. But even the dirtiest cop couldn't have predicted that this trail would lead to a priceless Fabergé music box created for Tsar Nicholas II, with a history as notorious as it is singular.

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722

Publisher

Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

Published Date

ISBN 10

1101872950

ISBN 13

9781101872956

The Dying Detective

A Mystery

By: Leif GW Persson

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The Dying Detective

A Mystery

By: Leif GW Persson

***WINNER OF THE CRIME WRITERS' ASSOCIATION'S INTERNATIONAL DAGGER 2017*** ***WINNER OF THE DANISH ACADEMY OF CRIME WRITERS' PALLE ROSENKRANTZ PRIZE (Best Crime Novel 2012)*** ***WINNER OF THE FINNISH ACADEMY OF CRIME WRITERS' AWARD (Best Crime Novel 2012)*** ***WINNER OF THE GLASS KEY (Best Scandinavian Crime Novel 2011)*** ***WINNER OF THE SWEDISH ACADEMY OF CRIME WRITERS' AWARD (Best Crime Novel of the Year 2010)*** LARS MARTIN JOHANSSON is a living legend. Cunning and perceptive, always one step ahead, he was known in the National Criminal Police as “the man who could see around corners.” But now Johansson is retired, living in the country, his police days behind him. Or so he thinks. After suffering a stroke, Johansson finds himself in the hospital. Tests show heart problems as well. And the only thing that can save him from despair is his doctor’s mention of an unsolved murder case from years before. The victim: an innocent nine-year-old girl. Johansson is determined to solve the case, no matter his condition. With the help of his assistant, Matilda, an amateur detective, and Max, an orphan with a personal stake in the case, he launches an informal investigation from his hospital bed. Racing against time, he uncovers a web of connections that links sex tourism to a dead opera singer and a self-made millionaire. And as Johansson draws closer to solving the crime, he finds that he will have to confront not just a mystery but his own mortality as well.

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434

Publisher

Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307907643

ISBN 13

9780307907646

Backstrom: He Who Kills the Dragon

By: Leif GW Persson

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Backstrom: He Who Kills the Dragon

By: Leif GW Persson

From a master of Scandinavian crime fiction--the first in a brilliant series of novels centered around the investigations of one irascible, obdurate, and very thirsty Swedish police officer: Detective Superintendent Evert Bäckström of the National Murder Squad. Detective Bäckström is Persson's persistently repulsive yet undeniably brilliant comic creation--an unforgettable cop winding his way through the black comedy of a crime scene, and managing to upset nearly everyone in the process.When a newspaper delivery boy finds a 68 year-old alcoholic lying dead in his apartment--beaten with a saucepan lid and hammer, and then strangled--everyone expects an open-and-shut murder case, everyone that is but Hawaiian-shirt clad Detective Bäckström who's been assigned to lead the investigation team. Under strict orders from his doctor to improve his health as quickly as possible, Bäckström has begun stumbling to work on foot, and even eating vegetables. The police force isn't what it used to be though, and now that it's crowded with women and foreigners resisting a drink is harder than ever before. But when the newspaper boy goes missing Bäckström's suspicions are proven correct, giving his irrepressible mix of luck and laziness a chance to save the day, while managing to upset nearly everyone in the process.

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369

Publisher

Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307907686

ISBN 13

9780307907684

Free Falling, As If in a Dream

The Story of a Crime

By: Leif GW Persson

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Free Falling, As If in a Dream

The Story of a Crime

By: Leif GW Persson

From the grand master of Scandinavian crime fiction—and one of the best crime writers of our time—here is the final volume in the critically acclaimed Story of a Crime trilogy, centered on the assassination of Olof Palme in 1986. It’s August 2007, and Lars Martin Johansson, chief of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation in Sweden, is determined once again to reopen the dusty files on the unsolved murder of Prime Minister Palme. With his retirement quickly approaching, Johansson forms a new group, comprised of a few trustworthy detectives who doggedly wade through mountains of paperwork and pursue new leads in a case that has all but gone cold despite the open wound the assassination has left on the consciousness of Swedish society. But the closer the group gets to the truth, the more Johansson compromises the greater good for personal gain, becoming a pawn in the private vendetta of a shady political spin doctor. A detailed and boldly plotted police procedural, Free Falling, As If in a Dream lifts the veil on one of history’s greatest unsolved crimes, bringing dark humor, suspense, and wit to bear on a case long thought to have no answers.

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595

Publisher

Pantheon

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307377474

ISBN 13

9780307377470

Linda, As in the Linda Murder

A Backstrom Novel

By: Leif GW Persson

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Linda, As in the Linda Murder

A Backstrom Novel

By: Leif GW Persson

The irascible, obdurate, and very thirstyDetective Superintendent Evert Bäck-ström of the National Murder Squad returns in a new novel from the reigning master of Scandinavian fiction. It’s the dead of summer in the sleepy town of Växjö when twenty-year-old police cadet Linda Wallin is found lying facedown in her mother’s apartment, brutally murdered and raped. With no clear motive or suspect in sight, a series of bureaucratic mix-ups causes the National Crime Unit to send Bäckström and his team into the countryside to solve the case. The ever-irritable Bäckström leaves his beloved goldfish behind, checks intoa local hotel, and begins to reconstruct the night of Linda’s murder. But with more than a few bottles in tow, and a constantly growling stomach to look after, things don’t go so well, and Bäckström has to rely on the help of his colleagues to solve the crime—no matter how angry that makes him.

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480

Publisher

Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

Published Date

ISBN 10

030790766X

ISBN 13

9780307907660

Between Summer's Longing and Winter's End

The Story of a Crime (1)

By: Leif GW Persson

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Between Summer's Longing and Winter's End

The Story of a Crime (1)

By: Leif GW Persson

A riveting new thriller by a writer universally acknowledged as Sweden's leading criminologist. A young man falls to his death from a window in Stockholm. The police want to write it off as an accident, or possibly a suicide, but superintendent Lars Johansson feels otherwise. Soon it is revealed that the young man was an American journalist, working on a project about his uncle, a CIA agent, who may have had ties to the highest reaches of Sweden's political community. Johansson's search for the truth will take him to New York and the FBI Academy in Virginia, and finally down into a dark web of international espionage, backroom politics, and greed, exposing the sheer incompetence that led to a devastating tragedy.

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562

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Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307390209

ISBN 13

9780307390202

Another Time, Another Life

The Story of a Crime (2)

By: Leif GW Persson

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Another Time, Another Life

The Story of a Crime (2)

By: Leif GW Persson

Stockholm, 1975: Six young people take the entire staff of the West German embassy hostage. The long siege ends with the deaths of two hostages and the wounding of several others. Jump to 1989: When a Swedish civil servant is murdered, the two leading detectives on the case find their investigation hastily shelved by a corrupt senior investigator. Ten years later: Lars Johansson, having just joined the Swedish Security Police, decides to tie up a few loose ends left behind by his predecessor: specifically, two files on Swedes who had allegedly collaborated on the 1975 takeover of the West German embassy, one of whom turned out to be the murder victim in 1989. Johansson reopens the investigation and follows the leads--right up to the doorstep of Sweden's newly minted minister of justice.

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418

Publisher

Vintage

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307390217

ISBN 13

9780307390219

The Dying Detective

A Mystery

By: Leif GW Persson

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The Dying Detective

A Mystery

By: Leif GW Persson

Winner of The Glass Key Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel Winner of The Danish Academy of Crime Writers’ Palle Rosenkrantz Prize Named Best Crime Novel of the Year by both the Swedish Academy of Crime Writers and the Finnish Academy of Crime Writers After suffering a stroke, retired detective Lars Martin Johansson finds himself in the hospital. To save himself from idleness and despair, the legendary investigator turns to an unsolved murder case from years before. The victim: an innocent nine-year-old girl. With the help of various associates and assistants, Johansson launches an informal investigation from his hospital bed. Racing against time, he uncovers a web of connections that links sex tourism to a dead opera singer and a self-made millionaire. But as Johansson draws closer to solving the crime, he finds that he will have to confront not just a mystery but his own mortality.

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434

Publisher

Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307950360

ISBN 13

9780307950369

The Sword of Justice

By: Leif G. W. Persson

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The Sword of Justice

By: Leif G. W. Persson

When gangster lawyer Thomas Eriksson, renowned defender of the guilty, is found brutally murdered in his own home the police face a rare problem. Finding a suspect isn't difficult, but narrowing down the long list of people who wanted Eriksson dead might be... High on the list is the celebrated Detective Superintendent Evert Bockstr m, in charge of the investigation. Unfortunately for him a high profile case really gets in the way of his routine, namely avoiding the office, keeping work to a minimum and steering well clear of his inept colleagues u aside from the attractive ones, of course. Luckily, by virtue of his questionable contacts, Bockstr m has an unequalled skill for having the guilty handed to him on a plate. All he has to do is break every rule in the book u and receive a healthy wad of cash for his trouble. But this time he's in for a surprise because even Bockstr m couldn't have predicted where this trail would lead, or how far from comfortable he might be at its end.

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Page Count

593

Publisher

Random House

Published Date

ISBN 10

0857522620

ISBN 13

9780857522627

The Sword of Justice

A Bäckström Novel

By: Leif G. W. Persson

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The Sword of Justice

A Bäckström Novel

By: Leif G. W. Persson

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Page Count

722

Publisher

Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

Published Date

ISBN 10

1101872942

ISBN 13

9781101872949

Backstrom: He Who Kills the Dragon

By: Leif GW Persson

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Backstrom: He Who Kills the Dragon

By: Leif GW Persson

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369

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Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307907686

ISBN 13

9780307907684

Free Falling, As If in a Dream

The Story of a Crime

By: Leif GW Persson

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Free Falling, As If in a Dream

The Story of a Crime

By: Leif GW Persson

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595

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Pantheon

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307377474

ISBN 13

9780307377470

Linda, As in the Linda Murder

A Backstrom Novel

By: Leif GW Persson

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Linda, As in the Linda Murder

A Backstrom Novel

By: Leif GW Persson

The irascible, obdurate, and very thirsty Detective Superintendent Evert Bäckström of the National Murder Squad returns in a new novel from the reigning master of Scandinavian fiction. It’s the dead of summer in the sleepy town of Växjö when twenty-year-old police cadet Linda Wallin is found lying facedown in her mother’s apartment, brutally murdered and raped. With no clear motive or suspect in sight, a series of bureaucratic mix-ups causes the National Crime Unit to send Bäckström and his team into the countryside to solve the case. The ever-irritable Bäckström leaves his beloved goldfish behind, checks into a local hotel, and begins to reconstruct the night of Linda’s murder. But with more than a few bottles in tow, and a constantly growling stomach to look after, things don’t go so well, and Bäckström has to rely on the help of his colleagues to solve the crime—no matter how angry that makes him.

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Page Count

482

Publisher

Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307907651

ISBN 13

9780307907653

Linda, As in the Linda Murder

By: Leif G. W. Persson

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Linda, As in the Linda Murder

By: Leif G. W. Persson

Winner of the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel 2014 In the middle of an unusually hot Swedish summer, a young woman studying at the Vaxjo Police Academy is brutally murdered. Police Inspector Evert Bäckström is unwillingly drafted in from Stockholm to head up the investigation. Egotistical, vain and utterly prejudiced against everything, Bäckström is a man who has no sense of duty or responsibilty, thinks everyone with the exception of himself is an imbecile and is only really capable of warm feelings towards his pet goldfish and the nearest bottle of liquor. If they are to solve the case, his long suffering team must work around him, following the scant few leads which remain after Bäckström's intransigence has let the trail go cold. Blackly comic, thrillingly compelling and utterly real, Linda, As in the Linda Murder is the novel which introduces the reader to the modern masterpiece that is Evert Bäckström, a man described by his creator as 'short, fat and primitive'. He is, without doubt, the real deal when it comes to modern policing.

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Page Count

558

Publisher

Black Swan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0552778362

ISBN 13

9780552778367

Linda, as in the Linda Murder

By: Leif G. W. Persson

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Linda, as in the Linda Murder

By: Leif G. W. Persson

In the middle of an unusually hot Swedish summer, a young woman studying at the Vaxjo Police Academy is brutally murdered. Police Inspector Evert Bäckström is unwillingly drafted in from Stockholm to head up the investigation. Egotistical, vain and utterly prejudiced against everything, Bäckström is a man who has no sense of duty or responsibilty, thinks everyone with the exception of himself is an imbecile and is only really capable of warm feelings towards his pet goldfish and the nearest bottle of liquor. If they are to solve the case, his long suffering team must work around him, following the scant few leads which remain after Bäckström's intransigence has let the trail go cold. Blackly comic, thrillingly compelling and utterly real, Linda, As in the Linda Murder is the novel which introduces the reader to the modern masterpiece that is Evert Bäckström, a man described by his creator as 'short, fat and primitive'. He is, without doubt, the real deal when it comes to modern policing.

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Page Count

497

Publisher

Random House

Published Date

ISBN 10

0857520865

ISBN 13

9780857520869

Bäckström 2: He Who Kills the Dragon

By: Leif G. W. Persson

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Bäckström 2: He Who Kills the Dragon

By: Leif G. W. Persson

It should have been an open and shut case: two drunks, who have met for a bite to eat and considerably more to drink, fall into an argument about one of the many pointless matters that make up their pathetic shared history. Then one of them ends their evening by savagely beating the other to death. It's a routine and yet strangely puzzling scenario to Detective Superintendent Evert Bäckström, whose legendary poor temper has not been improved by strict orders from his doctor to lead a healthier life. His gut feeling proves him right: within days, his team have another murder to contend with and have uncovered links to a high profile van heist in which two people died. The nation needs a hero. Who better to save the day than Bäckström, misanthropic, devoid of morals, Hawaii shirt-clad, and, latterly, and alarmingly, armed? Once again an eye-popping combination of laziness, luck and an unbelievable sense of timing may yet rescue him from the perils of his fifteen minutes of fame.

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Page Count

480

Publisher

Black Swan

Published Date

ISBN 10

178416089X

ISBN 13

9781784160890

Bäckström 1: Linda, As in the Linda Murder

By: Leif G. W. Persson

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Bäckström 1: Linda, As in the Linda Murder

By: Leif G. W. Persson

Winner of the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel 2014 In the middle of an unusually hot summer, a young woman studying at the Swedish Police Academy is brutally murdered. Deeply unwillingly, Police Inspector Evert Bäckström is drafted in to head up the investigation. It is a questionable choice of detective for such a high profile case. Bäckström is egotistical, vain and utterly prejudiced against everything, a man with no discernable sense of duty, who thinks everyone with the exception of himself is an imbecile and really has only warm feelings towards his pet goldfish and the nearest bottle of liquor. He also thinks he is God's gift to modern policing. If they are to solve the case, his long suffering team must work around him, following the scant few leads which remain after Bäckström's intransigence has let the trail go cold.

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Page Count

560

Publisher

Black Swan

Published Date

ISBN 10

1784160903

ISBN 13

9781784160906

Gustavs grabb

By: Leif G. W. Persson

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Gustavs grabb

By: Leif G. W. Persson

Och om nu detta är sant, att romanen om Madame Bovary i själva verket var Flauberts självbiografi, så är denna berättelse om min egen klassresa en roman om mitt liv och eftersom jag ännu en gång är fri att välja är det i vart fall ett sätt för mig att återförsäkra mig i min roll som författare, trots att det mesta som står här säkert är sant. Vad det nu spelar för roll, den här gången." Ur inledningen av Gustavs grabb -- en roman om min klassresa.

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