The Man on the Balcony - Tapa blanda

Someone is killing young girls in the once-peaceful parks of Stockholm -- killing them after having his way. The people of Stockholm are tense and fearful. Police Superintendent Martin Beck has two witnesses: a cold-blooded mugger who won't say much and a three-year-old boy who can't say much. The dedicated work of the police force seems to be leading nowhere, and with each passing day, the likelihood of another murder grows. But then Beck remembers someone -- or something -- he overheard.

A quietly relentless thriller, The Man on the Balcony juxtaposes the most inhuman of crimes with the humanity of the men who must solve it -- their perseverance, frustration, and horror -- resulting in a police procedural that is as moving and credible as it is enthralling.

Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, her husband and coauthor, wrote ten Martin Beck mysteries. Mr Wahlöö, who died in 1975, was a reporter for several Swedish newspapers and magazines and wrote numerous radio and television plays, film scripts, short stories, and novels. Maj Sjöwall is also a poet.