Книги, похожие на «Philip Hensher, King of the Badgers»

The fantastic fourth classic instalment in the Martin Beck detective series from the 1960s – the novels that have inspired all Scandinavian crime fiction.The Martin Beck series is widely recognised as the greatest masterpiece of crime fiction ever written. These are the original detective stories that pioneered the detective genre and inspired writers from Agatha Christie to Henning Mankell; Graham Greene to Jonathan Franzen. Translated into 35 languages, they have sold over 10 million copies around the world.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 will have a new introduction in order to help bring these books to a new audience.On a cold and rainy Stockholm night, nine bus riders are gunned down by an unknown assassin. The press, anxious for an explanation for the seemingly random crime, quickly dubs him a madman. But Martin Beck of the Homicide Squad suspects otherwise: this apparently motiveless killer has managed to target one of Beck’s best detectives – and he, surely, would not have been riding that lethal bus without a reason.With its wonderfully observed lawmen, its brilliantly rendered felons and their murky Stockholm underworld, and its deftly engineered plot, ‘The Laughing Policeman’ has long been recognised as a classic of the police procedural.

A beautiful, haunting, engrossing, terrifying, enchanting novel destined to win prizes and storm the bestseller lists. To read this book is a total immersion experience.Since it was first acquired in a hot auction, Darren Williams’ novel has attracted comparisons – Picnic at Hanging Rock, To Kill a Mockingbird, Stand By Me, to name but a few (and no coincidence that all three have been made into major movies, because Angel Rock is a feast for all the senses) – but it is also a completely unique and original novel.The setting is Australia, 1969. Two half-brothers get lost in the wild wooded countryside around the small town of Angel Rock. Only the eldest, 13-year-old Tom, finds his way home. At about the same time, a 16-year-old girl goes missing from the town and is found in Sydney. She has killed herself.The policeman who gets the case in the city follows the trail back to Angel Rock. In searching for a meaning in this tragic death, he is searching for nothing less than a meaning in his own troubled life.The tales of the policeman, Gibson, and the boy, Tom, converge in the mystical back-country of Angel Rock, in a story that is part coming-of-age, part detective thriller, of redemption both individual and communal, and altogether one story that you will never forget.