Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Fire Engine That Disappeared
    Unavailable
    The Fire Engine That Disappeared
    Unavailable
    The Fire Engine That Disappeared
    Ebook319 pages5 hours

    The Fire Engine That Disappeared

    By Maj Sjowall, Per Wahloo and Colin Dexter

    4/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this ebook

    The excellent fifth classic installment in the Martin Beck detective series from the 1960s – the novels that have inspired all Scandinavian crime fiction.

    Widely recognised as the greatest masterpieces of crime fiction ever written, these are the original detective stories that pioneered the detective genre.

    Gunvald Larsson sits carefully observing the dingy Stockholm apartment of a man under police surveillance. He looks at his watch: nine minutes past eleven in the evening. He yawns, slapping his arms to keep warm. At the same moment the house explodes, killing at least three people.

    Chief Inspector Martin Beck and his men don't suspect arson or murder until they discover a peculiar circumstance and a link is established between the explosion and a suicide committed that same day, in which the dead man left a note consisting of just two words: Martin Beck.

    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 has a new introduction in order to help bring these books to a new audience.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins UK
    Release dateAug 20, 2009
    ISBN9780007343492
    Unavailable
    The Fire Engine That Disappeared
    Author

    Maj Sjowall

    Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, both left-wing journalists and politically radical, met in 1961 while working for magazines published by the same company. They married the next year and together created the Martin Beck crime series, famously writing alternate chapters at night after putting their children to bed. Wahloo died at the age of 49 just as their 10th book was going to press. Sjowall currently lives in Sweden and continues to work as a writer and translator.

    Related authors

    Related to The Fire Engine That Disappeared

    Related ebooks

    Mystery For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Subscribers’ News

      Apr 4, 2024

      To feature in Subscribers’ News contact: tjackson@warnersgroup.co.uk My latest novel, The Creative Writing Group, chronicles the intertwined lives, loves, heartbreaks and friendships of six characters linked by their love for the written word, write

      5 min read

    • Article

      Killer Jokes

      Jul 17, 2022

      Killer Jokes
      3 min read

    • Article

      Welcome Returns For Three Irish Writers

      Apr 1, 2022

      These Days Lucy Caldwell (Faber, £12.99) Homesickness Colin Barrett (Jonathan Cape, £14.99) The Geometer Lobachevsky Adrian Duncan (Tuskar Rock, £14.99) THE STUFFY OLD WORLD of publishing is no more immune to neophilia than the rest of our society an

      6 min read

    • Article

      Secret Sex Lives In Victorian England

      Jan 26, 2023

      NEW YEAR, NEW LIFE. As we march under cover of bravado into 2023, the first piece of good news is an impressive debut novel whose achievement largely matches its ambition. The New Life by Tom Crewe, an editor at the London Review of Books, is a story

      6 min read

    • Article

      Chronicling Life’s White Machine

      Jul 31, 2017

      It is not hard to mentally recast writers as social media types: Knausgaard, the maximalist oversharer; Lerner, the pomo ironic; Cusk, the reticent philosopher; Heti, the more traditional diarist.   The post Chronicling Life’s White Machine appeared

      7 min read

    • Article

      Shelf Life

      Dec 2, 2021

      Shelf Life
      4 min read

    • Article

      Shelf Life

      Jan 4, 2024

      To say that the inspiration for my third whodunit, Murder on Lake Garda, came unexpectedly wouldn’t quite be doing it justice. When I first happened on the seed of an idea, I was actually well into working on a completely different novel, involving a

      5 min read

    • Article

      Head Boy And Head-scratchers

      Sep 29, 2022

      AUTUMN IS WHEN THE LITERARY establishment comes out to play, and publishers release books by their most prestigious names. The reasons are lost in time, but it may be connected to the end of summer: fun is over, they say, time to read some serious bo

      6 min read

    • Article

      The 31 GREATEST BOOKS FOR MEN

      May 1, 2019

      Meet Rob. He’s the manager of a London record shop in which he and his sad friends make top-five lists, talk about mix tapes and obsess over albums by dead blues musicians. Then Rob decides to get in touch with five of his ex-girlfriends to find out

      8 min read

    • Article

      Fiction

      Sep 22, 2021

      Fiction
      8 min read

    • Article

      Lethal Intrigue

      Mar 15, 2020

      Lethal Intrigue
      12 min read

    • Article

      Adam Macqueen

      Mar 5, 2020

      Adam Macqueen is a journalist and author who has contributed to Private Eye magazine since 1997 and wrote the history of the magazine to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2011. Between 1999-2002 he was deputy editor of The Big Issue. As an author his

      5 min read

    • Article

      Jonathan Coe: ‘People Say, Where’s The Anger? It’s Still There’

      Aug 19, 2023

      In a career spanning more than 35 years, notable for novels such as What a Carve Up! and The Rotters’ Club, author Jonathan Coe has established himself as one of the UK’s keenest satirists. His works have become bestsellers in translation, and he’s b

      4 min read

    • Article

      Retreading The City

      Nov 2, 2023

      It’s hard to pinpoint when and how inspiration strikes for a novel, but I know exactly when it did for The Detective. The Waiter and The Cook were the first two books in my Kamil Rahman thriller series about a disgraced policeman from Kolkata who co

      6 min read

    • Article

      February Preview: The Millions Most Anticipated (This Month)

      Jan 30, 2023

      We wouldn’t dream of abandoning our vast biannual Most Anticipated Book Previews, but we thought a monthly reminder would be helpful (and give us a chance to note titles we missed the first time around). Here’s what we’re looking out for in February:

      5 min read

    • Article

      Oldies Make The Best Holiday Companions

      Jul 28, 2022

      ON THE PENETRATING QUESTION of what fiction to take on holiday, this year The Critic offers a novel approach. Why heft around the Dolomites the bulk of an untested hardback, by a wet-behind-the-ears author who isn’t even dead yet, when you can halve

      6 min read

    • Article

      The Son of the Banana King

      Jun 1, 2019

      The Son of the Banana King
      3 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Kyle Winkler

      Dec 22, 2021

      The book is a blister. It’s fun to touch, mess with, and you eventually want to see it explode. But when it does, it’s more of a mess than you expected, hurts, and takes a while to heal. The post A Year in Reading: Kyle Winkler appeared first on The

      6 min read

    • Article

      What We’re Reading: Writers And Readers On The Books They Enjoyed In May

      May 24, 2022

      In this series we ask authors, Guardian writers and readers to share what they’ve been reading recently. This month, recommendations include Terry Pratchett’s fantasy novels, a guide to writing and some gripping spy novels. Tell us what you’ve been r

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Great Divide

      Apr 22, 2022

      It’s easy to imagine a conversation about Louise Kennedy’s debut novel, Trespasses, that goes something like this: “What’s it about?” “Well, it’s about a young Catholic woman in Belfast in the 70s, at the height of the Troubles.” “Punishment beatings

      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Fire Engine That Disappeared

    4/5

    12 ratings12 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      The fifth in the Martin Beck series sees the Chief Inspector take much more of a back-seat role as the latest investigation unfolds. Gunvald Larsson decides to check on a surveillance mission he's in charge of and offers temporary relief to the young policeman on watch. So not even supposed to be there, it's just his luck that the house converted into apartments suddenly explodes. Larsson manages to save several people from the property that is readily becoming engulfed in flame but there are three that don't manage to escape the inferno. One of which is the petty criminal that was the object of the surveillance in the first place. Initial investigations suggest a suicide by this very man much to Larsson's consternation who, after a short spell in hospital due to concussion, decides to take matters into his own hands and pursue enquiries on his own.This instalment focuses more on the team around Martin Beck and offers glimpses into their personal lives and motivations as well as the social commentary of Sweden at the time these books are set (late sixties/early seventies) that this series has become known for. Again it is the painstaking work of the detectives involved that help to progress the investigation, following all of the clues even if they're heading nowhere. There is no quick fix or momentary flashes of brilliance that help solve the case. Instead it's the knocking on doors, finding the right people, asking the right question and sifting through the clues that will get them to the right outcome. If you want your crime fix to be thrill a minute then you should look elsewhere but if you like a well plotted police procedural then you could do a lot worse than picking up this series.
    • 3/5
      Very good story.
    • 3/5
      This was my least favorite in the Martin Beck series so far. This storyline was more disjointed than usual. The mystery was all over the place and the ending did not match my expectations for this series. As a mystery/police procedural this story fell through for me. However, this story did develop a lot of the characters in the story. And, even though the series revolves around Martin Beck, he was more a peripheral character in this one. This story revolved around Gunvald Larsson, a character that I am learning to like a lot.
    • 3/5
      Okay story. Not my favorite.
    • 4/5
      Sverige, marts 1968Marts 1968, ca fire måneder efter Endestation Mord.Gunvald Larsson skygger en mand Göran Malm, da huset Malm er i, pludseligt eksploderer. Politibetjenten Zachrisson er der også og alarmerer brandvæsenet to gange, men de kommer først anden gang.Gunvald redder 8 ud, men 3 indebrænder desværre.Göran Malm, 42, Kenneth Roth, 27, Kristina Modig, 14 og Madeleine Olsen, 24, indebrænder eller dør senere.Anna-Kajsa Modig, 30, Kent Modig, 5, Clara Modig, 0, Agnes Söderberg, 68, Herman Söderberg, 67, Max Karsson, 23, Carla Berggren, 16, overlever.Gunvald har fået en tagsten i hovedet med deraf følgende hjernerystelse og Einar Rönn er rasende over at Kollberg, Melander og Martin Beck ikke har lagt mærke til det. Benny Skacke er ny og grøn og bliver drillet af Kollberg.Det ser ud som om Göran Malm har begået selvmord med bygas og at en gnist så har fået hytten til at eksplodere, men Hjelm finder resterne af en brandbombe i Malms madras. Gunvald Larsson får Max Karlsson buret inde og finder ud af at Bertil Olafsson, 36 år, var bagmand for Max, Kenneth og Göran. Men Bertil, kaldet Berra, er ikke set i lang tid. Per Månsson i Malmö finder Bertil på bunden af havnen. Han er dræbt med et slag af en sten i en sok og sendt i havnen længe inden mordbranden. Gunvald finder ud af at forvirringen med brandvæsenet skyldtes en adresseforbistring samt et par betjente ved navn Kristiansson og Kvant. Brandstifteren har ringet fra en mønttelefon, som Skacke finder og fra denne sporer han en sandsynlig gerningsmand Alfonse Lasalle.Martin Becks datter Ingrid på 16 år er ved at flytte hjemmefra og hun spørger ham direkte hvorfor han ikke gør det samme. Konen Inga siger ham ikke noget mere, og drengen Rolf på 13 år har han heller ikke nogen god kontakt med.En mand, Ernst Sigurd Karlson har skudt sig selv og efterladt en kort besked "Martin Beck". Göran Malm opsøgte ham kort efter og gik så hjem og tog gas.Per Månsson finder i København en kvinde, der har kendt Bertil godt. Hun har regnet ud at Bertil, Sigurd og Göran har kørt en forretning med at stjæle biler, sælge dem østpå for andre varer og få disse vekslet til penge via "hovedkontoret" i København. Bertil forsøgte at afpresse hovedkontoret, men det går først ham og så de to andre ilde, for der bliver sendt en morder efter dem.Månsson har kortlagt Bertils sidste færd og knyttet Alfonse Lasalle til drabet som sandsynlig gerningsmand, men denne er ikke i landet. Rönn inviterer Månsson hjem på middag for at finde en forsvunden legetøjsbrandbil og det lykkes til alles forundring. Et par måneder senere kommer Lasalle til Stockholm og modtages af Kollberg og Skacke. Kollberg bliver stukket ned, men overlever. Skacke skyder Lasalle, som dør i ambulancen.Glimrende politiroman, specielt er Gunvald Larsson smukt beskrevet
    • 4/5
      This fifth novel in the series continues the gradual process of building up a bleak, composite view of the failures of 60s/70s Swedish society whilst deglamourising police work, and at the same time pokes a little fun at one of the favourite tricks of technically sophisticated detective fiction, the death that looks as though it could equally well have been murder, suicide or accident. Sjöwall and Wahlöö take it a step further by providing us with deaths that seem to fall into more than one of these categories at once. And a title that looks like a complete red herring but might not be...
    • 3/5
      I bought two books of the Martin Beck series, The Man On The Balcony (TMOTB) and The Fire Engine That Disappeared (TFETD), and read them one after the other. Although many of the involved characters are the same the style of the books could hardly be more different.The Man On The Balcony burns on a slow, consistent, fuse, a Catherine Wheel of a book, whereas The Fire Engine That Disappeared fizzes like a Jumping Jack never sure of which way it will go next.Each has its merits, though as a matter of preference and enjoyment TMOTB had the edge for me.Each book is set in 60s Stockholm and any reader who imagines paedophilia, hard core drugs, promiscuity, street crime, and the like are recent phenomenon in society may be somewhat suprised to read just how prevalent they are in 60s city life, which makes the books seems very contemporary. Though TFETD ventures further afield with significant references to France and Denmark especially and a plot which embraces the beginnings of cross border terrorism and gang warfare, the evocative scenes and action of TMOTB are concentrated in well defined districts of the city and the book is highly personalised and quietly emotive in documenting the hunt for a predatory child killer.In TMOTB, Beck and his motley crew of detective colleagues languish over the evidence having already dismissed unknowingly a crucial lead. The bad luck is almost repeated at the end only for chance to play a part in resolving the case, though painstaking research ensured this time the chance was not passed up. TMOTB is a comfortable though melancholy read which is extremely believable.TFETD picks up the Beck series a little further down the line and the first notable aspect is the changed relationships between the various detectives, being more fractious and weary with each other. The plot is a complicated and convoluted one and in the end I found I was confused as to quite who was who and where the pieces fitted. I finished the book not really able to recall the various criminal intrigues which lead to a house fire in which a seemingly petty criminal was killed, and then to the finale and fate of the mastermind.So, very different writing styles, each worthy, each thoroughly researched and well crafted, I enjoyed TMOTB and was a little less enamoured with TFETD but would understand how another reader may take an opposite view.
    • 5/5
      THE FIRE ENGINE THAT DISAPPEARED is a perfect illustration of the concept that solving homicide cases is a mixture of accumulating evidence through painstaking and methodical sleuthing with flashes of intuition. In any investigative team the role of some will be the sleuthing, but it will often be the intuition that solves the case. The problem is that without the painstaking sleuthing little intuition is possible, and the accumulation of evidence is often necessary to both break the perpetrator and for for successful prosecution to take place. There is also often a problem in getting all the essential information into one brain. It takes all kinds to form a good team of detectives: plods, cynics, workaholics, as well as those who carefully compartmentalise their lives. Successful resolution requires testing theories, discarding those that don't fit, following the occasional red herring, and often, as in this case a long passage of time. The threads that make up a case often first present separately but as the plot develops they begin to converge.One of the things that this novel clearly shows too is that each of the team has a private life. In THE FIRE ENGINE THAT DISAPPEARED Martin Beck's marriage appears to be on the point of collapse. This seems to be something so common to the modern detective that we almost take it for granted.The Martin Beck series was written in the late 1960s and now five decades later we can still appreciate how cleverly they were constructed.
    • 4/5
      The fifth book in the Martin Beck series, The Fire Engine that Disappeared, lives up to the standards set by the previous novels. Ms. Sjowall and Mr. Wahloo are among the best at what they do, no question about it. However, I still felt something of a slump, a sense of going through the motions, that I did not feel in any of the earlier books. There's nothing remarkable this time around. The story begins with a mass murder just like The Laughing Policeman, book four, did. There is a hint that a police officer might be involved when Martin Beck's name is found written on a note pad in one victim's room, just as a police officer was one of the victims in book four. At first there are no clues, just like in all the previous books. A handful of capable police detectives work the case among the usual assortment of blunderers. There is another young officer looking for his chance to shine. It's all very well done, there's just this nagging sense that it has been done just as well before .Repetition and formula are part of the pleasure readers get from a mystery series. That you know what to expect and that you get what you expect are both part of the deal. The previous novels kept this part of the bargain, then delivered the extras that made them stand out as better than average. The Fire Engine that Disappeared attempts this by making Martin Beck a minor character in favor of other detectives. While these other characters are all well done, they didn't push the series to new heights. I fear a plateau has been reached. A high plateau, but a plateau none-the-less.
    • 4/5
      'The fire engine that disappeared' is the first of the Martin Beck series that I've read, though it's the fifth in the series. I've been meaning to try one for a while, and I'm not disappointed. Though a book recognisably 'of its time', it's none the worse for it and I can understand why Henning Mankell was influenced by these authors. The style is concise and direct, has dry humour, and an almost perverse delight in detail and character foibles. Best of all is the way that the crucial conclusions come from gradually discerning a pattern where none seemed to exist before, rather than fiendish sleuthing or the obvious. Very enjoyable.
    • 3/5
      This is the 5th in the Martin Beck series and although I enjoyed it, it didn't keep me reading. I picked it up and put it down a lot so I always had to remind myself what was going on and who was who. Not such a page-turner as some of the earlier books The fact that it took me 2 months to read a 250 page book is testament to this! That said, I am really enjoying getting to know the policeman - the authors have been very clever to drop in tiny facts about Martin Beck's family life, for example, and this has enriched my reading of all the books so far.
    • 4/5
      Another short but dragged out investigation from Martin beck and the team. It's quiet in the late autimn and Gunvald is transferred to shadow (did police forces ever do this?) a suspect. When the house he is in burns down Gunvar rescues some people but not the suspect whose remains are later found in the house. Case closed. Until the forensics deptment discover some anomolous evidence. Meanwhile a man is found shot in a flat. And some car is later found in a harbour. Is there any connection between these events? Different members of the team are investigating them so it isn't clear. Didn't enjoy this one as much as the previous offereings, though it isn't clear why. There plot lacked some of the drama and there was once a gain a preponderance of unnecessary though non-graphic sex. There contrasts between the various families seem to exist solely for the sake of contrast. The disconnection between the various plot lines was confusing although ultimately resolved it was hard to keep track of who was important to whom on whic investigation. Stockholm only appears to have two radio officers. Highly unlikely that they'd have been involved (badly) in the last three adventures. And to round it all off it's a preposterous and badly contrived ending...............................................................................................................................................