Crime novels and MOBY DICK

Between 1965 and 1975 a married pair of Swedish journalists decided to try their hand at Police Mystery Novels. The wife, Maj Siowall, and her husband, Per Whaloo, turned out ten books in a decade, crime stories that are now considered classics. There no more because Per Whaloo died. I had heard their names before but I had never read them. A good friend of mine gave me two of the books, which aren't easy to find, and I read then both in less than a week, not my usual pace. Actually, they are called "Martin Beck  Police Mysteries,"which is misleading because the books feature an ensemble cast of detectives, rather than one man. Solving crimes is a kind of mosaic experience, with each man  contributing to the final solution. The Laughing Policeman is especially like that, while the other novel, The Man Who Went Up In Smoke was less so.

The Laughing Policeman opens with a brutal and gory shooting on a two-Decker bus. Someone hid on the second deck and as the bus approached the end of the line he or she came down and using a Japanese model machine gun mowed down nine people on the bus, including a 29 year old detective who happened to be on the bus. Beck and others had no idea why he was on that bus. The scene inside the bus would rival the Newtown killings. There were no clues at the scene so they were starting from scratch. They later found out the young detective was shadowing someone trying to break a cold case by himself to get a promotion. The search for the killer is done in piecemeal fashion, and little by little, name by name, they get closer and closer to the killer. Its exciting to follow how they finally catch the killer. It was all a matter of being patient and connecting the dots.

Both novels are a kind of bare-bones investigations using career cops who have been around the block many times. There is no unnecessary rhetoric and a minimum of sex and guilty babes. In The Man Who Went Up In Smoke Martin  Beck is dragged away from his vacation with his family and sent to Budapest to find out why a prominent journalist has disappeared. He could have refused the assignment but decides to take it on, which angers his long-suffering wife. When he gets to Budapest he behaves almost like he is on vacation. He discovers that the journalist signed up to stay at three hotels. But beyond that there is darkness, until he discovers three young people who seemed to lying about knowing the journalist. Two men send the third to test him out: is he friend or foe.  She is a sexy girl and she spends a day with him and later she rips her dress off and wants to make love. Martin throws her dress back to her and tells her to beat it. Eventually Beck discovers a drug deal connection between the three and the journalist. They are smuggling Hash. To no one surprise Beck discovers the missing journalist is dead. The killer is a surprise, not anyone one would have suspected from the start.

S.B. and I are going back and forth about my favorite author, Herman Melville. She just finished reading Moby Dick for the first time and she's 69 yrs old. Better late than never. She has signed up for an online course about HM. The following is what I wrote her back.

Have you seen the latest Moby Dick? Its on cable and stars William Hurt as Captain Ahab and Charlie Cox as Starbuck. Although I generally regard Hurt as a fine actor  I wasn't impressed by his portrayal of Ahab. His demeanor was all wrong and his voice didn't fit the character. The special effects were not too believable either. The 1956 version of the book was a better film than the one on cable. First of all, John Houston is a great director and Gregory Peck did a better job as the cracked Ahab. I think the rest of the cast was stronger, too. S.B. said she'll miss both films because she prefers to read the story rather than see a Hollywood interpretation, which automatically leave much out.

More tomorrow...