This is the 4th in the Martin Beck series, set and written in '60s Stockholm, by this husband-and-wife team. While the Stockholm police are busy with a Vietnam war protest at the American embassy, a double-decker bus crashes on the opposite end of town. It is found to be full of nine people dead or near-dead from gunshot wounds. The mystery is well-crafted and suspenseful, but what sets it apart is the comically dry dialogue among the detectives, and the general atmosphere of near-hysterical dreariness. I loved it. If you need more enticement, take a look at Jonathan Franzen's introduction to our edition. We agree!
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