Review of The Laughing Policeman

The Laughing Policeman is a mystery novel by Swedish writers Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, originally published in Sweden in 1968 as Den skrattande polisen. It was the fourth of ten novels featuring Detective Martin Beck. If I may quote Mr. Roger Ebert, incidentally the most popular critic of all time: ¨The Laughing Policeman" is an awfully good police movie: taut, off-key, filled with laconic performances. It provides the special delight we get from gradually unraveling a complicated case. It's almost the kind of movie, indeed, to blast loose a detective-novel fan from Ross Macdonald. Instead of depending on sex and violence for its appeal (although it does contain them), it fascinates us with the way a criminal is finally tracked down.¨