Henning Mankell: R.I.P.

Such sad news. Henning Mankell has died at the age of 67.

From the New York Times:

Henning Mankell, the Swedish novelist and playwright best known for police procedurals that were translated into a score of languages and sold by the millions throughout the world, died on Monday in Goteborg, Sweden. He was 67.

The cause was cancer, said his literary agent Anneli Hoier.  Last year, Mr. Mankell disclosed that doctors had found tumors in his neck and left lung.

Mr. Mankell was considered the dean of the so-called Scandinavian noir writers who gained global prominence for novels that blended edge-of-your-seat suspense with flawed, compelling protagonists and strong social themes. The genre includes Arnaldur Indridason of Iceland, Jo Nesbø of Norway and Stieg Larsson of Sweden, among others.

But it was Mr. Mankell who led the way with 10 mystery novels featuring Inspector Kurt Wallander, a gruff but humane detective troubled by self-doubt, overeating, alcoholism and eventually dementia. Most of the action takes place in and around Ystad, a real-life town of 18,350 inhabitants on the Baltic Sea, about 380 miles south of Stockholm and now a magnet for Wallander buffs.

From The Guardian:

The Nordic crime-writing community was quick to pay tribute, with Norwegian Jo Nesbø describing him as “generous, committed, reflective and warm.” He continued: “As I see it, Henning Mankell both carried on and modernized the Scandinavian crime fiction tradition dating back to Sjöwall & Wahlöö, in style as well as content. He was one of the most important pioneers of Scandinavian crime literature, if not the most important of all.”

The bestselling Icelandic crime writer Yrsa Sigurdardottir said that Mankell “was undoubtedly the single most important person involved in bringing Scandinavian crime fiction to the rest of the world.

“His novels were immensely popular and for a reason; his mastery lay in being able to combine compelling characters, intriguing crimes and matters of social injustice into stories that were not only enjoyable but also very well written. So much so that they transcended borders and made the foreign reader forget the odd names and unfamiliar locations,” she said.

Wallander III: Masterpiece Mystery!

Wallander III returns on MASTERPIECE Mystery! PBS
Sundays, September 9-23, 2012, 9 to 10:30pm ET on PBS

Kenneth Branagh returns as Inspector Kurt Wallander, the moody Swedish detective created by mystery author Henning Mankell.

An Event in Autumn — Sunday, September 9, 2012 at 9pm ET
A pregnant woman leaps to her death from the side of a ferry. Or was she pushed? The routine case barely disturbs Wallander's newly blissful life with Vanja (Saskia Reeves, Page Eight), his lover from the end of series 2. But then the happy couple discovers a decade-old corpse of a murdered woman on their property. With Wallander's work now getting too close to home, he follows the leads of two investigations that get increasingly entangled. On top of it, tragedy strikes one of his colleagues, and Wallander blames himself — with good reason.

The Dogs of Riga — Sunday, September 16, 2012 at 9pm ET
A raft adrift in Swedish waters has a grisly cargo: two horribly tortured Latvian corpses. Arriving to investigate from Latvia's capital, Riga, is an enigmatic police major. He reports back to headquarters and then disappears. After hearing reports of his death, Wallander goes to Riga and meets the major's wife, Kristina (Rebekah Staton, Tess of the D'Urbervilles). Together, they get embroiled in a desperate search for files that may document high-level corruption that threatens to make Wallander and Kristina the next victims.

Before the Frost — Sunday, September 23, 2012 at 9pm ET
An escapee from a psychiatric hospital sets fire to a flock of geese and then incinerates a passing hiker. And he's far from finished. While investigating, Wallander is unexpectedly visited by Anna, an old friend of his estranged daughter, Linda (Jeany Spark). Then Anna disappears. As the arson attacks mount, it appears that Anna may be connected. Duty demands that Wallander reconcile with Linda and join forces to find Anna at all costs. But father-daughter concord is hardly helped by Linda's memory that her dad once had an affair with Anna's mother.

Watch Wallander: An Event in Autumn Preview on PBS. See more from Masterpiece.

Mystery News: Five Trips for Crime Lovers

I always love to visit places I've read about in mysteries. After all, I'm already familiar with them from the books. I've followed Dashiell Hammett's footsteps in San Francisco and driven around Raymond Chandler's L.A. I've taken the Sherlock Holmes walking tour in London, and found many Maigret spots in Paris.

Occasionally I post new walking, driving and bus trips here on Mystery Fanfare, so I was delighted to read an article in yesterday's CNN online edition about Five trips for Crime Lovers.  (the 5th one includes 3 different cities in Sweden) Adding these to my list.


Laura Lippman's Baltimore, MDArcher Mayor's Brattleboro, VT
Ian Rankin's Edinburgh, Scotland
Alexander McCall Smith's Gaborone, Botswana

SWEDEN
Camilla Lackberg's Fjallbacka, Sweden
Henning Mankell's Ystad, Sweden
Stieg Larsson's Stockholm, Sweden

Judi Dench in Henning Mankell's Italian Shoes

Judi Dench will reunite with Kenneth Branagh for an adaptation of Henning Mankell's novel, Italian Shoes, which Branagh as director, hopes will include Anthony Hopkins in the lead role.

He hopes to cast Anthony Hopkins as Fredrik Welin, a retired orthopaedic surgeon who retreats to an isolated island, only to be forced back into human contact when an old girlfriend (Dench) comes to visit.

Read more: The Guardian

Hat Tip: Rhian Davies

Wallander on Masterpiece Mystery!/Henning Mankell news

Wallander starts this Sunday night on Masterpiece Mystery!. Episodes in the U.S. will air on PBS May 10, May 17 and May 31 at 9 p.m. EDT. This is a stunning production with Kenneth Branagh as the brooding Inspector Wallander. Branagh, a co-producing partner, is a longtime fan of the Henning Mankell novels. The production team also includes director Philip Martin (Prime Suspect: The Final Act) and executive producer Andy Harries (The Queen, Prime Suspect).

I haven't seen the Swedish production of the Henning Mankell books, so I can't compare (comments welcome), but I did find the episodes, adapted from the books very compelling. Shot in southern Sweden, the landscape is as bleak as Wallander's life. It took me a little bit of time to get into the first production, but once there I was hooked. These shows really capture the detective, the collapsing Swedish society, and the conflicted Wallander in the Henning Mankell mysteries. Alan Cumming, the Masterpiece Mystery! host probably says it best when he says Wallander makes Inspector Morse look like Mary Poppins. He's got that right!

I had a bit of a problem at first with all the characters speaking English not Swedish. However, I soon got caught up in the pace, the camera angles, and the Swedish setting. So even though the characters don't speak English, the traffic signs and even words on a computer are in Swedish. O.K, this was probably what threw me at the beginning of the first episode. Branagh is brilliant as the self-loathing but compassionate Wallander. He and the setting and the crimes are bleak.

The Episodes are "Sidetracked" in which Wallander is on a case when someone starts killing people with an ax and scalping them. "Firewall" has Wallandar trying to link the deaths of a taxi drive and systems analyst with a series of blackouts. In "One Step Behind," the assassinations of a group of teens sets off a chain of events that leads back to Wallander.

To watch a preview of the PBS series, go here.
I highly recommend you watch or record these episodes.
For more info on the Kurt Wallander shows, go to this fan site
This series will be released on DVD on June 2.

More on Henning Mankell

On May 4 Henning Mankell revealed that Den orolige mannen will be the Swedish title of the final novel in the Wallander series . A literal translation of the title into English would be "The Worried/Nervous/Anxious/Restless Man"

The novel is completed and will be published in Sweden in August of 2009. The publication schedule for other languages is unknown at this point.