WRITER

Maj Sjöwall

1935 - 2020

Photo of Maj Sjöwall

Icon of person Maj Sjöwall

Maj Sjöwall (Swedish pronunciation: [maj ˈɧø̂ːval]; 25 September 1935 – 29 April 2020) was a Swedish author and translator. She is best known for her books about police detective Martin Beck. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Maj Sjöwall has received more than 170,967 page views. Her biography is available in 29 different languages on Wikipedia. Maj Sjöwall is the 1,404th most popular writer (down from 1,274th in 2019), the 214th most popular biography from Sweden (down from 195th in 2019) and the 13th most popular Swedish Writer.

Maj Sjöwall is most famous for her novel series that was made into a movie called "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."

Memorability Metrics

  • 170k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 59.06

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 29

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 7.88

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.02

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

(Mannen på balkongen) The man on the balcony:the story of a crime
Fiction, Police, Martin Beck (Fictitious character)
Number 3 in the Martin Beck Mystery series.
1968
Polismördaren
Fiction, Police, Martin Beck (Fictitious character)
1974
Mannen som gick upp i rök (Man Who Went Up in Smoke)
Police in fiction, Police, Martin Beck (Fictitious character)
Number 2 in the Martin Beck Mystery Series, 1966.
1966
Terroristerna
Fiction, Martin Beck (Fictitious character), Police
1975
The laughing policeman (Skrattande polisen)
Fiction, Police, Martin Beck (Fictitious character)
1970
Polis, polis, potatismos!
Police, Martin Beck (Fictitious character), Translations into English
1970
Roseanna
Murder, Police, Martin Beck (Fictitious character)
"The masterful first novel in the Martin Beck series of mysteries ... finds Beck hunting for the murderer of a lonely traveler. On a July afternoon, a young woman's body is dredged from Sweden's beautiful Lake Vattern. With no clues, Beck begins an investigation not only to uncover a murderer but also to discover who the victim was. Three months later, all Beck knows is that her name was Roseanna and that she could have been strangled by any one of eighty-five people on a cruise. As the melancholic Beck narrows the list of suspects, he is drawn increasingly to the enigma of the victim, a free-spirited traveler with a penchant for casual sex, and to the psychopathology of a muderer with a distinctive -- indeed, terrifying -- sense of propriety"--P. [4] of cover.
1962
Den skrattande polisen
Fiction, Police, Martin Beck (Fictitious character)
The fantastic fourth classic instalment in the Martin Beck detective series from the 1960s – the novels that have inspired all crime fiction written ever since.The Martin Beck series is widely recognised as the greatest masterpiece of crime fiction ever written. These are the original detective stories that pioneered the detective genre and inspired writers from Agatha Christie to Henning Mankell; Graham Greene to Jonathan Franzen. Translated into 35 languages, they have sold over 10 million copies around the world.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 will have a new introduction in order to help bring these books to a new audience.On a cold and rainy Stockholm night, nine bus riders are gunned down by an unknown assassin. The press, anxious for an explanation for the seemingly random crime, quickly dubs him a madman. But Martin Beck of the Homicide Squad suspects otherwise: this apparently motiveless killer has managed to target one of Beck's best detectives – and he, surely, would not have been riding that lethal bus without a reason.With its wonderfully observed lawmen, its brilliantly rendered felons and their murky Stockholm underworld, and its deftly engineered plot, 'The Laughing Policeman' has long been recognised as a classic of the police procedural.
1968
Mannen som gick upp i rök
Police in fiction, Police, Martin Beck (Fictitious character)
Number 2 in the Martin Beck Mystery Series, 1966.
1966
De man die even wilde afrekenen
Police, Martin Beck (Fictitious character), Translations into English
Translation into Dutch of the Swedish title.
1970
Mannen på balkongen
Fiction, Mystery, Beck, martin (fictitious character), fiction
The third thrilling classic instalment in the Martin Beck detective series from the 1960s – the novels that have inspired all crime fiction written ever since.
1968
Det slutna rummet
crime, Murder and detective stories, Fiction
Number 8 in the Martin Beck Mystery Series.
1972
Det slutna rummet
crime, Murder and detective stories, Fiction
Number 8 in the Martin Beck Mystery Series.
1972
Mannen som gick upp i rök
Police in fiction, Police, Martin Beck (Fictitious character)
Number 2 in the Martin Beck Mystery Series, 1966.
1966
Den skrattande polisen
Fiction, Police, Martin Beck (Fictitious character)
The fantastic fourth classic instalment in the Martin Beck detective series from the 1960s – the novels that have inspired all crime fiction written ever since.The Martin Beck series is widely recognised as the greatest masterpiece of crime fiction ever written. These are the original detective stories that pioneered the detective genre and inspired writers from Agatha Christie to Henning Mankell; Graham Greene to Jonathan Franzen. Translated into 35 languages, they have sold over 10 million copies around the world.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 will have a new introduction in order to help bring these books to a new audience.On a cold and rainy Stockholm night, nine bus riders are gunned down by an unknown assassin. The press, anxious for an explanation for the seemingly random crime, quickly dubs him a madman. But Martin Beck of the Homicide Squad suspects otherwise: this apparently motiveless killer has managed to target one of Beck's best detectives – and he, surely, would not have been riding that lethal bus without a reason.With its wonderfully observed lawmen, its brilliantly rendered felons and their murky Stockholm underworld, and its deftly engineered plot, 'The Laughing Policeman' has long been recognised as a classic of the police procedural.
1968
Mannen på balkongen
Fiction, Mystery, Beck, martin (fictitious character), fiction
The third thrilling classic instalment in the Martin Beck detective series from the 1960s – the novels that have inspired all crime fiction written ever since.
1968
Roseanna
Murder, Police, Martin Beck (Fictitious character)
"The masterful first novel in the Martin Beck series of mysteries ... finds Beck hunting for the murderer of a lonely traveler. On a July afternoon, a young woman's body is dredged from Sweden's beautiful Lake Vattern. With no clues, Beck begins an investigation not only to uncover a murderer but also to discover who the victim was. Three months later, all Beck knows is that her name was Roseanna and that she could have been strangled by any one of eighty-five people on a cruise. As the melancholic Beck narrows the list of suspects, he is drawn increasingly to the enigma of the victim, a free-spirited traveler with a penchant for casual sex, and to the psychopathology of a muderer with a distinctive -- indeed, terrifying -- sense of propriety"--P. [4] of cover.
1962
De man die even wilde afrekenen
Police, Martin Beck (Fictitious character), Translations into English
Translation into Dutch of the Swedish title.
1970

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Maj Sjöwall ranks 1,404 out of 7,302. Before her are Sima Xiangru, Siegfried Lenz, Robert Bloch, Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues, Korney Chukovsky, and Kâtip Çelebi. After her are Gavrila Derzhavin, Jaan Kross, Jules de Goncourt, Princess Isabelle of Orléans-Braganza, Georg Heym, and Philippe Soupault.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1935, Maj Sjöwall ranks 74. Before her are Ken Kesey, Roger B. Chaffee, António Ramalho Eanes, Abdou Diouf, Sonny Bono, and Dharmendra. After her are Marina Doria, Khalil al-Wazir, Lajos Tichy, Toni Sailer, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, and Charles Duke. Among people deceased in 2020, Maj Sjöwall ranks 86. Before her are Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Per Olov Enquist, Conchata Ferrell, Ida Haendel, Moussa Traoré, and Chuck Yeager. After her are Jānis Lūsis, Honor Blackman, Lorenzo Sanz, Manu Dibango, Roger Scruton, and George Blake.

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In Sweden

Among people born in Sweden, Maj Sjöwall ranks 214 out of 1,879. Before her are Princess Sophie of Sweden (1801), Sigfrid Edström (1870), Salomon August Andrée (1854), Carl Johan Bernadotte (1916), Carl Michael Bellman (1740), and Johan Banér (1596). After her are Loreen (1983), Catherine Vasa of Sweden (1539), Canute II of Sweden (1200), Jussi Björling (1911), Henrik Larsson (1971), and Eva Ekeblad (1724).

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Among WRITERS In Sweden

Among writers born in Sweden, Maj Sjöwall ranks 13. Before her are Eyvind Johnson (1900), Verner von Heidenstam (1859), Harry Martinson (1904), Stieg Larsson (1954), Ellen Key (1849), and Per Olov Enquist (1934). After her are Karin Boye (1900), Elsa Beskow (1874), Olaus Petri (1493), Hjalmar Söderberg (1869), Camilla Läckberg (1974), and Jan Guillou (1944).

Swedish born Writers

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