Martin Beck mysteries

On a cold and rainy Stockholm night, nine bus riders are gunned down by a mysterious assassin. The press portrays it as a freak attack and dubs the killer a madman. But Superintendent Martin Beck thinks otherwise--one of his most ambitious young detectives was among those killed--and he suspects it was more than coincidence. Working on a hunch, Beck seeks out the girlfriend of the murdered detective, and with her help Beck reconstructs the steps that...

When Viktor Palmgren, a powerful industrialist, is casually shot during an after-dinner speech, the repurcussions -- both on the international money markets and on the residents of the small coastal town of Malmo -- are widespread. Chief Inspector Martin Beck is called in to help catch a killer nobody, not even the victim, was able to identify. He begins a systemic search for the friends, enemies, business associates and call girls who may have wanted...

A young blonde in sunglasses robs a bank and kills a hapless citizen. Across town, a corpse with a bullet shot through its heart is found in a locked room with no gun at the scene. The crimes seem disparate, but to Martin Beck they are two pieces of the same puzzle, and solving it becomes the one way he can escape the pains of his failed marriage and the lingering effects of a near-fatal bullet wound.

An American senator is visiting Stockholm and Martin Beck must lead the team to protect him from a gang of terrorists. In the middle of the diplomatic chaos, a young woman is accused of robbing a bank and Beck is determined to prove her innocence.