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On a July afternoon, the body of a young woman is dredged from Sweden's Lake Vättern. Three months later, all that Police Inspector Martin Beck knows is that her name is Roseanna, that she came from Lincoln, Nebraska, and that she could have been strangled by any one of 85 people. As Beck narrows down the list of likely suspects, he is drawn increasingly to the enigma of the victim, a free-spirited traveler with a penchant for the casual sexual encounter.

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It is a cold January morning, and Shetland lies beneath a deep layer of snow. Trudging home, Fran Hunter's eye is drawn to a splash of color on the frozen ground, ravens circling above. It is the strangled body of her teenage neighbor, Catherine Ross. The locals on the quiet island stubbornly focus their gaze on one man - loner and simpleton Magnus Tait.

  • 4 out of 5 stars

  • Great start to series, no audio problems anymore

  • By Mark on 03-28-17
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A 90-year-old man is found dead in his bed, smothered with his own pillow. On his desk, the police find newspaper cuttings about a murder case dating from the Second World War, when a young woman was found strangled behind Reykjavik's National Theatre. Konrad, a former detective, is bored with retirement and remembers the crime. He grew up in "the shadow district", a rough neighborhood bordered by the National Theatre. Why would someone be interested in that crime now?

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The first time somebody tried to kill him was an accident. The second time was deliberate. Now Paul Mulchrone finds himself on the run with nobody to turn to except a nurse who has read one-too-many crime novels and a renegade copper with a penchant for violence. Together they must solve one of the most notorious crimes in Irish history. Or else they’ll be history.  

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Reykjavik, August 1941. When a travelling sales rep is found murdered in a Reykjavik flat, killed by a bullet from a Colt 45, the police initially suspect a member of the Allied occupation force. The British are in the process of handing over to the Americans, and the streets of Reykjavik are crawling with servicemen whose relations with the local women are a major cause for concern. Flovent, Reykjavik's sole detective, is joined by the young military policeman Thorson, the son of Icelandic emigrants to Canada. 

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Publisher's Summary

His holiday with his family has just begun, but a phone call sends Martin Beck packing off to Budapest, where a boorish journalist has vanished without a trace. With the aid of the coolly efficient local police, who do business while soaking at the public baths, Beck must troll about in the Eastern Europe underworld for a man nobody knows - while he is at the risk of vanishing along with his quarry.

The Man Who Went Up in Smoke gives us the dedicated Beck at his most engaging: indulging in the sumptuous Hungarian cuisine, longing for a decent cigarette, and evading a predatory nymphet, even as he pursues a case whose international boundaries grow with every new clue.
Crack another case with Martin Beck.
©1997 Random House, Inc. (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Mark
  • Reno, NV, United States
  • 08-25-13

Minor, uneventful police procedural

Any additional comments?

Minor Swedish police procedural from 1969 about a journalist who disappears. Largely set in Hungary. Downbeat, uneventful but pleasant enough if you’re a fan of the genre. I wouldn't recommend it to any friends. Narration was excellent.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Linda
  • Longview, TX, United States
  • 07-27-12

need a new translation ??

I listened to about 3/4 of this and finally gave up. A dull translation of a dated book.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Love Martin Beck

The cynical view of Sweden, it's people and its politics is both amusing and entertaining. There is still enough caring and thought among the the committed cops of the homicide department to make this a fun listen.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it!

I love the style of writing. You pictures yourself in Budapest. Narrator is great. Story is great.

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book, terrible performance

This exceptional book is impossible to listen to. The performance is terrible. The monotone reading and strangely inappropriate emphasis on words at the end of sentences drove me to distraction. What a shame!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Strong Entry in the Series

This is one of the oddest episodes of the Martin Beck series in that it focuses most clearly on Beck -- the pseudo-protagonist and namesake of convenience -- with the rest of the series' characters barely making an appearance, and Sweden itself disappearing into the distance as Beck travels to Budapest for his investigation.

Kollberg and the other members of the National Murder Squad barely factor into The Man Who Went Up In Smoke, and that is both sad and glad tidings for readers: sad because they are such an important part of most of the stories; glad because it is nice to focus on Martin Beck for a while and just linger on his detachment as he goes through the procedure of figuring out what happened to missing Swedish journalist, Alf Matsson.

It is also nice to see Budapest as a character, and for readers of Henning Mankell or China Mieville, the environs of Budapest will be familiar for completely different but no less fascinating reasons.

Probably the best part of listening to this book, however, is the silky gravel of Tom Weiner's voice. It absolutely IS the Martin Beck novels to me, and in a lesser chapter in the series, like The Man Who Went Up In Smoke, any of the cracks are puttied over by Weiner's delivery. I am guessing Weiner doesn't read the Swedish Language audios of this series, and I feel sad for native Swedes that he doesn't because his voice is a perfect match for the National Murder Squad and their decalogue.