A bonus post on Linköping and a bit of Swedish history.
More and more Swedish cities and towns show more and more a will to be a Detective's city. Not that they got a big herd of crime writers writing Nordic Noir fiction about their place. Except Norrtälje and Vaxholm.Not that they love their real life criminals.Swedes love their "Deckare" as our Nordic neighbours love their Krimi, Rikoskirjallisuus,Glæpasaga. We love each other's books and stories as well and so do you.
I the City of Sundsvall they got a Deckarfestival (Crimestories festival, or more like a convent). In the city of Eskilstuna a crime books library. In real life Eskilstuna was a city not to visit, according to a Serbian guide book that listed Eskilstuna (E-tuna in daily talk) as the most murder dense city in Sweden.Sundsvall have it´s fair share of criminals and right wing terrorists as well in the real crime depertement.
Ystad is Wallander territory.
I'm not saying that Linköping aspires to be one of those cities.
But naming a parkinghouse Detektiven (the Detective) is a fun way do it, to be into the crime fiction flow, the wave of the Nordic Noir.
Lasse Maja, the kids crime fiction
Linköping most selling crime writer is not Mons Kallentoft however.
Translated into 38 different languages Martin Widmark is the crime king of Linköping with his 120 childrens books. An absent king, I should say. He moved to Stockholm and is now living there. Still he didn't forget about where he came from. I will come to that.
The Nordic countries love their childrens books as well as their crime literature. With H.C. Andersson (Classic fairytales), Astrid Lindgren (Pippi Longstocking and more) and Tove Janson (Moomin) and their stories as world wide exports.
Astrid Lindgrens somewhat awkward Pippi Longstocking (Pippi Långstrump) took, sometimes, on the role as a crime fighter. More of a cause of necessity, than an actual daily task. The crooks stole Pippis money, let's find them, was Pippis attitude. Not that she favored the authorities and the local police, quite the opposite. But the feeling of doing the right thing was strong. As they should be in any children's book.
Lindgren wrote however a bunch of proper kids detective stories, about Kalle Blomkvist.
A name Lisbeth Salander often nickname Mikael Blomkvist. Not always in a nice way.
Leif GW Pehrson is also associated with the name as well.
Just as some of us use "Not shit Sherlock" in our daily speaking to point out someone’s ability to be observant. Often a bit ironic when someone points out the obvious. Being a "Kalle Blomkvist" is to be a bit nosey in the search for the solution, the truth and what is right.
There are more children books about detectives. A proud tradition of it and will be posted in a separate post.
Linköping born author Martin Widmark wrote the very popular books about two children that got a detective bureau. Lasse Majas Detektivbyrå. Books that spun off to be computer games, films, comic books and board games, you name it.
The two children Lasse and Maja start a detective bureau in their little town of Valleby.
The recommended age is around seven. And they’re like a puzzle to solve. Where the kid can interact
in the solving of the alleged crime. Helena Willis illustrations are also an important part of the books.
Right in the city centre of Linköping.
Lasse-Maja the transvestite thief
Lasse-Maja are the first names of the kid detectives made into one. Maybe as a homage to a 19th century burglar that often disguised himself as a woman and got away with it.
Originally born as a boy in 1785 as Lars Larsson. Changed his name to Lasse Molin. Nicked named Lasse-Maja. That often dressed up as a woman to do or get away with certain burglaries. Even if he by practical reasons was dressed as a man during the burglaries.
There are indications that he also for some period lived and dressed as a woman outside the crimes.
After being caught stealing a Church’s silver he was sentenced to a lifetime in prison.
A sentence that also made a career as a storyteller and a showman. People went to the prison to watch
him perform and tell stories. The prison was a fortress north of Gothenburg. Karlstens fästning in
Marstrand. The Swedish king Karl XIV Johan was one of the ones that enjoyed him.
I was 12 when I was there for a guided tour and my blurry Instamatic pictures from the place are
nowhere to be found in my unorganized archive. The Swedish King then pardoned him/her after
serving 26 years. Partly because he liked Lasse-Majas stories and showmanship.
People that study the phenomena Nordic Noir maybe find a bit of the success in the way Swedes
really love their crime stories, not the crimes? Maybe like those stories so much that we named
a parking house Detektiven and writing successful children's book about solving crimes.
But also as we tell the story of our country, culture and modern phenomena flavored with
a good crime story.
