Chief Inspector Martin Beck has just returned to work aftef a long convalescence, and the job he's given is on the face of it a little dull. His colleagues meanwhile are on the trail of a female bank robber, and seeking to end the apparently never-ending stream of such robberies. The two apparently unrelated cases eventually converge. Justice is done - in a roundabout way - and also not done.

We meet some interesting characters along the way: Mauritzon, the professional crook; Monita, the amateur crook; Rhea Nielsen, a possible love-interest for Beck, as well as a whole cast of police and crriminals.

Underlying it all is the authors' contempt for modern Swedish society, which doesn't always ring true. But the story convinces, especially in the ending, when not all loose ends are neatly tied up. A good read. ( )

Maybe even 4.5 stars! While the locked room part of the mystery was not as clever as John Dickson Carr's, it was a great backdrop to Martin Beck's recovery (from his injury in the previous book) and Sjowall & Wahloo did a great job entwining it with the series of bank robberies that Kollberg and others are investigating.

But what really lifts this police procedural from above average to excellent is the look at 1971 Sweden that we get and the snide comments about bureaucracy (and the District Attorney is a wonderful character in this sense!). And the irony of the ending was also satisfying despite the fact that generally I don't like it when the guilty person escapes detection. In this case though, Mauritzon gets convicted for a bank robbery & shooting he didn't do but was exonerated for the murder he actually committed! ( )

Efter sjukskrivningen p.g.a. skottskadan i Den vedervärdige mannen från Säffle, får Martin Beck uppgiften att lösa ett fall med ett mord i ett slutet rum. Fallet kompliceras av att det förekommit vissa misstag tidigare i undersökningen. Samtidigt leder undersökningen Beck till den frispråkiga hyresvärdinnan Rhea Nielsen, som han blir kär i.

Blijft ontspannend, een paar hilarische passages zelfs, maar uiteindelijk een iets te geforceerd verhaal… ( )

Dos casos sin resolver, tres policías en apuros y un asesino suelto dispuesto a matar de nuevo. El comisario Martin Beck y su equipo se hallan en una encrucijada en que nada parece tener relación en sí, pese a que todo apunta a lo contrario: un banco ha sido atracado en una parte de la ciudad, mientras que en otra se ha encontrado un cadáver en una habitación cerrada a cal y canto, sin arma ni pista alguna en la escena del crimen. ¿La situación podría ser peor?