Fans of the tv show will be surprised. No brilliant detective, just the drunken misogynist at the head of an investigation. Very much a procedural, lightened by the semi humorous antics of the basically despicable backstrom ( )

Leif Persson's Evert Backstrom is a corrupt, fat, sexist, self-regarding blowhard who rubs absolutely everybody up the wrong way. For some unknown reason, the head of the National Crime Unit decides that Backstrom is the perfect person to send to Vaxjo to investigate the murder of a trainee policewoman.

Backstrom emerges as a minor character from Persson's Story of a Crime trilogy, and takes centre stage in blizzard of very un-PC comments and general laziness and incompetence. It is clear, though, that he has an instinct for solving crimes.

Persson's habit of following up a line of dialogue with the speaker's innermost thought leads to some truly laugh-out-loud moments at Backstrom's scathing commentary. I often found myself asking "did I really just laugh at that?". This character is one of those Falstaffian creations that win you over despite their abominable behaviour.

Which makes it quite puzzling that Persson chooses to take the focus away from Backstrom in the last act. The narrative is inevitably weaker with him absent, the novel bogs down, and you really start to wonder if this story justifies its 560 page length. Give that the central character is its great strength, his extended absence really diminishes this book, and I wondered why you would do that with a character you propose to build a series around. ( )

Romanen handlar om mordet på en kvinna i Växjö, Linda Wallin, och den efterföljande utredningen. I handlingen återkommer några karaktärer ur tidigare romaner av Persson: kriminalkommissarie Evert Bäckström beskrivs i boken med orden "Bäckström var liten, fet och primitiv men vid behov kunde han vara både listig och långsint" och beskrivs som en polis som tagit sig an utredningen för att kunna leva gott på skattebetalarnas pengar. Andra bekanta karaktärer är kriminalpoliserna Anna Holt och Lisa Mattei samt chefen för Rikspolisstyrelsen Lars Martin Johansson. Intrigen ger Persson tillfälle att rikta kritik mot medias rapportering av kriminalfall som beskrivs som notoriskt lögnaktig samt polisens Nationella insatsstyrka

En mitad de un verano inusualmente caluroso, donde la mayor noticia está siendo las máximas de temperatura, una joven es asesinada en la apacible ciudad de Växjö. De inmediato la comisaría local alerta a la central de Estocolmo, cuyos principales efectivos están de vacaciones. Por razones que nadie logra explicarse, el jefe asigna el caso a Evert Bäckström, el hombre que «da tanta guerra como cien delincuentes», si no más.
Mientras el asesinato de Linda pronto acapara las portadas de los diarios sensacionalistas y las tertulias de televisión, Bäckström lidera una investigación que amenaza con escapársele de las manos de no ser por la tenacidad de su esforzado equipo de colaboradores.

During a Swedish summer Police Inspector Evert Bäckström leads a team to investigate the murder of Linda.
It rambles, I was bored reading it - some of this could be down to the translation but I just wasn't interested in reading to the end.
ANetGalley book ( )