One Step Behind (novel)

One Step Behind  
Author(s) Henning Mankell
Original title Steget efter
Translator Ebba Segerberg
Country  Sweden
Language Swedish
Series Kurt Wallander #7
Genre(s) Crime, Mystery novel
Publisher Harvill Secker
Publication date 1997 (orig.)
Published in
English
September 2002 (Eng. trans.)
Media type Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
Pages 400 pp (Eng. hardback trans.)
ISBN ISBN 1860469833 (Eng. trans.)
Preceded by The Fifth Woman
Followed by Firewall

One Step Behind (1997) is a crime novel by Swedish author Henning Mankell, the seventh in his acclaimed Inspector Wallander series.

Synopsis

Two young girls and one young man, inexplicably dressed as the nobility of Sweden did during the reign of Gustavus III, are found dead, all slain with a single bullet, their bodies half consumed by animals in the wilderness. Wallander is horrified when he makes a connection between the crime and his close friend Svedberg, and after the latter is found savagely murdered in his own apartment, the tormented detective finds himself up against a deranged, merciless killer who remains just one step ahead of him.

Adaptations

In 2005, One Step Behind was adapted by Swedish public broadcaster Sveriges Television into a theatrical film, starring Rolf Lassgård as Wallander. In 2008, British broadcaster BBC One broadcast a 90-minute adaptation as part of its Wallander television series starring Kenneth Branagh.