The Man Who Smiled | |
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British first edition cover |
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Author(s) | Henning Mankell |
Original title | Mannen som log |
Translator | Laurie Thompson |
Country | Sweden |
Language | Swedish |
Series | Kurt Wallander #4 |
Genre(s) | Crime, Mystery novel |
Publisher | Harvill Secker |
Publication date | 1994 (orig.) |
Published in English |
September 2005 (Eng. trans. ) |
Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback) |
Pages | 336 pp (Eng. hardback trans.) |
ISBN | ISBN 1843430983 (Eng. trans.) |
OCLC Number | 60513794 |
Preceded by | The White Lioness |
Followed by | Sidetracked |
The Man Who Smiled (original: Mannen som log) is a novel by Swedish crime-writer Henning Mankell, and is the fourth in the Inspector Wallander series, although the English translations have not been published in chronological order.
After killing a man in the line of duty (in The White Lioness), Inspector Kurt Wallander finds himself spiralling into an alcohol-fuelled depression. He has just decided to leave the police when an old friend, Sten Torstensson, approaches him to secretly investigate the recent death of his father in a car accident. At first Kurt dismisses his friend's suspicions as unlikely, when Sten is found dead, murdered with no doubt, in exactly the same manner as a Norwegian businessman shortly before. Against his previous judgement, Kurt returns to work to investigate what he is convinced is a case of double murder.
In 2003, The Man Who Smiled was adapted by Swedish public broadcaster Sveriges Television into a two-hour television movie, starring Rolf Lassgård as Wallander. The Man Who Smiled has also been adapted into a 90-minute television episode for the BBC's Wallander series starring Kenneth Branagh as Wallander. It was first broadcast on 10 January 2010.
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