The Fire Engine That Disappeared
First US edition | |
Author | Sjöwall and Wahlöö |
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Original title | Brandbilen som försvann |
Translator | Joan Tate |
Country | Sweden |
Language | Swedish |
Series | Martin Beck series |
Publisher |
Norstedts Förlag (Sweden) Pantheon Books (US) |
Publication date | 1969 |
Published in English | 1970 |
Pages | 249 pp |
Preceded by | The Laughing Policeman |
Followed by | Murder at the Savoy |
The Fire Engine That Disappeared (Brandbilen som försvann, 1969) is the fifth in the 'Martin Beck' detective series by Sjöwall and Wahlöö.
Plot
A house fire, which kills three people, was about to be written off as the result of a tenant's gas suicide when a forensics officer discovers a firebomb in the rubble that would have certainly killed the tenant had he not killed himself. Beck and his team launch a manhunt for the tenant's partner-in-crime, but are perplexed when the partner-in-crime is found dead at the bottom of the sea.
Character development
Beck's daughter Ingrid announces that she will leave home and encourages her father in secret to do the same. Benny Skacke is introduced as the ambitious detective to replace Stenström. Regular police officer Zachrisson is introduced.
Film adaptation
The novel was adopted to film in 1993 with Gösta Ekman as Martin Beck and Rolf Lassgård as Gunvald Larsson.
Preceded by The Laughing Policeman |
"Martin Beck" timeline, part 5 of 10 | Succeeded by Murder at the Savoy |
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