Leif G. W. Persson Books In Order

Publication Order of Story Of A Crime Books

Publication Order of Evert Bäckström Books

Publication Order of Jarnebring & Johansson Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Leif Gustav Willy Persson is a well known novelist and criminologist from Sweden. In the world of popular authors he is popularly known as Leif G W Persson. Before becoming an author, he was a professor of criminology at the National Police Board of Sweden between the years 1992 and 2008. Persson is particularly famous for writing down the crime fiction novels, most of which are based on the mystery and thriller genres. He is also known for his frequent appearances on the popular crime cases in the newspapers and television, as an expert commentator. He even participated in the famous TV show, Efterlyst as an expert commentator between the years 1999 and 2009. The show is specifically a Swedish television program and was telecast on the channel TV3. Persson was born on March 12, 1945 in Stockholm, Sweden. He went on to become a notable criminologist in his initial days. After having served as an expert in many popular and difficult cases, he served on the Police Board of Sweden as a professor of criminology. After that, he decided to use his years of experience in writing the mystery and crime fiction novels.

These days, Persson is participating in the television program Veckans Brott along with actor Camilla Kvartoft, which basically deals with the unsolved criminal cases in Sweden. In the year 1977, while working for the national police board, Persson became famous as the whistleblower and worked with the Peter Bratt, the famous journalist. The two helped to solve the notable Geijer Scandal after Persson confirmed that Carl Persson, the then National Police Commissioner had sent a classified memo to the Prime Minister of Sweden, Olof Palme. The memo contained valid proof about the alleged indulgence of Lennart Geijer, the Minister of Justice in one of the most notorious prostitution rings in the capital city of Stockholm. The case resulted in Persson’s dismissal from the national board of police force of Sweden and the following string of events almost forced him to commit suicide. However, he gained strength and encouragement from his closed ones and returned back as a lecturer of criminology at the Stockholm University.

During his days as the criminology professor, Persson got inspired to write a novel based on the affair of the prostitution ring. Following the success of his first novel, Grisfesten, he returned as the professor in the national board of police in the country. For three of his novels based on the subject of criminology, Persson received the Best Swedish Novel of Crime Award in the years 1982, 2003 and 2010 respectively. In the year 2011, he also won the Glass Key award for his novel, The Dying Detective. The award is given every year for a crime based novel by an author coming from the Nordic countries. Many of the novels written by author Leif G W Persson have been translated into a number of foreign languages and have sold multiple printed copies all over the world. Because of his popular novels, Persson has won a lot of praise from the critics as well as his fellow authors. The number of fans of his novels has kept on growing after the publication of each of his novels. This is the proof of the fact that Persson is definitely one of the prominent authors of the crime novels of his time.

One among the famous novel series’ of author Persson is The Fall of the Welfare State series, which consists of a total of 3 novels. The novels of the series have been published between the years 2002 and 2007. All the novels of the series deal with the police procedural and consist of an ensemble cast are set in Stockholm, Sweden. The first novel of the series was published by the Pantheon publishing house in the year 2002. It was titled ‘Between Summer’s Longing and Winter’s End’ and the main character in the form of Superintendent Lars Martin Johansson. Its plot is set in Stockholm, Sweden. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, a young man is shown as falling to death from one of the windows of a student dorm situated in Stockholm. The loose shoe of the young man strikes and kills a dog who was being taken for a walk in the evening by an elderly man. At the first, it seemed to be a clear case of suicide, even the police thought so. But, after further investigation, it is revealed that the deceased was an American citizen and had just visited Sweden. Police also find a couple of weird things about his room. With the help of these small starts, the author has tried to unravel an intriguing puzzle that goes on growing bigger and bigger and extremely complex with each turn of event in the case. It finally sweeps the readers into a web of backroom politics, international espionage, sheer incompetence, greed, and the low quality of the work of the intelligence force of Sweden, eventually leading to the killing of the prime minister. The first novel of the series gives a dazzling and a dark account of the unsolved assassination of the prime minister of Sweden, Olof Palme in the year 1986. The case was considered as the biggest investigation of criminal activities that was recorded ever in the history of Sweden. The novel very well proves to be a combination of thriller, police procedural, black satire, psychological drama and an intriguing set up, which was acknowledged by many leading criminologists of Sweden. The success of the novel allowed it to be nominated for the prestigious Glass Key Award in the year 2003.

The second novel of the trilogy series was published under the title ‘Another Time, Another Life’ and was released by the HarperCollins publishing house in the year 2003. Its plot is set in Stockholm, Sweden during the time of the years 1975 and 1989, add features the main characters in the form of Anna Holt, Martin Johansson, and Bo Jarnebring. The novel seems to a bristling criminal account full of wit and dramatic intensity, and is set around the unsolved case of the murder of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme in the year 1986. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, six young men are described as taking hostage the entire staff of the West German embassy in the year 1975. They demand the release of the members of the Baader-Meinhof who are imprisoned in West Germany. The battle between the six men and the police force continues for several hours, which finally results in the deaths of a couple of hostages and serious injuries to a few others, along with the captors. Then the time of the year 1989 is shown when a civil servant of Sweden is found murdered. Anna Holt and Bo Jarnebring are appointed as the leading detectives in the case. They find that the case was hastily shelved by one of the senior investigators, who was corrupt and incompetent. After ten years, Lars Johansson joins the police force and tries to connect the loose ends left behind by his predecessors. He finds out one of the two who had collaborated in the 1975 capture of the West Germany embassy, turned out as the victim in the year 1989. He asks for reopening the investigation and takes the help of detectives Holt and Harnebring to follow the leads. They end up on the doorstep of the newly appointed minister of justice of Sweden.