The Dying Detective A Mystery

Winner of The Glass Key Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel 

Winner of The Danish Academy of Crime Writers’ Palle Rosenkrantz Prize 

Named Best Crime Novel of the Year by both the Swedish Academy of Crime Writers and the Finnish Academy of Crime Writers 

After suffering a stroke, retired detective Lars Martin Johansson finds himself in the hospital. To save himself from idleness and despair, the legendary investigator turns to an unsolved murder case from years before. The victim: an innocent nine-year-old girl. 

With the help of various associates and assistants, Johansson launches an informal investigation from his hospital bed. Racing against time, he uncovers a web of connections that links sex tourism to a dead opera singer and a self-made millionaire. But as Johansson draws closer to solving the crime, he finds that he will have to confront not just a mystery but his own mortality.

Leif GW Persson’s previous novels include Between Summer’s Longing and Winter’s End; Another Time, Another Life; Free Falling, As If in a Dream; Linda, as in the Linda Murder; and Bäckström: He Who Kills the Dragon. He has served as an adviser to the Swedish Ministry of Justice and is Sweden’s most renowned psychological profiler. A professor at the Swedish National Police Board, he is considered the country’s foremost expert on crime. He lives in Stockholm.