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linnea984's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.25
I stort sätt helt okej storywise, men verkligen föråldrad i vissa avseenden. Och kvinnosynen oh boy... Alla kvinnor värderades enligt sitt utseende och de flesta kvinnor var dumma, fula och ointelligenta. Kvinnorna hade endast en gnutta värde i männens ögon om de var snygga, men då främst som potentiella kandidater att ha sex med. Suck. Och så n-ordet ännu till med jämna mellanrum.
johnnyb1954's review against another edition
3.0
Maybe 3.5
There was a lot of good in the plot. I like the ensemble cat nature of the books and the plodding procedure of the investigations. Everyone seemed to have a motive to kill the victim , which made interesting complications. On the other hand, it seemed kind of Agatha Christieish.
There is a lot of politics, while at the same time repeated statements that Beck hates politics.
Everyone is hot and every place is polluted, we get it.
Beck , separated from his wife has a sexual interlude which seems unlikely and unnecessary to the story. It is a male fantasy. This scene among others makes it appear that the book was passed back and forth between the authors, each writing the next chapter.
There was a lot of good in the plot. I like the ensemble cat nature of the books and the plodding procedure of the investigations. Everyone seemed to have a motive to kill the victim , which made interesting complications. On the other hand, it seemed kind of Agatha Christieish.
There is a lot of politics, while at the same time repeated statements that Beck hates politics.
Everyone is hot and every place is polluted, we get it.
Beck , separated from his wife has a sexual interlude which seems unlikely and unnecessary to the story. It is a male fantasy. This scene among others makes it appear that the book was passed back and forth between the authors, each writing the next chapter.
zaiborg's review against another edition
2.0
Crime novels are my favorite and this just wasn't the tea for me. Maybe all the hype and build-up I have read online about the series, after buying this book blind, raised my expectations way too much. Perhaps I have read the weakest entry in the Martin Beck saga, I really don't know. This is as straight forward as they come and it really disappointed me. It's like I read a filler episode of a series, maybe this is one of them. Any excitement I have about reading more is greatly diminished. There were a few challenges I have had with the book, the Swedish names for food, places and people's names became a chore to research one by one, most specially the pronunciation. In any case this was a pleasant and unremarkable read but if you are a detective freak this is as mild as an iced caramel macchiato.
etakloknok's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
quietjenn's review against another edition
3.0
solid mystery in the martin beck series. not my favorite and in a way there's a lot of plodding, then something random and key happens and everything falls together. which is maybe an accurate look at how real life cases get solved, but doesn't necessarily make for the most compelling reading.
bjornmalter's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition
3.0
Murder at the Savoy (1970) is the sixth novel in Martin Beck series of Swedish police procedurals by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. In this installment, Viktor Palmgren, a wealthy and powerful industrialist is shot while delivering an after-dinner speech in the Savoy Hotel dining room in the small coastal town of Malmö. The killer walks calmly into the room, shoots Palmgren, and exits via the nearby window. No one really paid attention to him as he walked into the dining room and by the time everyone realizes that the subdued "pop" was actually a gunshot and the reason Palmgren is now facedown in his mashed potatoes is because a bullet is lodged beneath his ear the man is gone. The witnesses can only provide vague descriptions of a medium tall, average-looking guy in a suit jacket with mismatched pants and a light-colored shirt. Not much for the police to go on.
When it is discovered that Palmgren had international connections, some high-level folks get a case of anxiety and Chief Inspector Martin Beck is sent to take over the investigation. He finds that Palmgren was a pretty despicable individual whom nobody really liked, but Beck has difficulty finding a motive big enough to incite murder. By the time he sifts through what few clues he and the police team he marshals can gather and interviews all the witnesses and suspects, Beck has more sympathy for the murderer than he does for the victim. As usual, Beck gets his man (or woman, as the case may be), but this particular arrest doesn't provide quite the satisfaction of past cases.
This is a more sombre entry in the Beck series. The murderer's life is a bleak one and Palmgren is morally responsible. It is difficult not to sympathize with the killer even though taking another's life should never be an option. Beck wrestles with his own sympathies for the killer and there are also developments in Beck's personal life that provide more depth to the character. A book that encourages the reader to think about actions and the repercussions that take place--both the obvious results and those that might not be anticipated.
Sjöwall and Wahlöö write pure police procedurals. We follow the detectives as they investigate and know exactly what they find and what they think about those discoveries. There are no red herrings to mystify the reader while the detective smugly gathers clues and the denouement is not a surprise. Just a solid story of police work, crime and consequences.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
When it is discovered that Palmgren had international connections, some high-level folks get a case of anxiety and Chief Inspector Martin Beck is sent to take over the investigation. He finds that Palmgren was a pretty despicable individual whom nobody really liked, but Beck has difficulty finding a motive big enough to incite murder. By the time he sifts through what few clues he and the police team he marshals can gather and interviews all the witnesses and suspects, Beck has more sympathy for the murderer than he does for the victim. As usual, Beck gets his man (or woman, as the case may be), but this particular arrest doesn't provide quite the satisfaction of past cases.
This is a more sombre entry in the Beck series. The murderer's life is a bleak one and Palmgren is morally responsible. It is difficult not to sympathize with the killer even though taking another's life should never be an option. Beck wrestles with his own sympathies for the killer and there are also developments in Beck's personal life that provide more depth to the character. A book that encourages the reader to think about actions and the repercussions that take place--both the obvious results and those that might not be anticipated.
Sjöwall and Wahlöö write pure police procedurals. We follow the detectives as they investigate and know exactly what they find and what they think about those discoveries. There are no red herrings to mystify the reader while the detective smugly gathers clues and the denouement is not a surprise. Just a solid story of police work, crime and consequences.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
jakewritesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Going into reading this series, I knew Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö were avowed socialists who wrote these books in large parts as a critique of inequality in Sweden. But while their beliefs do sneak out from time-to-time, they generally ground their mysteries in the tradition of a police procedural as opposed to pedagogy cloaked in mystery drag.
That goes out the window with Murder at the Savoy, which is about as didactic of a book as I’ve read from them. There’s no question about it to the co-authors: the rich suck. They also suck the marrow out of the economy of Sweden. Juxtapositions here abound and they’re impossible to miss, even for someone like me who normally doesn’t pick up on such symbolism.
Generally, the victims in Martin Beck books are sympathetic figures. Random civilians, a fellow officer, some members of the lower class. That’s not the case here and the authors don’t even bother trying to hide their disgust. The victim himself is a stand-in for the decay of the noble/patron class. His wife and cronies are out to get theirs as opposed to mourning him. I won’t spoil anything about the end but I doubt you’ll be surprised at the resolution.
This all, coupled with some serendipitous evidence recovery in a similar manner to Fire Engine That Disappeared, shows the treat on the series’ tires. This is book six after all. It’s probably the least good of 2-6…but it’s still really good. The procedural bits are fun, the humor is on point and the critiques are sharp, perhaps too much so but still. I enjoyed everything around the mystery more than the mystery itself, which is not what I would normally say about a Beck book. But this does align with what I’ve heard about the series: that they follow a logical progression for what the authors are revealing about Sweden. And I am here for that.
That goes out the window with Murder at the Savoy, which is about as didactic of a book as I’ve read from them. There’s no question about it to the co-authors: the rich suck. They also suck the marrow out of the economy of Sweden. Juxtapositions here abound and they’re impossible to miss, even for someone like me who normally doesn’t pick up on such symbolism.
Generally, the victims in Martin Beck books are sympathetic figures. Random civilians, a fellow officer, some members of the lower class. That’s not the case here and the authors don’t even bother trying to hide their disgust. The victim himself is a stand-in for the decay of the noble/patron class. His wife and cronies are out to get theirs as opposed to mourning him. I won’t spoil anything about the end but I doubt you’ll be surprised at the resolution.
This all, coupled with some serendipitous evidence recovery in a similar manner to Fire Engine That Disappeared, shows the treat on the series’ tires. This is book six after all. It’s probably the least good of 2-6…but it’s still really good. The procedural bits are fun, the humor is on point and the critiques are sharp, perhaps too much so but still. I enjoyed everything around the mystery more than the mystery itself, which is not what I would normally say about a Beck book. But this does align with what I’ve heard about the series: that they follow a logical progression for what the authors are revealing about Sweden. And I am here for that.
plantbirdwoman's review against another edition
2.0
I have tremendously enjoyed reading the books in this series. Up until now. I have to say that this sixth entry in the ten-book series left me scratching my head as to why they even bothered. It seemed as though the authors were simply phoning it in and were not really engaged by the story they were telling.
The "mystery" took a back seat to Sjowall's and Wahloo's exploration of Swedish society and all that (they felt) was wrong with it back in the 1960s when they were writing. Reading about the evils of the welfare state that was Sweden was interesting, at least historically, up to a point, but past that point, I frankly just felt that the writers were beating a dead horse. They were definitely beating a reader who had lost interest.
The mystery involves who shot Viktor Palmgren, a powerful Swedish industrialist, while he was making an after-dinner speech in the restaurant of the luxurious Hotel Savoy. He had just stood up to start his speech when a man walked into the restaurant and right up behind Palmgren and shot him in the head with a .22 caliber revolver. The other people around the dinner table were so shocked that they didn't realize at first what had happened and the assassin made his escape before anyone could react.
Initially, the victim survives, but then within a few hours his condition deteriorates and he dies. And so it becomes a case not just of assault but of murder.
This all happens in the southern town of Malmo. The police there are baffled and are getting nowhere with their investigation. Since Palmgren was a very big deal as a captain of industry and a major player in the international money markets, the powers that be in Stockholm are eager for an early solution to the murder. They send their main man, Martin Beck, to take over the investigation and find the culprit.
In reviewing Palmgren's background and his life, Beck finds that he was not a nice man and that there are probably any number of people who would have been happy to have him dead. But which one of them did it?
As usual, Beck is coming down with a cold and feeling miserable, and his detectives are just about the most reluctant group of investigators that you will ever find in the pages of a mystery novel. Still they all trudge on, doing their job, however grudgingly, and, finally, they do reach a conclusion and get their man. Frankly, by this point, I had a lot of sympathy for the murderer and I was sort of hoping he would get away. That's really not the reaction that a reader of a murder mystery should have.
One of the things that I have enjoyed so much in the previous books in the series has been the sly humor which the authors have slipped into the narrative from time to time, often to drive home a point. This book had very little of that. Early in the book, there was one bit that gave me a chuckle, but after that it was mostly sheer, boring routine and much attention paid to each detective's complaints about the society, about life, and about his job.
But perhaps that is just true to life and that's what the detective's lot is all about. It may be realistic, but it doesn't make for very compelling reading.
The "mystery" took a back seat to Sjowall's and Wahloo's exploration of Swedish society and all that (they felt) was wrong with it back in the 1960s when they were writing. Reading about the evils of the welfare state that was Sweden was interesting, at least historically, up to a point, but past that point, I frankly just felt that the writers were beating a dead horse. They were definitely beating a reader who had lost interest.
The mystery involves who shot Viktor Palmgren, a powerful Swedish industrialist, while he was making an after-dinner speech in the restaurant of the luxurious Hotel Savoy. He had just stood up to start his speech when a man walked into the restaurant and right up behind Palmgren and shot him in the head with a .22 caliber revolver. The other people around the dinner table were so shocked that they didn't realize at first what had happened and the assassin made his escape before anyone could react.
Initially, the victim survives, but then within a few hours his condition deteriorates and he dies. And so it becomes a case not just of assault but of murder.
This all happens in the southern town of Malmo. The police there are baffled and are getting nowhere with their investigation. Since Palmgren was a very big deal as a captain of industry and a major player in the international money markets, the powers that be in Stockholm are eager for an early solution to the murder. They send their main man, Martin Beck, to take over the investigation and find the culprit.
In reviewing Palmgren's background and his life, Beck finds that he was not a nice man and that there are probably any number of people who would have been happy to have him dead. But which one of them did it?
As usual, Beck is coming down with a cold and feeling miserable, and his detectives are just about the most reluctant group of investigators that you will ever find in the pages of a mystery novel. Still they all trudge on, doing their job, however grudgingly, and, finally, they do reach a conclusion and get their man. Frankly, by this point, I had a lot of sympathy for the murderer and I was sort of hoping he would get away. That's really not the reaction that a reader of a murder mystery should have.
One of the things that I have enjoyed so much in the previous books in the series has been the sly humor which the authors have slipped into the narrative from time to time, often to drive home a point. This book had very little of that. Early in the book, there was one bit that gave me a chuckle, but after that it was mostly sheer, boring routine and much attention paid to each detective's complaints about the society, about life, and about his job.
But perhaps that is just true to life and that's what the detective's lot is all about. It may be realistic, but it doesn't make for very compelling reading.