The author who sparked the world’s interest in ‘Scandi-noir’ is turning to new pastures.
I APPROACHED my meeting with Henning Mankell with trepidation. The creator of the gloomy Swedish detective Kurt Wallander – and thus the man who might be said to have started the current obsession in the English language publishing world with noirish crime drama – has a reputation for being a little, well, curt. When one Swedish journalist started an interview with “What do you think I should ask you?” he walked out. Another who had travelled to Sweden to meet him found him icy.