THE MAN WHO WENT UP IN SMOKE

The husband-and-wife writing duo Wahlöö and Sjöwall were popular in the 1970s. In this mystery, Inspector Martin Beck of the Stockholm Homicide Squad investigates the disappearance of a well-known Swedish journalist in Budapest. Absent from his native Stockholm, Beck encounters not only the drama of the Eastern European underworld and international crime but also a rich travel experience as he, by necessity, delves into Hungarian life. The depth of Tom Weiner's masculine timbre accurately brings the flawed, depressed Beck to the mind's eye. Weiner’s oft-used monotone is reminiscent of early noir cinema, and he skillfully employs a lightness of tone when vocalizing women's voices. However, the listener might enjoy the realism of this procedural fractionally more if it were delivered by a narrator with a Scandinavian accent. A.W. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2009]