Åke Edwardson

Åke Edwardson has worked as a journalist, a press officer at the United Nations, and a university lecturer at the University of Gothenburg, the city in Sweden where his mysteries are set. He is one of Sweden’s bestselling authors, and his books featuring Detective Chief Inspector Erik Winter have been translated into more than twenty languages worldwide. He is a three-time winner of the Swedish Crime Writers’ Award for best crime novel.

His latest novel is Sail of Stone.

From his Q & A with Julia Buckley:

SAIL OF STONE is a beautiful book which seems far more about questions than about answers. Is your detective, Erik Winter, as much a philosopher as he is a solver of mysteries?

He's at least as much a philosopher as a detective. Winter is a moral animal, not a political one. He's trying to live a decent life, and it's the hardest thing. These stories are about the existence, the meaning of life, or, as Winter says, "This job is more about the meaning of death than the mening of life." I think anyone who pushes him/herself to the limit is a philosopher; the heavyweight champions were philosophers first, boxers second.

Both storylines involve mysteries with elusive subjects. Even the people who are found and questioned by the police seem to offer very little in terms of satisfying answers. Do you think that police work is always this frustrating?

It's very frustrating; it's not for sissies. One of my best friends is head of the crime squad in Gothenburg. He wouldn't do anything but this, but, as he says, "it's like a war you really can't win, but you have to fight it anyway." Yeah, what's the alternative?

The book is starkly beautiful in its existential focus, from Aneta Djanali, who “dreamed of doors that closed and never opened,” and Erik Winter, who is aware that he “carrie[s] a restlessness in him.” Are they drawn to their profession because they are restless, or are they restless as a result of their profession?

Very good question. I think it works...[read on]

--Marshal Zeringue