Stieg Larsson is best known for writing the critically acclaimed Millennium series, which shot to fame with the publication of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in 2005. Stieg had just finished working on the second two instalments before he died unexpectedly and the two novels were published to equal acclaim. Before he became a novelist, Larsson spent much of his life as a journalist and, it has now been revealed, was investigating the 1986 assassination of the Swedish prime minister Olof Palme.
Right up until his death, Larsson had been investigating the murder of Palme, who was assassinated after leaving a cinema with his wife. The culprit was never caught but Larsson left behind 20 boxes of research in his private archive and had even identified a potential suspect to the police. Larsson had a history of tracking far-right groups in Sweden and had to take precautions, including not marrying his partner of 32 years, Eva Gabrielsson, as their address would then be public, as required by Swedish law. As The Guardian reports, Gabrielsson stated in 2014 that she and her partner has spent most of the year following Palme’s murder trying to find the culprit.
It has since been announced by Amazon’s literature in translation imprint Amazon Crossing, that it had acquired the publishing rights to The Man Who Played With Fire by Jan Stocklassa, translated by Tara F Chace. Stocklassa, who is responsible for producing a recent documentary under the same title about Larsson’s work on far-right groups. Amazon Crossing states the upcoming book contains “new facts about the case and reveals the hitherto unknown research … in a fascinating true crime story.”
The book’s senior editor, Elizabeth DeNoma, stated it was “about one of the most gripping unsolved murder mysteries of modern times, investigated by one of the most well-known authors of all time … We can’t wait to share this story with Stieg Larsson’s English-language fans who will be struck by the parallels between the famous author and his famous character, Mikael Blomkvist.” The book is set to be published later this year in October.
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