The man on the balcony
The crime novel The Man on the Balcony (Swedish original title: Mannen på balkongen ) by the Swedish author couple Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö is the third volume in the ten-volume crime series Roman om ett brott ( novel about a crime ) with Commissioner Martin Beck. The first Swedish edition of the book was published in 1967, in the Federal Republic of Germany the novel was published by Rowohlt in 1970, in the GDR ( Volk und Welt publishing house ) in 1982.
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At the beginning of the book, Inspector Beck goes on a relaxing business trip to his colleague Ahlberg from Motala , whom he met when the dead fell in the Göta Canal . Meanwhile, at the Reich Police Headquarters, his colleagues are looking for a brutal handbag robber who is making the Stockholm parks unsafe. In the same park where his last attack took place, a child's body is discovered a little later by two vagabonds. The 9-year-old girl has been abused and strangled. Shortly thereafter, another child falls victim to the same criminal. When Beck returns, the police's investigative machinery is already running.
The police initially lacked any clue. Only one elderly exhibitionist is briefly arrested, but has nothing to do with the murders. Since the kidnapping of the second girl was only seen by a three-year-old boy, the search for the handbag robber, who may also have noticed the perpetrator, is intensified. Although he can be arrested when his jealous girlfriend reports him, he only saw the shadow of the child murderer.
The fact that they have been groping in the dark for too long and the fear of not being able to prevent further murders is on the investigators' nerves. When Kollberg stands in a park one evening to at least prevent a child from being killed here and now - a similarly pointless action as Gunvald Larsson's driving around the city in search of a man who fits the description - becomes he dejected. Scared Stockholmers responded by setting up an illegal vigilante group . Beck and Kollberg now have to keep these in check, which is time-consuming.
Only a coincidence brings the investigation forward: Detective assistant Larsson, who appears for the first time in this novel, telephoned an elderly lady at the very beginning of the search, who complained about a man in an apartment opposite who stood on his balcony all day look at the street on which u. a. Children played. After Martin Beck remembers this call, Larsson's note and, through a mixture of persistent investigations and a coincidence, the caller, who goes by the frequent name Andersson , are found with difficulty . Your clue leads to the murderer's apartment and ultimately to his arrest, just before he can attack a child again.
filming
The Man on the Balcony was made into a film by director Daniel Alfredson in 1993 , with Gösta Ekman playing the role of Martin Beck.