End stop for nine

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The crime novel Endstation für nine ( Swedish original title: Den skrattande Polisen ) is the fourth volume of the ten-volume crime series Roman om ett brott ( novel about a crime ) with Commissioner Martin Beck , written by the Swedish author couple Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö . The Swedish first edition of the book was published in 1968, the German in the Federal Republic of Germany by Rowohlt in 1971, in the GDR (under the title The Laughing Police Officer ) in 1973. The novel was awarded the Edgar Allan Poe Award in 1971 in the “Best Novel” category.

title

The literal translation of the original Swedish title is The Laughing Police Officer and goes back to a 1922 song of the same name by Charles Penrose . In the course of the story, Inspector Martin Beck received a record with this song from his daughter, which he did not find particularly funny. Only when the case and murder of his colleague has been solved can he laugh about it.

content

Crime scene: A Stockholm Leyland double-decker bus

Shortly before the end of the line, a bus crashes into a fence, but the driver and eight of his passengers have not noticed anything: An unknown passenger killed all the other occupants with a submachine gun. Except for the young detective Stenström and the bus driver, the dead can only be identified with great difficulty. Is there a reference to the perpetrator's motive? It cannot be ruled out that Stenström - perhaps by coincidence - came too close to solving an old case that had long since been filed. In an arduous investigation, it turns out that Stenström had dealt with a long-ago murder case and was indeed close to a solution. Based on Stenström's research, Martin Beck and his colleagues can solve not only this earlier murder, but also the attack on the bus.

filming

The story was filmed in 1973 by Stuart Rosenberg under the title Mass Murder in San Francisco (original title: The Laughing Policeman ). The leading roles were played by Walter Matthau ( Detective Jake Martin), Bruce Dern (Detective Leo Larsen) and Louis Gossett Jr. (Detective James Larrimore). The plot has been moved to San Francisco , but the core of the plot corresponds to the novel. The film ends with a car chase.

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