And the big ones are let go
The crime novel And the big ones are let go (Swedish original title: Polis, polis, potatismos! ) By the Swedish author couple Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö is the sixth volume of the ten-volume crime series Roman om ett brott ( novel about a crime ) with inspector Martin Beck . The novel was published in Sweden in 1970, in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1972 and in the GDR in 1988.
action
Viktor Palmgren, head of a large industrial group, is shot and killed by an unknown man who escaped after the crime at a dinner in the Hotel Savoy in Malmö . Inspector Martin Beck, who is in charge of the investigation, initially finds out little about the perpetrator, but surprisingly about the victim. Behind the facade of legal business, Palmgren had made most of his money in arms deals.
In the course of the investigation, it turns out that Bertil Svensson shot Palmgren because he had caused his unemployment, the loss of his home and ultimately the loss of his family. Svensson confesses and is arrested, while Palmgren's unscrupulous business associates remain largely unmolested.
title
The German title alludes to the idiom you hang the little thieves and let the big ones go .
In English, the book title Murder at the Savoy was chosen after the name of the hotel in which the murder took place.
The original Swedish title is Polis, polis, potatismos! (in German: "Police, police, mashed potatoes!"). The patrol officers Kristiansson and Kvant feel insulted by a three-year-old who shouts these words to them, which means that the police officers warn the boy and his father instead of pursuing the perpetrator who fled. In the German translation, the boy says: “Bi-Ba-Bullenpack!”, Without any connection to the plot, which in the original consists of the “insulted” policemen eating sausages with mashed potatoes when the father comes by with the boy. This content-related reference is also missing in the new translation of the book, which was published by rororo in 2008 .
Adaptations
- The book was filmed in 1993 in a Swedish-German production; The director was Per Berglund .
- In 2003 an audio book appeared on the novel, the text was read by Charles Wirths and Joachim Nottke .
swell
- ↑ [Duden, 11, 1992, proverbs and idioms, page 152]