The British taste for “Nordic noir” — or Scandinavian fictional detectives — arguably began in 2008, with the television series Wallander, named after its Swedish protagonist: Inspector Kurt Wallander. Depressive, diabetic and intensely methodical, Henning Mankell’s sleuth, based in the southern Swedish town of Ystad, is highly popular. His dark adventures sell in excess of 30 million copies worldwide, while the television series Wallander, starring Kenneth Branagh as the detective inspector, is now due to enter its fourth BBC season.
The man responsible for introducing Wallander to the British public was a little-known Yorkshireman with a dry wit and a passion for all things Swedish.
A seasoned translator from Swedish to English, Laurie Thompson would readily admit that he had little background —