Kurt Wallander

The Return of the Dancing Master , By Henning Mankell, The New Press, 392 pp., $24.95 Most fans of crime novels know Henning Mankell from the nine books featuring Kurt Wallander, a tired but trustworthy police investigator in Ystad, Sweden. But with Wallander approaching retirement, Mankell has looked for younger blood to deal with the increasingly blood-soaked goings-on in Sweden. The next Wallander novel will feature Linda Wallander, Kurt's daughter, who is going to follow in his footsteps.

How do we see our world, and how does that vision affect others? These are the questions at the heart of Henning Mankell’s “Daniel,’’ a quiet tragedy that sets an obtuse white man against a young African boy. The year is 1878, and Hans Bengler, an amateur entomologist, leaves his native Sweden for the Kalahari Desert. A failure at most everything, he believes that the discovery of a previously unknown insect will establish him for life. During his explorations, however, he collects a different kind of find: a young boy whose parents have been murdered.

How do we see our world, and how does that vision affect others? These are the questions at the heart of Henning Mankell’s “Daniel,’’ a quiet tragedy that sets an obtuse white man against a young African boy. The year is 1878, and Hans Bengler, an amateur entomologist, leaves his native Sweden for the Kalahari Desert. A failure at most everything, he believes that the discovery of a previously unknown insect will establish him for life. During his explorations, however, he collects a different kind of find: a young boy whose parents have been murdered.

Kurt Wallander might be the most depressive standing detective in crime fiction, but he seems like Kenneth the page from "30 Rock" compared with the protagonists in Henning Mankell's non-genre fiction. Meet Frederik Welin. He lives on his own private island where he cuts a hole in the ice and jumps in every day to feel alive. And, this being Scandinavia, such a ritual by the 66-year-old makes the daily dip by the L Street Brownies look like a dive into a heated indoor pool. And did we mention his dog and cat?

Depths , By Henning Mankell, Translated from Swedish by Laurie Thompson, New Press, 403 pp., $26.95 All of Henning Mankell's characters, even those on the side of the angels, have a hole in their soul deep enough to drive an existential truck through. Kurt Wallander , his standing detective, is perhaps the most depressive recurring figure in crime fiction. So when Mankell titles a book "Depths," you can bet he's not just talking about the measurements that his protagonist, a naval officer, is engaged in around the Stockholm archipelago during World War I. Since...

Kurt Wallander might be the most depressive standing detective in crime fiction, but he seems like Kenneth the page from "30 Rock" compared with the protagonists in Henning Mankell's non-genre fiction. Meet Frederik Welin. He lives on his own private island where he cuts a hole in the ice and jumps in every day to feel alive. And, this being Scandinavia, such a ritual by the 66-year-old makes the daily dip by the L Street Brownies look like a dive into a heated indoor pool. And did we mention his dog and cat?

Masterpiece Mystery! Tomorrow at 9 p.m., Channel 2 One of the best recent additions to the PBS family of detectives is Kenneth Branagh’s Kurt Wallander (pictured), a Swedish inspector adapted from the novels by Henning Mankell. Branagh’s Wallander is a weary, rundown fellow who has a reserve of righteous fury right below the surface. The three episodes in 2009 offered compelling crime mysteries and beautiful cinematography, and tomorrow night PBS introduces the first of three new installments.

Before the Frost: A Linda Wallander Mystery , By Henning Mankell Translated, from Swedish, by Ebba Segerberg, New Press, 383 pp, $24.95 Henning Mankell is crime fiction's master juggler. Few of this genre's writers -- few of any genre's writers -- have been able to balance the ordinary and the grotesque with such literary dash and page-turning brio. In fact the Swedish writer himself hasn't done it as well as he does in his latest, "Before the Frost. " Here we have one new central character, Linda Wallander, dealing with two of...

When a British star with lots of Shakespeare on his resume pops up as a depressed TV detective, complete with glassy eyes, gray skin, and stale booze breath, we are fully expected to genuflect. And when it comes to Kenneth Branagh, and his new semi-regular gig as Inspector Kurt Wallander on PBS, we are pleased to abide. Or at least I am, and I suspect you will be, too, if you're drawn to bleak whodunit series where it's always rainy, literally or figuratively. "Wallander" is a three-episode run of "Masterpiece Mystery!

With all the fanfare around Drew Gilpin Faust being the first female president of Harvard University, it was easy to forget that she's also a noted scholar on the Civil War and the American South. The latest of her six books is "This Republic of Suffering," which examines the effects of the war's enormous death toll. She'll speak at the Boston Public Library as part of the Lowell Lecture Series on April 10. BOOKS: What are you reading? FAUST: I'm going to India this month.

Depths , By Henning Mankell, Translated from Swedish by Laurie Thompson, New Press, 403 pp., $26.95 All of Henning Mankell's characters, even those on the side of the angels, have a hole in their soul deep enough to drive an existential truck through. Kurt Wallander , his standing detective, is perhaps the most depressive recurring figure in crime fiction. So when Mankell titles a book "Depths," you can bet he's not just talking about the measurements that his protagonist, a naval officer, is engaged in around the Stockholm archipelago during World War I. Since...

The Return of the Dancing Master , By Henning Mankell, The New Press, 392 pp., $24.95 Most fans of crime novels know Henning Mankell from the nine books featuring Kurt Wallander, a tired but trustworthy police investigator in Ystad, Sweden. But with Wallander approaching retirement, Mankell has looked for younger blood to deal with the increasingly blood-soaked goings-on in Sweden. The next Wallander novel will feature Linda Wallander, Kurt's daughter, who is going to follow in his footsteps.