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After 15 months on sick leave, Martin Beck (MB) returns to work and is given a weeks-old case file, almost as a welcoming gift. Understaffing has made it a cold case. What MB reads: a complaint about a prurient smell. A patrol car responds and its two occupants first engage a locksmith, then violently enter a small apartment barricaded from the inside. The source of the stench is a 62-year old man. The autopsy report says death was caused by a bullet. Everything suggests suicide. But no weapon was found in the closed room. This is where MB picks up the case, zooming in on the victim, his past and a motive for killing him.
The series' early focus on pure police investigation slowly gave way to drawing attention to social issues. But it also made S&W famous as founders of the Scandinavian school of crime writing. From book 3, two lazy dimwits have personified Sweden's uniformed police. In this book the virus of incompetence has clearly spread to the top echelons. Again, S&W's ranting against the failings of the Swedish welfare state distract fans of pure police procedurals. But happily, there is a second story line about a crew of bank robbers, who have now killed a person. Stockholm police high command believes it has the gang under total surveillance. It keeps the book readable. And there is even a third story line about MB himself.
Many twists and turns towards the end. Brilliant solo sleuthing by MB, who during his quest finds a new lady friend. The solution of the murders and the mystery of the closed room are best left to readers to discover, in addition to the moral outcome of this brisk novel, which is dark.