The Return of the Dancing Master
by Henning Mankell

translated from the Swedish by Laurie Thompson

• Copenhagen Central Library, Denmark

Herbert Molin, a retired police officer, is living alone in a remote cottage in the vast forest of northern Sweden. He has two obsessions: one is the tango, and the other is a conviction that he is being hunted, constantly pursued by "demons". He has no close friends, no close neighbours, and by the time his body is found, Molin is almost unrecognisable.

Stefan Lindman, a police officer on extended leave, hears of the death of his former colleague and, to take his mind off his own problems, decides to involve himself in the case. What he discovers, to his horror and disbelief, is a network of evil almost unimaginable in this remote district, and one which seems impossible to link to Molin's death.

The Return of the Dancing Master explores the dark side of contemporary life in Scandinavia.

HENNING MANKELL was born in Stockholm in 1948. He is the prize-winning author of the eight novels in the Inspector Wallander Series, which has been translated into many languages and consistently tops the best-seller lists throughout Europe. His novel, Sidetracked, won the CWA Gold dagger in 2001. Mankell has worked as an actor, theatre director and manager in Sweden and in Mozambique, where he is head of Teatro Avenida in Maputo.