Ake Edwardson Books In Order

Publication Order of Inspector Erik Winter Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Anthologies

Ake Edwardson is one of the popular novelists from Sweden, who has written some of the best mystery, crime fiction, and thriller books. He is particularly well known for writing the Inspector Winter series of novels.

Author Edwardson has also written two young adult books apart from this popular series. Before beginning his writing career as a crime fiction novelist, author Edwardson used to teach journalism at the Gothenburg University. He has also worked as a press officer and a journalist for the United Nations. Author Edwardson has won the Crime Writer’s Academy Award of Sweden for a total of 3 times.

He made the debut of his career as a published author in the year 1995 with the release of his first book titled ‘Till Allt Som Varit Dott’. This book was released in Swedish at that time and has not yet been translated into English. The first novel of author Edwardson that was released in English is titled as Sun and Shadow, which was published in the year 2005. A number of Swedish novels of Edwardson are yet to be translated for the English speaking readers.

Author Edwardson was born on March 10, 1953, in Eksjo, Smaland. Being very well familiar with the city of Gothenburg, he chose to set many of the books of his Inspector Winter series there. In this series, he has introduced the chief protagonist in the role of a Chief Inspector named Erik Winter. He is depicted as living in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The first Swedish book of this series is Death Angels, but the first one to be published in English is Sun and Shadow. Currently, the series is still going on as author Edwardson is working to produce another intriguing book in the series in the coming days. As the series begins, Erik Winter is introduced as the youngest chief inspector in the whole of Sweden.

He dresses in a nice way, eats nice foods, loves to hear jazz music, and is about to become a father. Very often, he suffers from mood swings which tend to make things difficult for him. But, he does not make mistakes while solving the mystery cases and trusts his intuition very much. As the series progresses, Erik Winter goes on to solve a series of rape cases in an attempt to reduce the heat wave spread all across Gothenburg.

Even though he successfully solves the cases that he comes across in the present time, there is one difficult case that he has not been able to solve so far and it always remains at the back of his mind. When another difficult arrives on his desk, he finds striking similarities with his unsolved case during the investigation. Erik Winter feels that he is being taunted by the gruesome killer and therefore, he goes on the trail with all his determination and dedication. However, he does not rule out the possibility of a copycat killer. Over the course of the series, Erik Winter solves many more intriguing mysteries.

The Inspector Winter series written by Ake Edwardson consists of a total of 12 novels, which were released between the years 1997 and 2013. All the books revolve around the life of the Swedish Chief Inspector Erik Winter. The first novel to have been published in the series is titled as ‘Death Angels’. It was released by the Penguin Books in the year 2009 after it was initially released in 1997.

Author Edwardson had written the story of this book in Swedish and it was later translated into English by Ken Schubert. The plot depicts the main character in the form of Erik Winter and Steve Macdonald. At the start of the story, Erik Winter is depicted as getting teamed up with the British counterparts in order to solve the case of serial, brutal murders of many young men his city of Gothenburg and London.

It is later learned the killer, who is dubbed as Hitchcock, has made videos of all the brutal killings, which was clearly evident from the traces of the tripod stands in the blood of the victims. However, no such videos were anywhere on the murder site or afterwards. Eventually, the search for the killer takes Erik Winter into the dangerous world of the snuff films. After some time, Erik and London police find a big break when a burglar informs them that he came across stains of blood on several clothes in the apartment that he had broken into. Finally, with the help of the London police, Erik becomes successful in catching the brutal killer and with it, he stops the chaos in the city which had spread due to the killings of a few young men.

Another well known book published in the series by author Edwardson is titled as ‘Frozen Tracks’. The Viking Adults released this book in the year 2007, after it was first published in 2001. At the beginning of the book, author Edwardson has shown that autumn arrives very quickly in Sweden’s Gothenburg city. During this early change of season, Erik Winter comes across a couple unrelated cases involving perplexing crimes.

The two cases make his nights bleaker and his days shorter. While investigating for the reports of a series of assaults as well as a child abduction string, Erik Winter is taken to the flats located in the barren lands of the rural region of Sweden. The wastelands of rural Sweden seem to conceal some of the most sinister crimes. As the tension related to the cases continues to rise, Erik Winter is required to solve them as quickly as possible before time runs out and his own family lands in danger. On the whole, the novel appears to be haunting, psychologically astute, and stylish.

Author Edwardson has very well described the police procedural of Sweden, which shows many similarities to that in America. However, the sensibility shown by Edwardson in this book seems very much of the European style. The book goes on to appeal to the fans George Pelecanos and Henning Mankell, whose crime books are very much appreciated all over the world. The wide appreciations and praises for the book helped it to become immensely successful and also allowed Edwardson to become more successful as a crime novelist.

One Response to “Ake Edwardson”

1. Gill Thorpe: 3 years ago

   Are the books in the Inspector winter Series after Room No. 10 being translated into English?

   Reply