NORDIC NOIR Ystad SWEDEN

A Train trip to Sweden 

and Murder
With Chief Inspector Kurt Wallander, now sadly retired 
with an early-onset of Alzheimer's, 
Pat Keenan revisits his criminally inspired 
trip to Ystad, Sweden

Kurt Wallander: Krister Henriksson in one Swedish series

If you missed it on TV, 
The Bridge is available on DVD

    I was in Copenhagen, with a criminal goal, tracking down that city's part in the remarkable phoenomenon known as 'Nordic Noir' - a rash of dark crime drama in TV, film and books from the Scandanavain countries. Having immersed myself with 'The Killing' TV series I quietly boarded a train to Sweden's third most populous city, Malmo. It took only 35 minutes to cross the famous Oresund Bridge. Even travelling the bridge took on a whole new notoriety with another TV drama, The Bridge, involving police from both Copenhagen and Malmo. Exactly midway on the bridge a severed body is found. But complications arrise as half the body is in Denmark and the other half's in Sweden. So my train took me past a TV murder location. I saw nothing, officer ! Honest !
   
I reached Malmo safely, and boarded a second train, one hour and 55k(34 miles) to Ystad, a seaside port town with more than it's fair share of fictional murders and home to it's most famous resident the fictional Chief Inspector Kurt Wallander, the creation of best-selling author Henning Mankell, 

    In the BBC series Wallander is Kenneth Branagh and on Swedish SVT(also shown on BBC) he's been played by Rolf Lassgard and Krister Henriksson. Altogether about 50 films based on Mankell's novels have been shot on location here, so no wonder the towns tourism is now largely Wallander-based.

View Malmo and Ystad in a larger map

Ystad Station

     Alighting from the train at Ystad Station (which looks awfully like the red-stoned police station in some of the films) I find myself at the location where in 'Sidetracked' a scalped body was found under a tarpaulin covering a hole in the road. Undaunted, I continued across the small square to the tourist office to pick up my 'In the Footsteps of Wallander' booklet with maps and locations. From the steps of the tourist office I spot Fridolf’s Konditori, Wallander’s favourite cafe, where he regularly has coffee, sometimes a herring sandwich. But that turned out to be a red herring, there were none, so I settled for tuna sandwich.

Kurt Wallander: Kenneth Branagh in the BBC series

Fridolf’s Konditori: Wallander’s favourite cafe

ATM on Stortorget: in 'Firewall', guns blazing

    I needed some Swedish krona so I made my way to the ATM on Stortorget, the town's main market square where in 'Firewall', guns blazing, Wallander has to fight for his life by this ATM to prevent the collapse of the world economy (...was it all in vain?). Also, in this very square, in the film "Revenge",  police have to break up a a dangerously escalating demonstration outside in the Old Town Hall. 

Town Hall:dangerously escalating demonstrations

    The square also has a number of fine restaurants including: Lotta’s Restaurant where Wallander treats forensic examiner Nyberg to dinner in "One Step Behind'... Nyberg ends up paying. Le Cardinal, a pizzeria, where Wallander and his estranged daughter Linda try to come to terms with their relationship. Nearby is  the restaurant Bröderna, another favourite haunt of Wallander’s. He goes here to voice his thoughts with Istvan, the restaurant owner. However, be forewarned, in 'Firewall'  two young girls order a taxi from this restaurant – a journey that ends in murder.

Lotta’s Restaurant 

Le Cardinal pizzeria

Restaurant Bröderna: in 'Firewall' a taxi from here ends in murder

    If staying overnight choose the Hotel Continental, Sweden’s oldest hotel - it opened in 1829, and its restaurant is another of  Wallander’s favourites - it's here that he takes his daughter Linda when ever they need to celebrate something. The hotel also features in 'One Step Behind' where detective's colleagues Ann- Britt Hsglund and Martinsson dress up as waiters to foil a murderer, and in 'The African'  where the murder victim is a hotel guest. Avid fans can book dinner at Wallander’s usual table under a fine crystal chandelier.

Hotel Continental: in 'The African' the murder victim is a hotel guest

In 'Revenge' a controversial politician is shot dead here in Ystad's oldest half timbered house

Mariagatan: where Inspector Kurt Wallander lives

    There are few streets in Sweden that have awakened as much interest as Mariagatan in Ystad - remarkably  made famous by a fictitious character. It is where Inspector Kurt Wallander lives, his blue Peugeot would be parked outside and music from an opera, sometimes jazz, would waft through his apartment windows. The first thirteen Wallander films staring Krister Henriksson were filmed on Mariagatan just as it is described in the books. 

    After a wonderful day walking around Ystad I boarded the train back to Malmo. I don't think I was followed.

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Suggested 'Nordic Noir' reading by country:

Denmark

Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow (film Miss Smilla's Sense of Snow starring Gabriel Byrne Richard Harris) by Peter Hoeg
Though the TV series The Killing didn't originate as a book, it now is, The Killing, the novel of the original series by popular detective writer David Hewson has, I'm told, a differing twist to the ending. The paperback is published by Pan and available at www.amazon.co.uk for £5.27stg.

Finland

Ice Moon (psychological thriller) by Jan Costin Wagner

Iceland

Jar City: A Reykjavik Thriller (Detective Inspector Erlendur Sveinsson) by Arnaldur Indridason

Norway

Butterfly Effect by Pernille Rygg

He Who Fears the Wolf (Inspector Konrad Sejer series) by Karin Fossum

The Bat Man (introduces Chandler-like tough detective Harry Hole in Oslo) by Jo Nesbo

Sweden 

Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (the first of which is the best)

Faceless Killer (first of the Kurt Wallander mystery series) by Henning Mankell 

Backwater by Kerstin Ekman

Borkmann's Point (an Inspector Van Veeteren mystery) by Hakan Nesser

Roseanna (introduces Inspector Martin Beck) by Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall

The Princess of Burundi by Kjell Eriksson

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Getting there:
    SAS fly to Copenhagen from Dublin. They have regular low-cost flights and the bebifits of a full-service airline. 23kg free baggage allowance, 25% child discount, eurobonus points and free check-in, regardless of it being via mobile boarding pass or normal check-in. SAS also offer connections via Copenhagen to Iceland & Finland.  www.flysas.com/en/ie/

More information:

 Ystad: In the Footsteps of Wallander, a free guide and maps of the town and its surrounding areas, for iPhone or Android. Download a pdf of the guide and maps, in english, at  www.ystad.se/Broschyr.nsf/0/.../$file/Wallanderfolder09_Eng.pdf