大笑的警察 (1968)

大笑的警察（瑞典语：Den skrattande polisen）是瑞典作家马伊·舍瓦尔和佩尔·瓦勒所著的犯罪小说，出版于1968年，这是两人合著的以马丁·贝克为主角的犯罪系列小说的第四部。1971年《大笑的警察》获得爱伦·坡奖最佳长篇小说。1973年的美国电影《大笑的警察》和小说有松散的关系。

情节

在斯德哥尔摩的公交车上，枪手用冲锋枪杀害了包括司机以内的八人，重伤一人。八名死者中包括警察艾克·斯特恩斯特罗姆，而唯一未死的乘客也在留下模糊不清的遗言后伤重不治。经过了艰苦的调查，马丁·贝克等警察怀疑这期谋杀案的起因是斯特恩斯特罗姆试图追查十六年前的一起妓女被杀案，反遭不幸。于是警察们继续追查这件陈年旧案，完成斯特恩斯特罗姆的遗愿。

小说同时也涉及贝克和警察同仁的家庭情况。由于婚姻关系紧张，贝克已经很久没有笑过，他的女儿送给他一张唱片作为圣诞礼物，其中有一首英国歌曲《大笑的警察》，但他仍然没有开心起来。只有在书的最后，得知斯特恩斯特罗姆的备注，他才笑了起来。

人物发展

因为是严重的杀人案，警察局调集了不少外地警察来支援。包括总是牢骚满腹的理查·乌尔霍尔姆；马尔默来的、能找到任何东西的佩尔·曼森和乌尔夫·诺丁。斯特恩斯特罗姆的女朋友艾萨·托雷尔从男朋友被杀的痛苦中缓解后，要求加入警察局的调查部门。

评论与改编

1973年，这部小说被改编成电影，由沃尔特·马修主演。他的角色被改名为杰克·马丁，地点也被改到了旧金山，情节也有较大的改动。

乔纳森·弗兰岑曾为这本书的企鹅朗道书屋版本写了序言他将这本书对瑞典生活的批评称为“漫画风格”的。2012年弗兰岑的论文集《远离》也包含写于2008年的《论大笑的警察》。

2011年法国漫画家Martin Viot将小说改编成漫画

The Laughing Policeman is a mystery novel by the Swedish writing duo Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, originally published in Sweden in 1968 as Den skrattande polisen and translated into English in 1970. It is the fourth of ten novels featuring police detective Martin Beck.

In 1971, The Laughing Policeman won an Edgar Award for Best Novel. The 1973 American film The Laughing Policeman is a loose adaptation of the novel.

Jonathan Franzen has written an introduction for a Penguin Random House edition of the book. He describes radically critical image of Sweden as 'comic'. Franzen's 2012 collection of essays Farther Away also contains a reprint of a 2008 piece, "On The Laughing Policeman".

Explanation of the title

The novel's title, The Laughing Policeman, derives from a 1922 British song of the same name. Detective Beck, ill for a long time and with a strained marriage, has not laughed in a long time. When Beck receives the record as a Christmas gift from his daughter, Ingrid, who has noticed her father's behaviour, he does not find it funny. He only laughs at the very end of the novel, after the vindication of murdered Detective, Åke Stenström.

Plot

A gunman shoots the passengers of a bus with a sub-machine gun, killing eight people, including Detective Åke Stenström, and wounding one. After a painstaking investigation, Detective Beck and his team come to suspect that the mass killing is designed to hide the true target, Stenström himself, who was spending his free time unofficially investigating the murder of a Portuguese prostitute sixteen years earlier in an attempt to solve the case and demonstrate his skills to his older police comrades. Beck must now complete Stenström's work by solving the earlier murder in order to identify Stenström's killer.

Character development

To solve the case, Beck calls on several outsiders: Detective Richard Ullholm, a reactionary who, as a hobby, lodges formal complaints to the Parliamentary Ombudsman regarding his fellow officers; Malmö Detective Per Månsson (introduced in a previous novel), the man who can find anything; and detective Ulf Nordin, the most tenacious investigator. Åsa Torrell, Stenström's girlfriend, plays a significant emotional part in the story. After recovering from the shock of her boyfriend's murder, she states her intention to join the police.

Film adaptation

The novel was adapted to film in 1973, with Walter Matthau in the lead role. His character was renamed "Jake Martin", the action was relocated to San Francisco, California, and much of the novel's plot was altered.

Comic book adaptation

In 2011, French comics artist Martin Viot adapted The Laughing Policeman into a comic book, Le Policier Qui Rit.