The pace of Swedish crime fiction is slower - Stieg Larsson's the exception. And I think we use the environment more.

Scandinavian crime fiction has become a great success all across the world and rightfully so. Sjowall and Wahloo ushered in a whole generation of Swedish crime writers, many of whom are now available in English.

Swedish taxes are high, and we don't get as much as we used to for them. And our schools aren't so good.

Crime stories are our version of sitting round a camp fire and telling tales. We enjoy being scared under safe circumstances. That's why there's no tradition of crime writing in countries that have wars.

People in Sweden talk a lot about the weather - how much we hate it. But Finns get more depressed.

Northern Sweden holds a special kind of magic. It's cold, lonely, and the people are tough and silent, or so the stereotype says. This is Asa Larsson's home turf and I find as much joy in reading her closely observed descriptions of the environment, as in following her intriguing plots.