Nationality Swedish Children Malin Persson Giolito Spouse Kim Persson | Role Criminologist Name Leif W. | |
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Occupation novelist, criminologist Notable works He Who Kills the Dragon,Falling Freely, As in a Dream,Linda - as in the Linda Murder Case Parents Margit Persson, Gustav Persson Books Linda ‑ As in the Linda Mu, Another Time - Another L, Falling Freely - As If in a Dream, He Who Kills the Dragon, Between Summer's Longing Similar People Profiles | ||
Leif Gustav Willy Persson (born 12 March 1945 in Stockholm) is a Swedish criminologist and novelist. He was a professor in criminology at the Swedish National Police Board from 1992 to 2012. He is known for his crime fiction novels and for his regular appearances as an expert commentator on notable crime cases in television and newspapers. Between 1999 and 2009, he participated as an expert commentator on the television show Efterlyst on TV3. Nowadays he participates in the television show Veckans Brott with Camilla Kvartoft, which is primarily about unsolved Swedish criminal cases.
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In 1977, while working at the Swedish National Police Board, Persson was the whistleblower who worked with journalist Peter Bratt in the so-called Geijer Scandal when he confirmed a classified memo sent by then National Police Commissioner Carl Persson to Prime Minister Olof Palme about the alleged ties of the Minister of Justice, Lennart Geijer, to a prostitution ring in Stockholm. Following this affair he was fired from the National Police Board. The string of events almost drove Persson to suicide, but he soon returned as lecturer at Stockholm University. The prostitution ring affair inspired him to write his first novel, Grisfesten. He returned as a professor at the National Police Board in 1992.
Awards
Persson won the Best Swedish Crime Novel Award (Bästa svenska kriminalroman), for three of his novels: Samhällsbärarna in 1982, En annan tid, ett annat liv in 2003, and Den döende detektiven in 2010. This award is a literary prize awarded annually by the Swedish Crime Writers' Academy.
He also received the 2011 Glass Key award for Den döende detektiven (The Dying Detective); this award is a given annually to a crime novel by an author from the Nordic countries and the 2011 Palle Rosenkrantz-prize, which is awarded by the Det danske Kriminalakademi for the best criminal literature translated into Danish.
Evert Bäckström novels
So far, three of Persson's novels feature homicide detective Evert Bäckström. Bäckström is rude, lazy, overweight, racist, sexist and cynical. In spite of this, he displays excellent deductive skills.
Bäckström appeared as a supporting character in the TV mini-series En pilgrims död and Den fjärde mannen. (The main characters in these series were Jarnebring & Johansson.) In both of these series, Bäckström was played by Claes Malmberg.
An American TV Series was made in 2015 entitled Backstrom. The show takes place in Portland, Oregon, USA instead of Sweden, and the character's first name is changed to Everett. However the character's actual personality remains more or less unchanged. Backstrom was played by Rainn Wilson. The show was cancelled after one season.
Jarnebring & Johansson
Several of Persson's novels feature police officers Bo Jarnebring and Lars Martin Johansson, partners and best friends.
In the film Mannen från Mallorca (adapted from the novel Grisfesten) Jarnebring is played by Sven Wollter, and Johansson by Tomas von Brömssen. Two TV mini-series featuring the characters were produced starring Rolf Lassgård as Johansson and Per Svensson as Jarnebring: En pilgrims död (2013) and Den fjärde mannen (2014-15). (These two series also featured Persson's other character Evert Bäckström.)
Anna Holt
Created by Persson, police detective Anna Holt has appeared in both Persson's novels, and in novels by fellow author Jan Guillou. Holt has also appeared in several television adaptations starring Petra Nielsen.