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

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

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.

One of the things I'm really good at is procrastinating.

I've always viewed myself as a brand. When I started 10 years ago, that was very controversial. 'Marketing' and 'PR' were dirty words for the literary world, but that has changed. Once the book is finished, I want as many people as possible to read it.

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.

I do listen to Abba. And a lot of '80s and '90s pop music.