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

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

I don't feel the need to prove myself by writing the next generational novel.

Don't ever get old. With each year that passes, the old Viking idea of jumping off a cliff to one's death looks better and better. The only thing to hope for is that you get so senile that you think you're twenty years old again. That would be fun to relive.

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.

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

In Sweden, we've moved away from the notion that mothers have some magical, special bond with children.