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.

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.

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

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

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

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