"The masterful first novel in the Martin Beck series of mysteries ... finds Beck hunting for the murderer of a lonely traveler. On a July afternoon, a young woman's body is dredged from Sweden's beautiful Lake Vattern. With no clues, Beck begins an investigation not only to uncover a murderer but also to discover who the victim was. Three months later, all Beck knows is that her name was Roseanna and that she could have been strangled by any one of...

When a young, unidentified blonde robs a bank and kills an innocent citizen, Martin Beck investigates--as a way to escape the turmoil of his failed marriage--and attempts to connect the crime with the mystery of a corpse with a bullet in its heart that was found in a locked room with no gun present.