The Second Deadly Sin (41 page)

Hjalmar Lundbohm actually existed – but the whole of his relationship with Elina is invented, of course. I make things up and tell lies, that’s my job. I make a mess of Martinsson’s face, and kill dogs.

There are so many people I would like to thank, but on this occasion I must make special mention of the following:

My publisher Eva Bonnier, and my editor Rachel Åkerstedt for your strict but loving assistance, and all the lovely people I have contact with at Albert Bonniers publishing house and the Bonnier Group Agency.

Eva Hörnell Sköldstrand and Sara Luthander Hallström who read my text and encouraged me. Malin Persson Giolito! “Read it with a knife in your hand,” I said, and she produced a machete! My mum and dad, who are mainly to thank for my culture, my origins and my feeling for the part of Sweden where I grew up.

Curt Persson, county custodian of antiquities for Norrbotten, who so generously passed on his vast knowledge of Kiruna around the time of the First World War, and of Hjalmar Lundbohm. Kjell Törmä who allowed me to use his story about when he gave up chewing tobacco, but ended up by drying out wet tobacco in his microwave. Cecilia Bergman, who I ring non-stop with questions
about the work of a prosecutor, and how the law works. Professor Marie Allen at the Rudbecklaboratoriet in Uppsala, who has such fascinating stories to tell about bones and blood that one is tempted to change one’s profession. Chief Medical Officer Peter Löwenhielm, who has helped me with my dead bodies. Niklas Högström, who instructed me about shares in the old days. Jörgen Wallmark at the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi for showing me around the workshops there. Any errors in the book are entirely my responsibility, because I forgot to ask, misunderstood what I was told, or made things up so that they fitted better into the story.

Stella and Leo. Now the book is finished! I know you have been longing for that to happen! Ola, my arctic fox: my love and thanks.

And for those of you who wonder about the meaning of “Hänen ej ole ko pistää takaisin ja nussia uuesti”, I would translate it roughly as follows: “All you can do is put him back again and fuck him once more”. In other words, “He is so awful that you have to recreate him”. My grandmother used to come out with statements like that. The fact that she was a deeply religious Laestadian was no obstacle – language used to be a bit more spicy up in Tornedalen.

ÅSA LARSSON
was born in 1966; she grew up in Kiruna and now lives in Mariefred. She is a qualified lawyer and in 2003 published
The Savage Altar,
which was awarded the Swedish Crime Writers’ Association prize for best first novel. Its sequel,
The Blood Spilt,
was chosen as Best Swedish Crime Novel of 2004, an honour bestowed on
The Second Deadly Sin
in 2012.

LAURIE THOMPSON
is the distinguished translator of novels by Henning Mankell and Håkan Nesser. He was editor of
Swedish Book Review
until 2002.

^†
Laestadianism is a conservative Lutheran sect, based predominantly in Scandinavia. It traces its roots to the teachings of Sami-Swedish botanist Lars Levi Laestadius, in the mid-19th century.