Better Late Than Never

Back in January of this year, I was so excited about Stieg Larsson’s debut novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, that I contacted the books editor of the London Times and suggested that she commission an article about Larsson and his work. But only now that the paperback edition is ubiquitous in bookstores all over the UK, and the hardcover is being shipped out from warehouses all over the United States, does the paper appear to have taken my advice. Writer and critic Barry Forshaw (The Rough Guide to Crime Fiction) called me last week to tell me that he’d been commissioned to compose a feature about the late Swedish journalist-novelist. And when I grabbed my copy of The Times this morning, I was delighted to see Forshaw’s front-page piece in the books supplement.

Forshaw takes a good look behind the scenes of Larsson’s life as well as at the phenomenon his “Millennium Trilogy” has become:

He was a difficult man, but brilliant and multifaceted,” Eva Gedin, of Norstedts, his Swedish publisher, said. “Many Swedes were aware of his bravery in tackling extremist organisations. As for Stieg--well, he could be infuriating, and he wasn’t afraid of making enemies. But most of his enemies were well chosen; as for his friends and associates, frustration with him might result from the fact that he was clearly asking his body to do more than it could cope with.”

Gedin speaks about the late author with a mixture of admiration and regret. “He came to my attention via the recommendation of another journalist, who rang me up and said, ‘You may know about Stieg as an anti-fascist journalist, but did you know he is also an amazing novelist? You have to read this book.’ And so we discovered The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

“When I read it, I told him--on the spot--that we wanted to sign him to a three-book contract. His response was a quiet one. Generally speaking, he was a surprisingly quiet, shy person, except in one area. He was boastful about himself only in respect of his amazing work ethic.

Again, the full piece can be found here.

I spoke with Forshaw this morning and congratulated him on his wonderful article. He laughed modestly, knowing that I had been pestering The Times about doing just such a feature. I am at least glad that Forshaw won the gig. I owe him plenty, as he got me a great deal of work on his latest book project, British Crime Writing: An Encyclopedia, due out in December. Freelance writing is a precarious profession, and I am always impressed by Forshaw, who has actually made a reasonable living from it.