The Fire Engine that Disappeared (Dramatised): Martin Beck, Book 5

Steven Mackintosh stars as Martin Beck, with Neil Pearson as Lennart Kollberg, in this BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of The Fire Engine that Disappeared.

The Martin Beck books are widely acknowledged as some of the most influential detective novels ever written. Written by Swedish husband and wife team Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, the series set a gold standard for all subsequent Scandanavian crime fiction. Before Kurt Wallander or Harry Hole, Beck was the original flawed policeman, working alongside his colleagues to uncover the cruelty and injustice lurking beneath the surface of Sweden's seemingly liberal, democratic society.

In The Fire Engine that Disappeared, adapted from the fifth book, the apartment of a suspect being staked out by Beck's team explodes, killing three people. Arson and murder isn't at first suspected, but it soon becomes clear that the fire was started on purpose....

Translated by Joan Tate and dramatised by Katie Hims.