The Man Who Went Up in Smoke

A Martin Beck Mystery

By: Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö

Narrated by: Tom Weiner

His holiday with his family has just begun, but a phone call sends Martin Beck packing off to Budapest, where a boorish journalist has vanished without a trace. With the aid of the coolly efficient local police, who do business while soaking at the public baths, Beck must troll about in the Eastern Europe underworld for a man nobody knows - while he is at the risk of vanishing along with his quarry.

The Man Who Went Up in Smoke gives us the dedicated Beck at his most engaging: indulging in the sumptuous Hungarian cuisine, longing for a decent cigarette, and evading a predatory nymphet, even as he pursues a case whose international boundaries grow with every new clue.

Crack another case with Martin Beck.©1997 Random House, Inc. (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Interesting story

Meticulous story line. Classy. Great narration (voice and articulation). Mystery with a classic vintage vibe.

Loved it!

I love the style of writing. You pictures yourself in Budapest. Narrator is great. Story is great.

Excellent series

I really enjoy the Martin Beck books. They can be a little slow or sparse at times but it seems to lend to the mood.

Being written and set in Sweden (usually) adds a unique flavor to the book for me as I have never been there.

A Strong Entry in the Series

This is one of the oddest episodes of the Martin Beck series in that it focuses most clearly on Beck -- the pseudo-protagonist and namesake of convenience -- with the rest of the series' characters barely making an appearance, and Sweden itself disappearing into the distance as Beck travels to Budapest for his investigation.

Kollberg and the other members of the National Murder Squad barely factor into The Man Who Went Up In Smoke, and that is both sad and glad tidings for readers: sad because they are such an important part of most of the stories; glad because it is nice to focus on Martin Beck for a while and just linger on his detachment as he goes through the procedure of figuring out what happened to missing Swedish journalist, Alf Matsson.

It is also nice to see Budapest as a character, and for readers of Henning Mankell or China Mieville, the environs of Budapest will be familiar for completely different but no less fascinating reasons.

Probably the best part of listening to this book, however, is the silky gravel of Tom Weiner's voice. It absolutely IS the Martin Beck novels to me, and in a lesser chapter in the series, like The Man Who Went Up In Smoke, any of the cracks are puttied over by Weiner's delivery. I am guessing Weiner doesn't read the Swedish Language audios of this series, and I feel sad for native Swedes that he doesn't because his voice is a perfect match for the National Murder Squad and their decalogue.

My first Martin Beck

I thoroughly enjoyed my 1st Martin Beck police 🚔 procedural. By mistake I read the 2nd one first. I will probably read 📚 all 10 of them.
A journalist goes missing in Hungary and Martin Beck is sent to Hungary 🇭🇺 from Sweden 🇸🇪 and his family vacation to find him. Not an easy thing to do.
Audio recording.