The Man Who Went Up In Smoke

The second volume in the series begun by Roseanna. It's August, and a sunny little island off the coast of Sweden is Martin Beck's chosen destination for his much-deserved break. It lasts only one day. Upon receiving an urgent summons from the highest echelons of the Foreign Ministry, the inspector must return to investigate the disappearance of journalist Alf Matsson, who vanished in Budapest without a trace. Behind the Iron Curtain, the case takes on new dimensions. The task, already complicated by the government's demand for discretion at the height of the Cold War, becomes even more arduous when the detective stumbles upon the Eastern European underworld in search of a man no one seems to know. But Martin Beck is backed by Vilmos Szluka, a suspicious Hungarian police officer who gradually comes to respect his Swedish colleague's methods. When the two compare the information they've gathered, they find numerous gaps, and the international implications of the case grow with each clue. And nothing seems to be related to Alf Matsson's disappearance.