THE LOCKED ROOM

That perfectly attuned couple who write alternate chapters of each book — imperceptibly — pose a sterner problem in logistics this time if you try and put two and two together since this is a four-ply story (with still more dour and disconsolate Martin Beck appearing only part of the time). You have not only to solve the locked room puzzle, where a man in an advanced state of putrefaction lies (close to a gastric insult, this one), but to relate it to an all purpose criminal, two professional bank robbers, and a young woman who solos in a bank heist. A feat of clockwork synchronization, all in all, and ably accomplished as before.