Jungstedt, Mari 1962-

PERSONAL: Born 1962, in Stockholm, Sweden; married; mother of two.

ADDRESSES: Home— Stockholm, Sweden. Agent— Kontakt: Niclas Salomonsson eller Emma Tibblin, Skeppsbron 32, 103 18 Stockholm, Sweden.

CAREER: Writer. Works as radio and television journalist in Stockholm, Sweden.

WRITINGS

Den du inte ser (mystery novel), [Sweden], 2003, translation by Tiina Nunnally published as Unseen, St. Martin’s Minotaur (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS: Mari Jungstedt has worked as a radio and television journalist in Stockholm, Sweden, for well over a decade. During summers, she spends time with her husband and children on the island of Gotland, which is just off the Swedish coast, and which has served as the inspiration for the setting of her mystery series. Unseen, the first title in the series and also the first to be translated into English, first appeared in Sweden in 2003. The novel is a police procedural that follows the investigation into the murder of Helena Hillerstrom. Helena goes out for a run with her dog one morning and is later found dead, having been killed with an axe. On the previous night, her boyfriend took his aggressions out on Helena, making him a prime suspect. But then other women are found murdered, and Detective Superintendent Anders Knutas is called in to investigate. A contributor for Kirkus Reviews remarks that the book includes “foreboding atmosphere, plausible police work, a pat ending, several loose ends and a particularly handsome use of those endless days in a Swedish June.” A Library Journal critic concluded that Unseen was “a solid, compellingly readable police procedural with a nicely rounded protagonist.”

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2006, review of Unseen, p. 603.

Library Journal, July 1, 2006, review of Unseen.

Publishers Weekly, May 29, 2006, review of Unseen, p. 38.

ONLINE

Minotaur Books Web site, http://www.minotaurbooks.com/ (January 29, 2007), author biography.*