Writer and journalist Maj Sjöwall was born in Sweden in 1935. She was a reporter and art director at several newspapers and magazines. From 1959 to 1961, she was an editor with the publishing house Wahlström and Widstrad. She met Per Wahlöö in 1961 and they married the following year. Together they wrote all ten novels in the Martin Beck Police Mystery series from 1965 to 1975. In 1971, The Laughing Policeman (a translation of Den Skrattande Polisen) won an Edgar Award for Best Novel.
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