Moody, introspective Wallander comes to American TV

I don't remember when or where, but it was love at first sight.

Or maybe I should say, love at first reading.

I couldn't tell you the name of the first Henning Mankell novel I picked up, but I know this for sure: once I started reading it, I was hooked. I started looking for other books by this author, then anxiously waited the American publication of titles already on the shelves in Sweden.

Initially I didn't know I'd stumbled upon an international best-selling author. His books, translated into 35 languages, have sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.

I didn't recall even reading anything about him before. (Unfortunately, Americans aren't always that great about reading books from other countries and cultures, though that's starting to slowly change.)

In late 2003, Ian Thomson wrote in The Guardian that despite his popularity all over the world, "Only in America has Inspector Wallander failed to make a significant mark, though he is rapidly gaining a readership." He quotes Steven Murray, one of Mankell's translators, as speculating that for Americans, there isn't "enough wham-bam or violent shoot-out."

Henning Mankell And Mankell's crime novels featuring Swedish police detective Kurt Wallander aren't flashy affairs. He doesn't globe trot while chasing bad guys. He possesses no high-tech gadgets or cars that transform into boats with the flick of a switch. Wallander often hits dead-ends in his investigations. And his cases are solved by persistent, wear-out-theshoe leather police work.

Mankell's prose isn't flashy either. At times, it's deceptively simple. But, like Anne Tyler, he builds a very real, substantial world with his basic, plain sentences. They add up, like snow falling upon snow in the dark of night, or like clues that build up to finally suggest a suspect or motive.

His novels have a strong sense of place. And not only does he often mention the weather, or the time, but has often begun a chapter — or even a book — with that kind of description.

The opening line of "The Dogs of Riga"? "It started snowing shortly after 10 a.m."

Or "Firewall"? "The wind died down toward evening, then stopped completely."

COURTESY PHOTO Kenneth Branagh as Wallander. Then there's the opening of "Before the Frost." "The wind picked up shortly after 9:00 on the evening of Aug. 21, 2001."

And the opening to "The Man Who Smiled":

"Fog.

"A silent, stealthy beast of prey. Even though I have lived all my life in Skane, where fog is forever closing in and shutting out the world, I'll never get used to it."

It's not that his police mysteries read like a marathon viewing of the Weather Channel. Mankell cleverly uses weather and time to ground readers in the locale and action, to create a sense of place and reflect characters' emotional states.

Besides, on a very elemental level, I get great pleasure out of reading about fog and rain and snow and chill while living in a place that's sadistically humid.

I even get a kick out of his name — Henning, which sounds like a gerund, an action word, and Mankell, which looks suspiciously like Man-kill.

And a great part of the appeal is that he's made Wallander so human. Like the rest of us, he struggles through his days. He has an ex-wife, and a daughter he loves but feels distant from. And his own father — an artist who paints the same scenes over and over — disapproves of his job as "a policeman."

Wallander struggles to find his place in the world. And the world, with its new technologies, increasingly horrifying crimes and changing morals, seems to be moving on without him. The novels are a commentary about society.

Like the rest of us, Wallander ages. He grapples with death and illness, distance and change. He faces his own mortality and the mortality of those around him. He has good intentions in his relationships, but too often the demands of his job get in the way.

He can be brooding, introspective.

The books are so much deeper than just an entertaining read. They deal with the major themes of the classics: love, mortality, justice, and are written in a more literary style.

And now, "Masterpiece Mystery!" on public television, is presenting a series of three shows based on Mankell's novels. They can be seen at 9 p.m. Sundays on WGCU-TV throughout the month, except for May 24, which is Memorial Day weekend.

Though the first, based on his novel "Sidetracked," has already aired, it can be seen online at www.pbs.com/masterpiece through June 7.

The shows, shot on location in Ystad, in the region of Skane, is a Left Bank Pictures/Yellow Bird/TKBC series for WGBH, co-produced with The BBC, Degeto, WGBH Boston and Film i Series.

Kenneth Branagh is Wallander. The Emmy Award-winning, Oscar-nominated actor does justice to the role, though I have to admit I was initially wary. He seemed too young, too pretty. Then I realized to my chagrin that I'd been picturing the author, Henning Mankell, as Wallander.

Having previewed the shows, I can gladly say that Branagh does justice to the role and is a very convincing Wallander, appearing haggard, unshaven and sleep-deprived.

In his interview online at www.pbs.com, Branagh reveals that he reads lots of crime fiction, "purely for pleasure," and, like me, stumbled upon Mankell's Wallander books. After he read one, he then searched out the entire series and read them in order.

"I always thought his vulnerability, his rawness, his tenderness and his emotional response to the work he did was one of the things that made him very appealing," Branagh says in his PBS online interview.

And as Wallander, he manages to convey all that that on-screen.

The PBS series is visually appealing too. The shows have a poetic, atmospheric feel to them not often found in police mysteries. The series's superlative look is thanks to Director of Photography Anthony Dod Mantle, who won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography for "Slumdog Millionare."

The Wallander series on "Masterpiece Mystery!" are well worth watching, whether on your TV screen or online.

And here's the good news: PBS is calling these three shows Series I, which holds the promise of more shows to follow.

And it's very likely that people who see the shows will seek out the books.

The United States is finally joining the rest of the world in discovering — and enjoying — the advertures of Kurt Wallander. n