Ruth Rendell, who has read all of Mankell's novels in the original Swedish, believes the landscape of the text to be very important to the reader. If you are a truly dedicated fan of Mankell then you may wish to visit the country where all the action of the novels takes place and to see it for yourself.

This review of Ystad gives you an idea of what you have to look forward to:

"We were slightly worried about visiting Ystad. As any reader of the Inspector Wallander novels will know, Ystad has almost as high a murder rate as Morse's Oxford. In the end, it turned out to be a treat.

The town is a little gem. Old wooden buildings, pretty courtyards, a winding stream through the park, at every turn, it was a surprise. It even had a really quite good chandlers, in an old railway station.

It also has one really good loony feature. Every night, from 9pm to 3am, a night watchman ('council employee' in the brochure - no silly titles for the Swedes) blows an ancient horn from the top of the church in the square every 15 minutes to show all is well. If you stand underneath, you can see the horn emerge from a small window and then disappear again. We spent ages speculating what he does in between the 15 minute blowing sessions! (Hoovering?). The horn blowing can be heard all over town - even from the marina.

Ystad is the ferry port for Bornholm and Poland, but it wears it lightly. The port is compact and easy to get away from, and even the traditional pedestrianised shopping centre has more character than most.

Predictably, there is a 'Wallander tour' where, for 30 Kronor, an ancient fire engine takes you past all the locations mentioned in the books - you can even have a 'Wallender Coffee' in the xxx Konditori, where he would sit and brood after a heavy piss-up the night before. In truth, we expected something much more dour - in the books, he can be a bit miserable after all, so the town was an unexpected pleasure.

There are a number of good restuarants, although the majority were Italian/Pizza."

www.kissen.co.uk

For those interested in the Wallander Tour here are the details. We advise that you contact the Swedish and Ystad tourist boards to get the best out of your holiday:

* 'In Wallander's foot steps' trips with the Frivillige Bergnings Corpsen (volunteer firemen) run every Tuesday and Thursday from 6/7-12/8. There are four trips a day from 18.00 to 20.30. For more information and advanced bookings (obligatory), contact Ystad Tourist Office, S:t Knuts torg, tel. +46 411 577681.
* In Wallander's foot steps, a free pamphlet with map and other information about Kurt Wallander can be found at the Tourist Office.
* Paperback copies of all Inspector Kurt Wallander books can be bought at the Ystad Tourist Office (Swedish and German) as well as a detailed guide about Ystad and Wallander in German.
* A newly released Wallander-CD is available in Swedish, German and English. The CD is on sale in the Ystad Tourist Office.
* Table mats with a map showing 'Wallander sites' can be bought in Swedish, German and English at the Ystad Tourist Office.

Information: Ystad - A guide to the town, villages & countryside, Ystad Tourist Office
www.ystad.se/Ystadweb.nsf/AllDocuments/C27377E1759D956CC1256ED9002D0ACB