Swedish author Henning Mankell, best known for a series of mystery novels starring his most famous creation, Inspector Kurt Wallander, has died at the age of 67.
The crime writer revealed he had cancer in a newspaper column in 2014.
Henning Mankell dealt with the experience in his most recent book Quicksand: What It Means To Be A Human Being.
His best-selling mystery novels, which follow policeman Kurt Wallander through Sweden and Mozambique, were turned into a TV drama starring Kenneth Branagh.
The original, Swedish version of the drama starred Krister Henriksson in the title role.
Born in February 1948, Henning Mankell wrote dozens of plays, novels, children’s books and screenplays. But it was for his Wallander series that he was most renowned.
The rumpled and gloomy detective got his name when Henning Mankell ran his finger through a telephone directory, but went on to sell more than 40 million books.
Kurt Wallander first appeared in 1989’s Faceless Killers, investigating a murder in which the only clue is that the perpetrators appear to have been foreigners. When that information was leaked to the public, it triggered a series of racially-motivated attacks in Sweden.
At first, the author was unaware he had created a recurring character, “but then I realized after two or three novels that I had this… instrument who could be useful”.
Henning Mankell divided his time between Sweden and Mozambique, where he ran a theatre company and devoted time to the fight against AIDS.
He was active in the “memory books” project, which encourages parents with HIV to record their stories, not just for their children but for future generations.
Shortly after New Year 2014, Henning Mankell went to see an orthopedic surgeon in Stockholm with what he assumed was a slipped disc. But tests revealed a tumor in his lung, another in his neck, and evidence the cancer had spread throughout his body.
“It was a catastrophe for me. Everything that was normal to me up to that point was gone all of a sudden. No one had died of cancer in my family. I had always assumed I’d die of something else.” He told NPR in 2014
Henning Mankell leaves behind his wife of 17 years, Eva Bergman, the daughter of Ingmar Bergman’s second wife, the dancer Ellen Lundstrom.
Crime writer Patricia Cornwell has won a $51 million lawsuit against her former financial managers, after a jury agreed their negligence cost her millions in losses.
A lawyer for Anchin, Block and Anchin LLP insisted the firm had acted “professionally and appropriately”.
The firm blamed Patricia Cornwell’s losses on the recent recession and on her supposedly extravagant spending habits.
Patricia Cornwell is best known for novels about heroine medical examiner Kay Scarpetta.
In a lawsuit in federal court in Massachusetts, Patricia Cornwell said that in 2009 she discovered her net worth was less than $13 million, even though she had made an eight-figure annual income for the previous four years.
Patricia Cornwell found out “that Anchin had borrowed on [her] behalf collectively several million dollars, comprised of mortgages for real property and a loan for the purchase of a helicopter,” she argued in court documents.
She also accused her financial managers of failing to arrange temporary accommodation for her when renovation on her home took longer than expected.
The lawsuit added that because Patricia Cornwell suffered from bipolar disorder – a condition she says her business managers were aware of – the author’s “ability to write is dependent upon the ability to avoid distractions”.
“A quiet, uninterrupted environment, free of the distractions of managing her business and her assets, including her investments, is essential to her ability to write and to meet her deadlines,” it says.
Crime writer Patricia Cornwell has won a $51 million lawsuit against her former financial managers, after a jury agreed their negligence cost her millions in losses
Patricia Cornwell said that as a result of the disruption she missed a book deadline for the first time in her career.
“This was very destabilizing. I really lost my ability to focus and concentrate. I did not know what the book was about anymore,” Patricia Cornwell said, according to the Associated Press.
In a lawsuit, Patricia Cornwell said the missed deadline cost her about $15 million – a year of income – in book advances and commissions that could not be recovered.
“God bless justice,” Patricia Cornwell said, upon learning of the verdict.
“It’s a huge relief and it’s been a huge ordeal.”
Anchin, Block and Anchin described Patricia Cornwell as a demanding client who would use the firm for everything from arranging care for her mother to taking her clothes to the tailor.
Her former financial manager Evan Snapper denied the writer’s claims during testimony.
“I did not steal any money from anyone,” he said.
“The money was there.”
James Campbell, an attorney for the defendants, said the firm was considering appealing against the verdict.
“We continue to believe the firm acted professionally and appropriately,” he told the Boston Globe.
“For more than 90 years, the professionals at Anchin have built a reputation for honesty and integrity. The firm will endure in spite of today’s outcome.”
