Leif G. W. Persson | |
---|---|
Leif G.W. Persson at the Göteborg Book Fair in 2005
|
|
Born |
, Sweden |
12 March 1945
Occupation | novelist, criminologist |
Nationality | Swedish |
Genre | Crime fiction, mystery fiction |
Notable works |
He Who Kills the Dragon, Falling Freely, As in a Dream, Linda - as in the Linda Murder Case |
Website | |
www |
Leif Gustav Willy Persson (born 12 March 1945 in ) is a Swedish criminologist and novelist. He was a professor in criminology at the Swedish National Police Board from 1992 to 2012. He is known for his crime fiction novels and for his regular appearances as an expert commentator on notable crime cases in television and newspapers. Between 1999 and 2009, he participated as an expert commentator on the television show Efterlyst on TV3. Nowadays he participates in the television show Veckans Brott with Camilla Kvartoft, which is primarily about unsolved Swedish criminal cases.
In 1977, while working at the Swedish National Police Board, Persson was the whistleblower who worked with journalist Peter Bratt in the so-called Geijer Scandal when he confirmed a classified memo sent by then National Police Commissioner Carl Persson to Prime Minister Olof Palme about the alleged ties of the Minister of Justice, Lennart Geijer, to a prostitution ring in Stockholm. Following this affair he was fired from the National Police Board. The string of events almost drove Persson to suicide, but he soon returned as lecturer at . The prostitution ring affair inspired him to write his first novel, Grisfesten. He returned as a professor at the National Police Board in 1992.
Persson won the Best Swedish Crime Novel Award (Bästa svenska kriminalroman), for three of his novels: Samhällsbärarna in 1982, En annan tid, ett annat liv in 2003, and Den döende detektiven in 2010. This award is a literary prize awarded annually by the Swedish Crime Writers' Academy.