Its nighttime on the West Coast of Sweden.
Its a remote area, not quite uninhabited but nothing that anyone would mistake for populated.
One of those cabins is an escape.
Ewa-Marie Rundquist
Two writers live there, having sought refuge from the rest of the country.
But now, lets journey back.
It is also an instant success.
Knopf (2)
behind the novel, which landed on must-read and best-of lists around the world.
The manuscript was submitted by a dummy email address:larskepler@hotmail.comwith no identifying clues.
The Swedes do not take lightly to this mystery.
All to no avail.
After a few failed attempts at writing together, they arrived at the idea of a pen name.
The key to the creation of our series was to create Lars Kepler, explains Alexandra.
When we tried to write together our egos were in the way.
Their collective process is meticulous and always starts with extensive research.
I can absolutely see fragments of people Ive meet in our books, Alexandra says.
Our desk is our old kitchen table, laughs Alexandra.
It has all the traces of things we did with our kids, like baking gingerbread cookies.
But all the seasonal baking in the world cant completely erase the haunting memories of their source material.
There are hazards to the job of crime novelist that go far beyond being stalked by torch-wielding villagers.
I was so happy there were two of us at that point, he says.
You hear the echoes in the corridors.
Alexandra admits she had nightmares every single night while they wroteThe Sandman.
Sometimes we just sit and cry at the computer, she elaborates.
I think you have to have this total connection with your feelings to write this stuff.
That, of course, begs the question: Just how scary is too scary?
For me, real life is much scarier than our books, says Alexandra.
What scares me the most is the lack of mercy, in wars or in sadistic killers.
Not all of their readers agree, but the fans clearly find some comfort in these books.
And all the while the couple plans to continue to churn out new novels.
In other words, for American audiences, this is just the beginning of Lars Kepler.
