Meet Sweden's Best Selling Author and Radical Journalist Stieg Larsson

You can always tell a book's red hot by its ranking and number of weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List. But, what about an author who has several books on the list that show no sign of slowing down? Meet Swedish author and political commentator Stieg Larsson. A longtime journalist and writer, neither Larsson nor his books went mainstream until long after his premature death at the age of 50 in 2004 when his dark and quirky crime fiction was finally published and found an adoring world audience.

The Millennium Series: A Hit with Readers from Around the World

Just prior to his death, Stieg Larsson had finished three detective novels in a trilogy entitled, "The Millennium Series." The books in this collection include "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," "The Girl Who Played with Fire" and "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest." All told, the trilogy has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide and Larsson was named the second bestselling author in the world in 2008. Since then, Publishers Weekly reports that Larsson's "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest" was Amazon's top-selling book in 2010. In addition, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" was Amazon's top-selling e-book of the year.

The Edgy Life and Times of Stieg Larsson

Born in 1954, Stieg Larsson grew up poor and was raised by his grandparents about 400 miles from Stockholm. His grandfather was a Swedish patriot, incarcerated during World War II for his open opposition to the Nazis. It may have been his grandfather's influence that created a narrative for the Millennium Series where good takes on evil with a vengeance. Politics was obviously the topic of discussion at home and, despite Larsson's tender years, certainly had an impact on his life's choices.

After a stint in the military and travels in Africa, where he witnessed bloodshed and unrest in Eritrea, Larsson decided to devote his life to fighting fascism, religious intolerance and racial bias, writing books on honor killings and the extreme right in his native Sweden. For thirty years, he served as Scandinavian correspondent of the British-based international magazine Searchlight, which organizes and rails against racism and fascism. An active member of the Communist Workers' League, Larsson also founded Expo, the Swedish equivalent of Searchlight, and edited its magazine. Larsson's political experiences were formative and certainly spilled over into his fiction. His books are filled with echoes of righteous indignation and violent retribution, served up real and raw to the crime fiction reader's delight.

About Leading Character Lisbeth Salander

When Stieg Larsson was only 15, he witnessed the horrible gang rape of a young girl but did nothing to help. Later, he named the main character of his books after the victim. In addition, sexual violence is at the heart of his trilogy. Larsson portrays Salander's life as equal measures of rough and tumble, and her story becomes a metaphor for the justifiable rage against the right wing extremists groups that Larsson railed against throughout this life.

Lisbeth Salander is also fashioned after a grown up Pippi Longstocking, the girl from Astrid Lingren's world-famous children's book of the same name. Larsson thought that writing about a preoccupied, dysfunctional character like Salander would be far more interesting and important than, say, a female character who has it together. Salandar is described as thin with facial piercings not unlike other outcasts of her generation. She even sports several tattoos, including a wasp on her neck and a dragon on her left shoulder blade, and her locks are dyed jet black.

Death, Controversy and Celebrity

A memoir penned by Stieg Larsson's longtime companion Eva Gabrielsson (with Marie-Françoise Colombani) entitled, "There Are Things I Want You to Know about Stieg Larsson and Me" is pegged for a June 2011 release. This much-anticipated book promises to lift the lid on the love story between the legendary author and Gabrielsson, reportedly the inspiration for his Millennium Series character Lisbeth Salander. No small thing that the book's coming out now, particularly when the author's literary estate has been steeped in controversy since his untimely death years back. The publisher (Seven Stories) is already putting the finishing touches on a high profile US book tour and serial in Vanity Fair.

Fall 2011 also promises the worldwide release of the US film of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, directed by David Fincher (The Social Network) and starring Stellan Skarsgard, Elodie Yung, Christopher Plummer, Mads Mikkelsen and Joely Richardson. The Swedish version of the tale, directed by Niels Arden Oplev, enjoyed box office receipts topping $100 million, making it the largest grossing European film of 2009.

What's Next for Stieg Larsson?

It's been a long time since writers have come up with a singularly unique storyline and cast of characters. Stieg Larsson does this and more in the Millennium trilogy. Too bad he's not around to continue what he started. In the meantime, his books and writing live on.