The fascinating stories behind what have been rightly called the hottest books on the planet: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

Through insightful commentary and revealing interviews, you will enter the unique world of Lisbeth Salander, Mikael Blomkvist—and of Stieg Larsson himself—discovering the fascinating real-life experiences and incidents involving Swedish politics, violence against women, and neo-Nazis that are at the heart of Larsson’s work.

John-Henri Holmberg, a Swedish author and close friend of Larsson for more than three decades, provides a unique insider’s look into the secrets of the author’s imaginative universe, his life, and his ideas for future books—including the mysterious fourth book in the series, which Larsson had started but not finished at the time of his death.

Included within are answers to compelling questions on every Larsson fan’s mind:

• What makes the Lisbeth Salander character so unique and memorable? Why have so many people from all backgrounds and with all kinds of tastes found The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo so riveting?

• What are the speculations—and what is the truth—about Stieg Larsson’s tragic death at age fifty, just before the publication of his novels, and the bitter battle over his legacy?

• What changes were made in the plots and translations of the novels after Larsson’s death—and why?

• How did Larsson’s early interest in science fiction and American and British crime writers feed into his creation of the Millennium trilogy?

• What were Larsson’s ideas for the fourth book, and are there any clues to the plots he imagined for his ten-book series? Will we meet Lisbeth’s twin sister, Camilla, or any of her other seven siblings that Zalachenko tells her she has?

• Does Lisbeth Salander give feminism a new definition?

• What will happen in the contentious battle between Stieg Larsson’s life partner, Eva Gabrielsson, and his father and brother over the future of the books, as well as the billion dollars at stake in his legacy?

• Who are the emerging Swedish crime writers we should pay attention to now?

• And much, much more!