Tuesday 13 July 2010

A fourth Millennium novel from Stieg Larsson?

Stieg LarssonThere is growing interest in the whereabouts of the 4th novel in Stieg Larrson’s Millennium series as the dispute continues between his long term partner and the Larsson family. Mr. Larsson died aged 50 in 2004, before his three Millennium novels were published. So far, the trilogy about a darker side of Sweden, where a tattooed computer hacker and a journalist get entangled in murder mysteries, sex trafficking scandals and secret government units, has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and is selling more than 50,000 copies a day in the United States. A Swedish-language film of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Män som hatar kvinnor) came out last year and was a huge hit. However, Eva Gabrielsson, Larsson’s partner of more than 30 years, has not inherited any of the estimated €20 million estate nor the rights to the books, as they weren't married and Larsson died without making a will. Larsson’s father and brother inherited everything after the author's premature death. Now it has emerged that Larsson left about 320 pages of a fourth novel, including a beginning and an ending, on a laptop computer. It was initially cliamed that the computer was in Gabrielsson's possession but she has said she doesn't want to see any other book in the Millennium series published and said she does not have the manuscript. The Larsson family, who had made Gabrielsson an offer to buy the unfinished manuscript, also claim not to know of its whereabouts. A friend of Larsson’s has confirmed the existence of the 4th book, as he claims to have received an e-mail about the book from Larsson less than a month before his death. Talks between lawyers for the Larssons and Gabrielsson broke down again in June. Millennium fans may have to hold their breaths for a long time yet!

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