Jan Mårtenson was best known as a writer, but he mostly described it as his hobby. By profession he was a diplomat, serving as Swedish ambassador and as a high-ranking official in the EU. Among other things, Mårtenson organized the first major international environmental conference in Stockholm in 1972.
He also worked as the King's Chief of Staff in the 1970s.
52 home-detective stories
His debut as an author came when he was approaching 40 years old, and in 1973 Johan Kristian Homan first appeared in “The Murder of the Holy Ghost.” There were a total of 52 detective stories about the antique dealer, where good food and expensive wines play at least as big a role as the plot. The last book came out as late as 2024.
It has been a kind of therapy for me, not least during my almost 15 years at the UN where I held demanding positions. It was often quite chaotic, but then I went out into the lilac arbor, sat down with a typewriter, a glass of dry martini and a smoked Cuban cigar. It was a kind of escape from reality, Mårtenson said in a TT interview in 2022.
“Ahead of its time”
Mårtenson gained a large readership and he also wrote books on a number of other subjects over the years, including history, culture and architecture.
Maria Såthe, manager and publisher at Mårtenson's publishing house Wahlström & Wistrand, describes the author as "far ahead of his time" - a forerunner of today's feel-good literature.
"He wrote detective stories that made you feel good, rather than scared, while also learning about antiques and history, and where, as Jan used to say, more Bordeaux than blood flowed over the pages. He had a cultural education of a kind rarely seen, and he will be deeply missed by his publisher and all his readers," she says in a written comment.
