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The Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, a major figure in world politics and an ardent contestant of apartheid, was shot dead on the streets of Stockholm in February 1986. At the time of his death, Palme was deeply involved in Middle East diplomacy and was working under UN auspices to end the Iran-Iraq war. Across Scandinavia, Palme's killing had an affect similar to that of the Kennedy assassinations in the United States-and it ignited closely as galore conspiracy theories. Interest in the Palme slaying was most not so long ago stirred by reports of the death of Christer Pettersson, who was tried for the murder twice, convicted the introductory time, and then acquitted on appeal.

In his investigative account of Palme's still-unsolved murder, the historian Jan Bondeson meticulously recreates the assassination and it is aftermath. Like the best works of crime fiction, this book puts the victim and his death into social context. Bondeson's work, however, is noteworthy for it is dispassionate treatment of police incompetence: the police did not answer a witness's phone call reporting the murder just 45 seconds after it occurred, and further time was lost as the police sought to assert that somebody had actually been shot. When the police arrived on the scene, they did not even recognize the victim as the Prime Minister. This early confusedness was emblematic of the errors that were to follow.

Bondeson demolishes the respective conspiracy theories that have been invented to make sense of the killing, before proposing a convincing comprehensible statement of his own. A brilliant piece of investigative journalism, Blood on the Snow includes crime-scene photographs and reconstructions that have never before been published and offers a gripping narrative of a crime that shocked a continent.

Review

"Bondeson explores a potpourri of assassination theories that have arisen amidst a botched police investigation, conflicting witness testimonies, and Palme's celebrity status. . . . Bondeson delves into the nature of the investigation and the uncertain guilty conscience of the convicted killer-issues that have captivated Swedes and others for almost 20 years."-Library Journal

"Blood on the Snow is a melodramatic title, but the story of the 1980s murder of a Scandinavian politician so stretchings skepticism and credulity that any sober, dry-as-dust academic treatment would have jarred. Jan Bondeson's involved, committed approach is the best way to do full justice to the complexity of an awful case. . . . I doubt if the in a massive manner tangled web round Olof Palme's killing will inspire a more engrossing or a better-researched book."-Joseph Farrell, Times Literary Supplement

"Palme was a arousing and attention holding politician; an aristocrat and deeply devoted socialist. He supported Castro's Cuba, therefore guaranteeing he fell out with the US. He was hated by the opposition who accused him of everything from homosexuality to being a KGB spy so, not surprisingly, when he was murdered the rumour mills begun grinding and a cycle of fantastic explanations and bizarre conspiracy theories emerged. In this well-written book Jan Bondeson attempts to explain why Palme was killed. The result is a non-fiction work that reads like a Tom Clancy political thriller."-Bruce Elder, Sydney Morning Herald

"The story of Olof Palme's murder and the a great deal of turns in the botched murder investigation is genuinely arousing and attention holding and reveals a outstanding deal in regards to Swedish society: the criminal underworld, the police, and social democratic establishment, and possibly, according to the author's own, rather plausible, theory, the arms export business."-Jonas Pontusson, Princeton University

"The murder in February 1986 of Olof Palme was a watershed event. It changed Sweden, forcing on it a soul-searching, and had an incalculable effect on the rest of the world. Jan Bondeson gives a lively and comprehensive account of the crime itself and most meticulously examines the arousing and attention holding ambiguities and inconsistencies of what happened in it is wake. Blood on the Snow ought to surely set us all thinking."-Paul Binding

From the Inside Flap"The story of Olof Palme's murder and the some turns in the botched murder investigation is genuinely arousing and attention holding and reveals a outstanding deal when it comes to Swedish society: the criminal underworld, the police, and social democratic establishment, and possibly, according to the author's own, rather plausible, theory, the arms export business."—Jonas Pontusson, Cornell University

"The murder in February 1986 of Olof Palme was a watershed event. It changed Sweden, forcing on it a soul-searching, and had an incalculable effect on the rest of the world. Jan Bondeson gives a lively and comprehensive account of the crime itself and most meticulously examines the arousing and attention holding ambiguities and inconsistencies of what happened in it is wake. Blood on the Snow ought to surely set us all thinking. "—Paul Binding

About the AuthorJan Bondeson teaches at Cardiff University, Wales. He is the author of galore books, including The Two-headed Boy, and Other Medical Marvels; The Feejee Mermaid and Other Essays in Natural and Unnatural History (both from Cornell); The London Monster; The Great Pretenders: The True Stories behind Famous Historical Mysteries, A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities; and Buried Alive.

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
The 89 Steps: Stairway to an Unsolved Murder
By Leonard Fleisig
*** & 1/2 stars

On February 28, 1986, Olof Palme, the Prime Minister of Sweden was gunned down in the streets of Stockholm while walking home, without any security details, from the movies. According to almost all accounts Palme and his wife, Lisbet, were accosted by a gunman outside a paint store adjacent to an alley. Shortly thereafter shots were fired, Palme lay mortally wounded on the street and the gunman escaped down an alley and then up 89 steps leading to a road on a hill above the alley.

When I heard the news here in the United States I was surprised, to say the least. As a product of the `60s I think I incorrectly related assassinations (JFK, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy) and attempted assassinations (Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan) of political leaders as something that was distinctive to the United States. My surprise was not one thing equated to the horror and shock of the humans of Sweden. The murder has never been solved. Failed prosecutions haunted the Swedish police and exasperated the persons of Sweden. Conspiracy theories and conspiracy theorists have grown and flourished and proceed to thrive closely twenty years after the assassination. Jan Bondeson's interesting and agreeably diverting "Blood on the Snow: The Killing of Olof Palme" provides a comprehensive examination of the murder and it is aftermath.

Bondeson begins the book with a brief overview of the life and political career of Olof Palme. Palme, though born to a wealthy upper-class family, became active in what may best be described as middle of the road socialists ruling party: the Social Democratic Party. He quickly rose through the ranks until achieving the leadership of the Social Democrats, who had eclipsed Swedish politics for at least two decades, and acceding to the position of Prime Minister in 1969. He served as Prime Minister until 1976 when he was voted out of power. The Social Democrats returned to power in 1982 and Palme returned as Prime Minister until his death. Palme was a very well known player on the world stage. His political views, both alien and domestic, were somewhat debatable and those views left him with no shortage of enemies. As Bondeson points out he was exceptionally loathed by Sweden's upper class conservatives who view him as a traitor to his class. This loathing seems remindful of the hatred a heap of old-money conservatives had for Franklin Roosevelt for the duration of the depression.

Bondeson describes the shooting and the varying versions of it, in outstanding detail. He remunerate peculiar attention to what may best be described as a horribly slow and response to the shooting and the spectacularly incompetent investigation by Sweden's police force. Bondeson is not alone in his view that the incompetence and lack of leadership from politically appointed police commanders is principally responsible for the fact that the matters stay unsolved today.

Bondeson describes the basi focus on Kurdish terrorists and the shift to a focus on an alcoholic career criminal with violent tendencies. A botched trial resulted in the reversal of this criminal's conviction of the crime. Bondeson then goes on to describe, and deconstruct, the respective conspiracy theories that have grown around the case. Palme conspiracy groups, popularly known as Palme Detectives, rivaled those of the JFK conspiracy groups.

Bondeson conclude the book by setting out his own theory of the case. He acknowledges that this might cast him as yet another Palme Detective but his theory is well thought out and seems supported by the evidence. Since this story plays out like a mystery novel I won't divulge Bondeson's theory here.

As cited above, I found Bondeson's account both interesting and informative. I would have given this book 4-stars but for galore glaring inadequacies in the editing of this book. As I made my way through the book I came all over what I consider a sizable number of errors of grammar and syntax. Certain sentences seemed tortuously constructed and a couple made little or no sense. It gave me the impression that the manuscript was not subject to a through review by the editors and that the publisher (Cornell University Press) seemed content to publish a draft. This is not the fault of the author. Even the most accomplished author needs somebody to review and edit his/her work with a cold eye for glitches of this sort. I think Mr. Bondeson's work deserved better treatment.

This minor complaint (which is why I think of this as a 3 and 1/2 star rather than 4 star book) does not detract from the fact that Blood on the Snow is a comprehensive examination of a landmark socio-political event in Swedish and European history that has not received extensive coverage here in the United States. I enjoyed reading Blood on the Snow and commend it to any person fascinated in an agreeably diverting and thought provoking piece of usual history that has not received the attention here that it deserves.

4 of 4 persons found the following review helpful.
A murder that must might be solved....
By Laura James
In a coincidence in a case that favors coincidences, I was just finishing this terrific book in regards to this murder case when the news broke of the invention of the weapon. In November 2006, the news is that the .357 Magnum has been found. Will there be a new chapter in this case?

Blood on the Snow: The Killing of Olof Palme by Jan Bondeson is the introductory book in English to totally explore the case, the astounding details of the botched police response, and the "weird theories and urban legends" that have sprung from his death. It was written for American audience and compares the murder to the Kennedy assassination -- which, coincidentally, was today -- and calls the one man tried for the murder but later freed for lack of proof a "Swedish Lee Harvey Oswald."

From the book:

"Once or twice a year, the Swedish public is reminded of the existence of [a special] task strength when the newsprints pick up rumors when it comes to the whereabouts of the murder weapon, or when numerous journalist decides to rehash the old police conspiracy... The murder of Olof Palme is fast acquiring the status of a historical mystery.... Before long, it is status will be similar to that of the hunt for the elusive Jack the Ripper, and respective humans will propose novel suggestions as to who killed the prime minister, safe in the psychological result of perception learning and reasoning that the mystery will never be solved."

Perhaps not, to judge by today's news!

The Swedish media comes off poorly in this book; the news reached America, the UK and Japan before it reached the state tv or radio stations in Sweden. "Like a nation of cuckolded husbands," the author says, "the Swedes were the last to know." The police work was laughable; they in a literal sense kept their dogs leashed.

The story of one early suspect, Viktor Gunnersson, is a soap opera plot. An odd young man who hung around cafes spewing venom in regards to the prime minister while pretending to be an American playboy ended up arrested, released, and hunted by the public right out of the country. He in the long run moved to North Carolina and was murdered himself, the evident victim of a fatal love triangle.

This book sums up all the a great deal of theories, speculates as to galore likely answers, and it is likewise an important lesson on the extreme fallibility of eyewitness accounts, specially in high-profile cases. The author reviews the affirmations of 36 humans who saw at least part of the murder. Many altogether disagreed on the killer's physical description. The author proves that original witness affirmations grew "more reliable" underneath press influence. I cannot support but agree when he concludes, "witnesses are without apparent effort influenced, exceptionally in an extraordinary case like this, and they have a subconscious wish to help the police solve the case. Many sad examples of this tendency may be found...."

This book is a arousing and attention holding exploration of Sweden's most notorious murder, a brutal assassination that left blood not only on the snow but squishing in the boots of Palme's widow. The fresh news of the murder weapon may fetch new answers and a final chapter to this enduring mystery.

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