One of the more interesting stories of the world of books for the past couple of years has been the meteoric rise and popularity of the books of Stieg Larsson, a Swedish journalist who died in 2005.

Larsson was the editor of Expo, a Swedish periodical with very definite communist leanings. When he died of a massive heart attack at the age of 50, there was speculation, since unsubstantiated, that he was murdered for his political views.

In any case, he left three completed but unpublished novels. Apparently, he wrote for his own pleasure, mostly in the evenings after work, and had no aspirations to see his work in print. It was known among his friends and acquaintances that he was a fan of British and American crime novels, with Sara Paretsky, Agatha Christie, Val McDermid and Dorothy Sayers among his literary influences.

All three of these novels, now known as the Millennium Trilogy, have been published in Sweden. The first two have also been published in the United States, with the third coming soon.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (released as MEN WHO HATE WOMEN) introduces us to the two main characters of the series - Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. Larsson stated that Salander is actually based on Pippi Longstocking (by Swedish children's author, Astrid Lindgren) and is his idea of a young adult version of her, an intelligent, eccentric woman with tattoos, a photo-graphic memory and unusual social skills.

Blomkvist is an investigative journalist, and, one can argue, slightly autobiographical. The two characters combine for a great story.

THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE was published in hardcover last year, with the trade paperback version due out in a couple of months. And, the third book, THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST will be available in hardcover in May.

Larsson’s estate found some of his unfinished manuscripts, as Larsson intended the series to run through ten books, so there is speculation that we may eventually see a fourth and maybe a fifth book.

In the meantime, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO was made into a movie in Sweden and should be available (with subtitles) here in the United States sometime in March. But if you haven’t already discovered Stieg Larsson, you should get started with reading the book first.