Stieg Larsson's Thriller Legacy

“Swedish thriller” can sound like a contradiction in terms — but not when the thriller is the super global bestseller “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.”

Its heroine — a four-foot-nine-inch, pierced-and-tattoed hacker-punk-savant elfin ball of violent fury named Lisbeth Salander — is like no other you’ve ever met, except maybe her distant pigtailed cousin, Pippi Longstocking.

Its author, Stieg Larsson, a real-life Nazi-hunting Swedish crusader, wrote three killer mysteries all at once, and died. Another mystery.

This hour, On Point: the Swede who played with fire and “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.”

Guests:

Edward Kastenmeier, vice president and executive editor for Vintage/Anchor and editor of Stieg Larsson’s books in paperback: "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," "The Girl Who Played With Fire," and "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest."

Lasse Winkler, editor-in-chief of of Svensk Bokhandel, akin to a Publishers Weekly, and a former investigative journalist.

Niels Arden Oplev, director of the new film, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo."