The White Lioness
Originally published in Swedish as Den vita lejoninnan in 1993 and later translated into German as Die weiße Löwin.

Synopsis

From Random House:
In peaceful Southern Sweden Louise Åkerblom, an estate agent, pillar of the Methodist church, wife and mother, disappears. There is no explanation and no motive. Inspector Kurt Wallander and his team are called in to investigate. As Inspector Wallander is introduced to this missing person's case he has a gut feeling that the victim will never be found alive but he has no idea how far he will have to go in search of the killer and the origin of the crime. In South Africa, Nelson Mandela has made his long walk to freedom, setting in train the country's painful journey towards the end of Apartheid. Wallander and his colleagues find themselves caught up in a complex web involving renegade members of South Africa's secret service and a former KGB agent, all of whom are set upon halting Mandela's rise to power. In an increasingly globalised world Wallander and his team are faced with international terrorism which knows no frontiers - they must prevent a hideous crime that means to dam the tide of history.

From Random House:
The execution-style murder of a Swedish housewife looks like a simple case even though there is no obvious suspect. But then Wallander learns of a determined stalker, and soon enough, the cops catch up with him. But when his alibi turns out to be airtight, they realize that what seemed a simple crime of passion is actually far more complex-and dangerous. The search for the truth behind the killing eventually uncovers an assassination plot, and Wallander soon finds himself in a tangle with both the secret police and a ruthless foreign agent. Combining compelling insights into the sinister side of modern life with a riveting tale of international intrigue, The White Lioness keeps you on the knife-edge of suspense.

From Amazon description of the film version:
The third of a series of Swedish mysteries featuring small-town Police Inspector Kurt Wallander (based on the novels of Henning Mankell), this one drops the doughy, middle-aged crime solver in the midst of an international conspiracy. It all starts in South Africa, when a pro-apartheid conspirator sends a gaunt, steely-eyed former KGB assassin (icy Jesper Christensen) and a black hit man to Sweden to train for a unnamed killing. The sleepy little town gets a jolt when their hideout is destroyed in a fireball and the remains found in the ashes--a precision firearm, a sophisticated, high-powered radio, and a severed human thumb--lead Wallander back to South Africa. The scenes of beefy Nordic Wallander in a sea of black faces, appalled at the poverty and a little out of his element but always the egalitarian Swede, are among the best of the movie. Rolf Lassgård plays Wallander as a modest, amiable everyman and a dogged investigator tossed into an extreme situation, fumbling at a shootout and clumsily giving chase through frozen city streets but never shirking duty or danger. Director Pelle Berglund sets a deliberate, at times dawdling pace hampered by obscure side trips into Wallander's private life, but fills the film with a combustible conspiracy and terrific characters, notably Christensen's arrogant, icy killer and Basil Appollis's cool, charismatic South African police detective, John September.

Reviews

• Out of it in Africa by John Mullan for the Guardian Unlimited, 2003-Apr-19
• Inspector Morse meets Sven-Göran Eriksson by Louise France for the Guardian Unlimited, 2003-Sept-07
• Out of cold storage by Susie Maguire for the Sunday Herald, 2003-Apr-06

Links

• Random House page for The White Lioness
• The New Press page for The White Lioness
• Film Afrika page for The White Lioness
• Vanguard Cinema page for the DVD and VHS versions of The White Lioness
• IMDB film page

Language	Title	Publication Date	Translator
Swedish	Den vita lejoninnan	1993	N/A
English	The White Lioness	1998	Laurie Thompson
German	Die weiße Löwin	1994	Erik Gloßmann
Dutch	De witte leeuwin	1999	Cora Polet
French	La lionne blanche	2004	Anna Gibson
Italian	La leonessa bianca	2003	Giorgio Puleo
Spanish	La leona blanca	2003	Carmen Montes Cano
Catalan	La lleona blanca	2003	Carolina Moreno
Basque	??
Norwegian	Den hvite løvinnen	1995	Kari Bolstad
Finnish	Valkoinen naarasleijona
Danish	Den hvide løvinde
Icelandic	??
Portuguese	A leoa branca
Greek	??
Polish	Biała lwica	2005	Halina Thylwe
Slovenian	Bela levinja	2003	Uroš Kalèiè
Turkish	Beyaz Aslan	2001	Fatoş Dilber
Japanese	白い雌ライオン (Shiroi Mesu Raion)	2004	Yumiko Yanagisawa
Korean	하얀 암사자
Vietnamese	??

Film Information
Vanguard Cinema has produced English language versions of this film on both DVD and VHS and both are available to purchase from Amazon.com (see the product list section for details). The movie is interesting but the plot deviates from the book in a number of ways. The film takes place after apartheid has ended and just before Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk are presented with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. The movie does away with most of the overt racism and struggle against it which is found in the book and instead focuses on the assassination attempt and bits of Wallander's personal life. With both the timing changed and much of the driving force behind the plot removed, most of the tension that made the book so compelling is absent from the film. On a positive note, The White Lioness film differs stylistically from the other Wallander movies available on DVD in that it provides a more ordinary and perhaps more realistic representation of Ystad. Jesper Christensen is perfectly cast as Konovalenko. Other notable standouts include Basil Appollis as South African detective John September and Björn Granath as Police Chief Björk.

Mabasha & Konovalenko training	Louise Åkerblom takes a wrong turn	Robert Åkerblom	Kurt Wallander
Linda Wallander	the house of Wallander's father	Kurt visits his father	Baiba Liepa
Svedberg, Ystad Police	Norén, Ystad Police	Martinsson, Ystad Police	Hansson, Ystad Police
Otto Björk Ystad Chief of Police	Marie, Ystad Police	the body is discovered	Louise Åkerblom
Miranda	Matilda	the house	Dekker is dead
John September	Jan Dekker	Konovalenko and Malan	Wierman
Anatoli Konovalenko	Rykoff	Tania	the Russians plan to kill Mabasha
Nelson Mandela	Victor Mabasha	Sikosi Tsiki	Konovalenko's last stand

Product List
Books
Image	Title	Notes	Vendor
	Den vita lejoninnan	Publisher: Ordfront Format: Paperback Pages: ISBN: 9170371670 Released: 2005-Jan Status: In Print Markets:	Ordfront.se
	The White Lioness	Publisher: Vintage Format: Paperback Pages: 384 ISBN: 0099450097 Released: 2003-Sept-04 Status: In Print Markets:	Amazon.co.uk
	The White Lioness: A Mystery (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)	Publisher: Vintage Books Format: Paperback Pages: 448 ISBN: 1400031559 Released: 2003-May-13 Status: In Print Markets:	Amazon.com Amazon.ca
	The White Lioness	Publisher: Harvill Press Format: Hardcover Pages: 372 ISBN: 1860469604 Released: 2003-Apr-03 Status: Available Markets:	Amazon.co.uk
	The White Lioness: A Mystery	Publisher: New Press Format: Hardcover Pages: 500 ISBN: 1565844246 Released: 1998-Aug Status: Available Markets:	Amazon.com Amazon.ca
	The White Lioness	Publisher: Vintage Format: Paperback Pages: 448 ISBN: 0099464691 Released: 2003-Sept-04 Status: Available Markets:	Amazon.co.uk
	The White Lioness	Publisher: The Scorpion Press Format: Leather Bound, numbered and deluxe editions Pages: 439 ISBN: 1873567588 Released: 2003 Status: Available Markets:	Scorpion Press Amazon.co.uk
	Die weiße Löwin	Publisher: Dtv Format: Pages: ISBN: 3423201509 Released: Status: Markets:	Amazon.de
	Die weiße Löwin	Publisher: Zsolnay Format: Pages: ISBN: 3552051880 Released: Status: Markets:	Amazon.de
	La lionne blanche	Publisher: Seuil Format: Pages: ISBN: 2020591936 Released: Status: Markets:	Amazon.fr Amazon.ca
	La leona blanca	Publisher: Tusquets Editores, S.A. Format: Paperback Pages: 504 ISBN: 8483102374 Released: 2003-04 Status: In Print Markets:	Tusquets-Editores.es
	La lleona blanca (Catalan)	Publisher: Tusquets Editores, S.A. Format: Paperback Pages: 488 ISBN: 8483108798 Released: 2003-04 Status: In Print Markets:	Tusquets-Editores.es
Audio Books
Image	Title	Notes	Vendor
	The White Lioness	Publisher: ISIS Audio Books Format: CD Length: Unabridged, 13 tapes, 15 hrs 42 mins ISBN: 0753122960 Released: Status: In Print Narrator: Sean Barrett	ISIS Publishing
	The White Lioness	Publisher: ISIS Audio Books Format: Cassette Tapes Length: Unabridged, 12 tapes, 15 hrs 42 mins ISBN: 0753119447 Released: Status: In Print Narrator: Sean Barrett	ISIS Publishing
DVD & Video
	The White Lioness (2000)	Publisher: Vanguard Films Format: DVD, Region 1, NTSC, Color Aspect Ratio: 4:3 Language: Swedish, English & South African with English Subtitles Rating: Not Rated Released: 2000-June-27 Status: In Print	Amazon.com Amazon.ca
	The White Lioness (2000)	Publisher: Vanguard Films Format: VHS, NTSC, Color Aspect Ratio: 4:3 Language: Swedish, English & South African with English Subtitles Rating: Not Rated Released: 2001-July-17 Status: In Print	Amazon.com Amazon.ca
	Den vita lejoninnan	Publisher: Sandrew Metronome AB Format: DVD, Region 2, PAL, Color Aspect Ratio: 4:3 Language: Swedish Rating: Released: 2003-12-03 Status: In Print	DVD.se
	Henning Mankell 3 Disc DVD Box Set	Publisher: Sandrew Metronome AB Format: DVD, Region 2, PAL, Color Aspect Ratio: 4:3 Language: Swedish Rating: Released: 2003-12-03 Status: In Print	DVD.se
	Die weiße Löwin	Publisher: Format: DVD, Region 2, PAL, Color Aspect Ratio: 4:3 Language: German Rating: FSK 16 Released: 2005-Dec-02 Status: In Print	Amazon.de
	La leona blanca	Publisher: Llamentol Format: DVD, Region 2, PAL, Color Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Language: Spanish Rating: Released: 2006-Mar-23 Status: In Print	DvdGo.com