Camilla Läckberg, 'queen' of crime fiction: "We live in dark times for women."

The Fjällbacka Murders by Swedish writer Camilla Läckberg is a worldwide phenomenon with more than 35 million copies sold worldwide, a story that returns to the small screen with Erica , a series produced by the considered 'Swedish queen of noir' in which she shows her alter ego as a model of equality "in dark times for women."

Erica , which premieres on Warner TV, has six episodes inspired by her novels The Ice Princess, The Cries of the Past and The Daughters of the Cold , three of the eleven that make up her famous 'Fjällbacka series' in which she narrates the crime-filled life of the crime novelist Erica Falck and the detective Patrik Hedström (played by Julie de Bona and Grégory Fitoussi in the series).

In this case, the Franco-Belgian production series moves from the original Sweden of the books to Port-Clément, a small fishing village converted into a tourist destination in a plot full of police intrigue, crime and romance and where nothing is what it seems.

“What I love about the series is that it's so faithful to the story and the characters. When I read the first draft, I could recognize the characters even though the setting was a little different. The biggest challenge was finding the right actors . And I loved the result,” Läckberg said in an interview.

The story begins when Erica returns to her hometown to manage her parents' inheritance and finds the body of her childhood friend in what appears to be a suicide.

Erica, a character inspired by the author herself, is "perfect" in the French version of the series. She has that warm, quirky, and playful air. I was terrified that she might have a very cold demeanor, because Erica is your 'girl next door.' I'm very childish, so I identify with her," the author says.

Erica is the focus of her books and the series. A very strong and empowered woman who “ can be a role model for feminism today . I wanted to create a normal woman, one of us who fights and is a combination of wife, mother, and professional. Someone who would be tough, formidable,” she adds.

In this sense, for Läckberg (Fjällbacka, Sweden 1974), we are still a long way from achieving equality : “Absolutely. We still live in a patriarchal world. There are many women who are fed up; in recent years we have had a reaction, but we are living in dark times for women.”

Läckberg reveals that if she hadn't been a writer, she would have liked to be a police officer : "I always liked crime, and my father was a police officer. There's a lot of 'Freudian' in there. But I wanted to be a detective and be on the streets, which is something that put me off."

For now, she's filling that need by writing crime novels, something much easier for her than normal life: "I have four children, so family life is definitely harder than writing."