The family of Steig Larsson, the Swedish crime writer who died five years ago, are engaged in a bitter fight over the proceeds from the sale of his books.
Larsson, who was largely unknown before his sudden death at age 50, has become one of the most successful writers in the world, selling 20 million of his books to date in Europe alone. Last year he was the world's second best selling author after Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner, and his estate is thought to be worth more than £20m.
But because he and Eva Gabrielsson, his partner of 32 years, never married and he died without making a will, the proceeds have defaulted to his blood relations, provoking controversy in Sweden and displeasure from Gabrielsson, the Guardian reports.
Erland and Joakim Larsson, the author's father and brother, this week made Ms Gabrielsson a public offer of £1.75m to settle the dispute, telling the Swedish paper Svenska Dagbladet, "We have to move on." Ms Gabrielsson's response was curt: "You don't solve these things via media. It is so low. My lawyer will have to answer any further questions."
She has previously accused the Larsson family of seeking to "make money from someone who can't defend himself", saying it would make her partner "absolutely furious", and accusing Erland and Joakim of not being part of Stieg's life while he was alive.
But Erland Larsson said it was he who had insisted that his son write "something commercial", and that the Millennium trilogy, the third title of which was published in Britain last month as The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, was the result. Gabrielsson, he said, had resisted moves to come to a settlement.
From: the Telegraph
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