October 6, 1997

October 6, 1997, is the date on which Tynnes Falk dies beside a cash machine in Ystad and Kurt Wallander begins investigating the circumstances. The novel marks the day through a sharp change of scale: a private, ordinary check of an account balance ends in sudden death, while the morning brings Wallander into a separate encounter with loss and, soon after, the first report of Falk’s case.

The Night of Falk’s Death

Just after midnight on Monday, October 6, Falk checks his account balance at a cash machine near the Inland Revenue. He makes no withdrawal; the slip shows a balance of 9,765 kronor, with earlier withdrawals recorded for Friday and Saturday. As he studies it beneath a street lamp, he is struck by sudden, violent pain, falls forward with the paper still in his hand, and dies. A truck bound for the night ferry passes before calm returns to the streets.

Wallander’s Morning

A few hours later, on the morning of October 6, Wallander leaves Mariagatan in Ystad for a funeral. He takes the coast road rather than the direct route to Malmö and reflects on the deaths that have marked his recent years, including those of his former mentor Rydberg, his father, and his colleague Svedberg. The date therefore holds two different encounters with death: Falk’s abrupt end and Wallander’s deliberate, reluctant attendance at a funeral.

The Case Enters the Day

At around 1 a.m., a patrolman reports a man lying dead in front of a cash machine outside a department store. Later that morning, Martinsson tells Wallander that the man was Falk, a 47-year-old computer consultant who lived nearby. Falk’s wallet and money remain with him, and he has the account-balance slip in his hand; the cause of the head wound is not yet clear. The details make the death a puzzle rather than an apparent robbery, turning October 6 from a calendar marker into the starting point of an investigation.