Martin Österdahl has studied Russian, East European studies, and economics. He worked with TV productions for twenty years and was simultaneously the program director at Swedish Television. His interest in Russia and its culture arose in the early 1980s. After studying Russian at university and having had the opportunity to go behind the Iron Curtain more than once, he decided to relocate and finish his master's thesis there.

The 1990s were a very exciting time in Russia, and 1996, with its presidential election, was a particularly crucial year. Seeing history in the making inspired Österdahl to write the first novel in the Max Anger series, Ask No Mercy. The series has been sold to more than ten territories and is soon to be a major TV series.

About the Translator

Peter Sean Woltemade is an American-born literary translator who has been based in Copenhagen since 2004 and has lived in Germany and Sweden for several years, respectively. His work has appeared in Border Crossing, Columbia, Exchanges, K1N, Pusteblume, Storm Cellar, the Brooklyn Rail, the Cossack Review, the Literary Review, the Missing Slate, and Wilderness House Literary Review. He is the translator of more than a dozen published books, including Kurt Jacobsen's Haldor Topsøe (Historika/Gads Forlag, 2015); Stefanie Ross's Nemesis (AmazonCrossing, 2016); and Kurt Jacobsen and Anders Ravn Sørensen's CBS (Historika/Gads Forlag, 2017). He has worked with translators Shaun Whiteside, Maureen Freely, Sasha Dugdale, Katy Derbyshire, Karen Emmerich, and B. J. Epstein; and with authors Julia Butschkow, Kristof Magnusson, and Kristina Sandberg.