Jenny Berthelius

Berthelius was born in Stockholm, on 29 September 1923, the daughter of an office manager father and a mother who was a singer and reciter.[3][4][5] Berthelius was educated at a girls school in Helsingborg, completed in 1940, and passed her upper secondary school leaving examination in 1942.[3][4] From 1978 to 1982, Berthelius studied comparative literature at Lund University.[3]

Berthelius first worked as a secretary,[4] and later worked as a translator and freelance writer, although she is best known for her detective novels.[3] In 1968, Berthelius published her debut novel, Mördarens ansikte (The Killer's Face), followed by one new detective novel every year for the next twenty years.[3] In 2007, Berthelius published her first new detective novel for fifteen years, Näckrosen.[3] Berthelius's earliest novels are traditional whodunnits, and in later works from 1972 onwards, she moved onto more psychological themes.[4][5] Her two main protagonists are Inspector Singer and the novelist Vera Kruse.[4][5] Berthelius wrote 24 crime novels and 28 children's books.[5]

In 1969, Berthelius was awarded the newspaper Expressen's prize for the best Swedish detective novel.[3] In 2004, Berthelius was awarded the Svenska Deckarakademins Grand Master-diplom.[3]

In 1944, she married Sven Berthelius (died 1970), and they had a daughter together.[3] Berthelius died in June 2019.