As hero-figure in the Millennium Trilogy, Mikael Blomkvist is the embodiment of the investigative journalist, exposing power and corruption; an honest, hard-working watchdog with high ideals, extraordinary intuition, and a nose for what lies hidden beneath the surface. He is obstinacy personified, following wherever the scent leads him, often in the face of powerful opposition. Aiming at rectifying the justice system, he challenges society’s institutions, including his own (more cowardly) colleagues in various sectors of the media industry. Our journalist hero is capable of drawing aside the veil, revealing the criminal perpetrators, the men who abuse women—and democracy.

In real life, Swedish journalists have not always acted as watchdogs; this is a role that has emerged over time. I present a picture of how perspectives in journalism and criminal justice have shifted throughout a number of post-war decades, and then return to Mikael Blomkvist as the personification of an idealized hero, and to our current appetite for crime, both in real life and in the world of entertainment.