What better way to get to know a man than to get to know his best friend? Håkan Nesser's charming, whimsical and celebratory volume to his beloved dog Norton.

Now don't start getting ideas. I am not a philosopher. I'm a dog. But I look like a philosopher, they say, and I'm not sure the distinction is as great as you might think. I'm what's known as a Rhodesian Ridgeback. My forebears used to hunt lions in Africa, but I'm a modernized urban specimen. I don't hunt much of anything. I was born somewhere on the plains west of Uppsala, Sweden. In the beginning I was blind and tumbled around with my siblings. We pooped and bit each other and nursed, and our mother — who I must admit was kind of a bitch — tried to raise us to the best of her ability. Without all that much success, I must say too. When I was about two months old I was adopted. Two long-legged humans, a man and a woman, came and picked me up, loaded me in a car and drove into town. This is the story of the eleven years we spent together.

"PRAISE FOR HÅKAN NESSER: 'The Swedish novelist Håkan Nesser is in another league' The Sunday Times. 'The godfather of Swedish crime' Metro. 'An award-winning writer who has sold millions worldwide'" - Edinburgh Evening News