Swede news for crime publisher

THE surprise success of a series of bestsellers has seen an independent publisher make record profits.

Quercus has published all three of Swedish novelist Stieg Larsson's dark crime thrillers, which have become massive worldwide hits.

Results for the first half of 2010 show revenues almost trebled to 15 million, compared to 5.55 million in the same period last year.

The firm made a profit of 3.4 million compared to last year when it made a small loss.

The books, known collectively as the Millennium trilogy, feature a tattooed computer hacker and journalist who become entangled in a series of violent crimes.

Chief executive Mark Smith said their "continued success" had driven its double-digit growth.

He said: "These books represent the three best-selling fiction titles in the UK over the last six months, and Larsson is the first to have sold more than one million Kindle e-books through Amazon."

Mr Smith said the first book was not an immediate hit and initially he resorted to leaving copies on Tube trains and in taxis in a bid to attract more readers.

More than 30 million copies have been sold worldwide and the stories have been filmed in Larsson's native Sweden.