The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest in fight for Stieg Larsson's book rights

THe brother of the late Swedish crime novelist, Stieg Larsson, has denied claims by the writer's former partner that the family is trying to milk his posthumous success.

On a talk show due to be aired on Swedish TV last night, Joakim Larsson said he and his father - who inherited the author's estate - plan to donate most of the 250 million kronor (23m) they've earned to date from the popular books to charity.

"How much to keep for ourselves? We've never even thought about it," he said.

However the writer's partner of 30 years, Eva Gabrielsson, is seeking control of his works and claimed the family is simply cashing in on his legacy.

She inherited nothing as they never married and Mr Larsson did not leave a will when he died of a heart attack in 2004 at the age of 50.

His trilogy - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest - became hugely popular after his death, with around 50 million copies sold worldwide.

Ms Gabrielsson holds a fourth, unfinished and unpublished manuscript, in the series but doesn't own the rights. She is refusing to hand it to Mr Larsson's family, saying she wants to complete the story herself.

"They already have so much money. I think there's a limit somewhere," she said on the same TV show last week. "How much are you going to scrape from the bottom of the barrel?"

Her own book, describing her life with Stieg Larsson, went on sale in Sweden this week.

But Joakim Larsson rejected that the family was exploiting the writer's legacy for money. "There are no T-shirts or coffee mugs," he said. "We've paid our lawyers to stop that. We've even received a request about an operetta from Taiwan, but we've said no to that."

He said the family's earnings from the books and the film adaptations would be given to causes that Stieg Larsson supported, including the anti-racist Expo magazine for which he worked as a journalist.

His books became a sensation after the first one was published in the middle of 2005, with the Swedish title Men Who Hate Women, which became The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo when later published in English. Ms Gabrielsson said this week their life together was an integral part of the books, allowing Mr Larsson to produce 2,000 pages of manuscript in just two years.

"His childhood is included, as is mine. Our struggles, our commitment, trips, passions and our worries," she added.

In her own book Ms Gabrielsson outlines which real people and fictional figures inspired characters in the trilogy.

She said Pippi Longstocking - a Swedish animated character - was probably one of the main inspirations for Salander, but that the character also shared some of Mr Larsson's traits, such as an interest in chess.

He was also generally interested in strong women and, when in London, would go to look at the statue of Boudicca, who famously led an uprising against the Romans. "She was one of Stieg's favourite heroes," she added.