Amid the phenomenal success of the late Stieg Larsson's Millenium trilogy -- including the summer blockbuster "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" -- the literary world has speculated about a fourth novel. According to the Associated Press, the Swedish author had written 320 pages, including a beginning and an end, on his laptop when he died at age 50 in 2004.
The AP says that only two people know about the manuscript's content: longtime partner Eva Gabrielsson, who has said she has the laptop (and later denied having it), and a friend who received an e-mail about the book from Larsson less than a month before his death.
The whole matter is clouded by Swedish inheritance law, which cuts Gabrielsson out of a very, very lucrative estate because she and Larsson were not married. She and his heirs continue to negotiate.
I bet Mikael Blomkvist could track down the elusive laptop, and Lisbeth Salander would kick some butt to get it. Short of that, here's my prediction: After Larsson's heirs give Gabrielsson a cut of the estate, the mysterious manuscript emerges. She or another writer finishes the novel, which receives poor to mediocre reviews. But it is a huge best-seller, and everyone walks away with another pile of kronor.