Mankell, who had cancer, was one of the leading lights of the Nordic noir genre, with his realistic, hard-bitten crime stories showing the country's darker side.
"He passed away quietly last night in the wake of disease," Mankell's publisher Leopard Forlag said on its website.
The Wallander novels have been adapted into two TV series, including one starring British actor Kenneth Branagh.Krister Henriksson, who portrayed Wallander in the Swedish version, told Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet Mankell had been a great writer and an inspiration.
Mankell, who also wrote screenplays and books for children, divided his life between Sweden and Mozambique. His books have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 40 million copies, according to his publisher.
Mankell, who was son-in-law to Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, had said in 2014 he had cancer.
