Leena Lehtolainen
Hard-boiled Realism from a Female Perspective
Leena Lehtolainen is the bestselling female crime author in Finland. Her new titles head straight to #1 on the Finnish bestseller lists. In addition to her career as an author, she has also worked as a literary researcher, columnist, and critic.
In her free time, Lehtolainen enjoys all kinds of music from 70’s punk to Schubert and Bach – just like Maria Kallio, the heroine of Lehtolainen’s bestselling crime novel series. And just as events in the Bodyguard (Henkivartija) trilogy take the heroine Hilja Ilveskero all around Europe, Lehtolainen’s own work takes her to book festivals, exhibitions and other events across the globe.
Lehtolainen published her first novel at the age of 12; this work of juvenile fiction Ja äkkiä onkin toukokuu (And Suddenly It’s May) appeared in 1976. Five years later came her novel Kitara on rakkauteni (My Guitar Is My One True Love, 1981), about a teenage band.
The 1993 book Ensimmäinen murhani (My First Murder) kicked off Lehtolainen’s first crime novel series, which has brought an enthusiastically-received female perspective to the male-dominated detective genre through its distinctively downto-earth heroine Maria Kallio. Minne tytöt kadonneet (Where Have All the Young Girls Gone, 2010) is the 11th installment of the bestselling Maria Kallio series.
Praises:
“Finland’s answer to Henning Mankell” – Brigitte
“Lehtolainen’s crime series has reached a cult status already.” – Bunte
Lehtolainen recently introduced a new female lead, bodyguard Hilja Ilveskero. The first novel of this trilogy, Henkivartija (The Bodyguard), appeared in 2009. Lehtolainen has also published outside the crime genre, most recently the work Taitoluistelun lumo (The Enchantment of Figure Skating), voted sports book of the year in Finland for 2010.
Over 2 million copies sold worldwide – rights sold to 25 countries.
LEENA LEHTOLAINEN: MARIA KALLIO crime series
RIGHTS SOLD:
Czech Republic, Hejkal
Denmark, Bazar
Finland, Tammi
France, Gaia
Germany, Rowohlt/Kindler
Hungary, Animus
Israel, Penn Publishing
Italy, Fanucci
Japan, Tokyo Sogensha
The Netherlands, A W Bruna
Norway, Bazar
Poland, Rebis
Romania, Hardcover & Paperback SRL
Russia, Ast
Spain, Destino
Sweden, Bazar
Taiwan, Linking
Turkey, Bizim Kitaplar
USA, Amazon Publishing
Read more about Leena Lehtolainen at:
Written by Leena Lehtolainen
Where Have All the Young Girls Gone
Rights sold: Chinese (Complex), Danish, German, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Swedish, World English
The new installment of the Maria Kallio series is a chronicle of xenophobia and hate. Maria Kallio is investigating the disappearance of three Muslim girls – and the killing of another.
Maria Kallio, working on an EU project training Afghani police, travels to the opening ceremonies for the country’s new police academy, with disastrous consequences. Upon returning home to Finland, Maria begins work in the Espoo Special Crimes Unit and is assigned to investigate the disappearances of three immigrant girls. The girls frequented the same girls club as Maria’s daughter Iida.
Then the body of a fourth Muslim girl is found in the snow, strangled with her own headscarf. Are the cases related? Is a serial killer on the move? Or did the girls’ families have something to do with the disappearances?
Leena Lehtolainen’s Where Have All the Young Girls Gone is an engrossing exploration of the collision between tradition and the new multicultural Europe. It is a journey into a world where daily life is defined by ancient belief and deeply ingrained, habitual perception. Who is in the right when there are two truths?
Praise:
“Once again Lehtolainen manages to bring out a serious topic in a natural context.” – Vantaan Lauri
The Bodyguard Trilogy
The Bodyguard Trilogy is a roller coaster ride of a thriller about the multifaceted nature of human identity and its concealment. Who is on whose side? Who can be trusted? What is each person’s price? Who is each person willing to betray or to save?
Written by Leena Lehtolainen
Book 1: The Bodyguard
Rights sold: German, World English
Recently Leena Lehtolainen started a new thrilling trilogy with another convincing female lead, Hilja Ilveskero. The first novel of this trilogy, The Bodyguard, came out in 2009.
The underlying theme of the trilogy is a series of questions about identity and concealment. Who is each person really? What disguise is each person using? What does it mean to be family? What language does each person speak and under- stand, and what is each person’s secret language? Finnish is a good secret language—few people understand it—and Finland as a country is a safe 3 haven for many an international criminal. Who is on whose side? Who can be trusted? What is each person’s price? Who is each person willing either to betray or to save?
Written by Leena Lehtolainen
Book 2: The Lion of Justice
Rights sold: German, World English
The Lion of Justice is the second independent novel featuring the American-trained bodyguard Hilja Ilveskero. As the novel opens, Hilja is visiting her lover, David Stahl, in Italy. Stahl is hiding from a Belorussian mob boss, whose plans to sell the dangerous Strontium-90 isotope Stahl prevented. Stahl disappears mysteriously, and Hilja returns to Finland. With the aid of Stahl’s mobile phone, she tries to determine the identity of a man she found shot in Stahl’s room…
Published in August 2011, the novel immediately hit the top of Finland’s official bestseller list and the bestseller list of Adlibris, the biggest online bookshop in the Nordic countries!
Written by Leena Lehtolainen
Book 3: The Devil’s Cubs
Rights sold: German, World English
The Devil’s Cubs (working title) tells the story of Hilja’s chilling search for her halfsister. Things and people are not what they seem, and hidden truths are revealed in rapid succession. In the end of the trilogy Hilja also gets to pay back her father for killing her mother when she was a child.
Coming up in 2012
Elina Ahlbäck Literary Agency Oy Ltd.
info(at)ahlbackagency.com | +358 400 512 101 | www.ahlbackagency.com | Korkeavuorenkatu 37, FI-00130 Helsinki, Finland
