Leena Lehtolainen is the top female crime author in Finland: her new titles always head straight to #1 on the Finnish bestseller lists.

Leena Lehtolainen is Finland’s bestselling female crime writer and created her successful protagonist, detective Maria Kallio, in 1993. Having already featured in 16 novels and a complete TV series, Maria Kallio is ready for a fresh launch in a TV series coming in fall 2021. Lehtolainen’s novels have been translated into 29 languages and have sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide.

Leena Lehtolainen has also published outside the crime genre; her book The Charm of Figure Skating was voted sports book of the year 2010 in Finland, and A Life in Six Scenes showed her return to literary fiction. 

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 crime novel series. 

And just like the events in Bodyguard, a trilogy that takes the heroine Hilja Ilveskero all around Europe, Lehtolainen’s own work takes her to book festivals, exhibitions and other events across the globe. Leena Lehtolainen is Finland’s bestselling female crime writer and created her successful protagonist, detective Maria Kallio, in 1993. Having already featured in 16 novels and a complete TV series, Maria Kallio is ready for a fresh launch in a TV series coming in fall 2021. Lehtolainen’s novels have been translated into 29 languages and have sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide.