New accolades for Elina Backman and her thriller series!

We are super excited to see that thrillerist Elina Backman is a Finnish Literary Export Award 2021 (Tulenkantaja Prize aka the Torch-Bearer Prize) nominee with her chilling second cosy crime novel STILL WATERS RUN DEEP! The award will be presented at the Tampere Book Fair on December 4th. The winner will receive a prize of 5000 Euros and will be part of an export program provided by the Finnish literature export centre FILI.
Elina Backman has also visited Sweden in November to celebrate her nomination for Best translated novel of the year 2021 with her first novel ALL THE KING’S MEN. The competition is a yearly feat organized by Swedish Crime Writers’ Academy (Svenska Deckarakademin).

 

 

The picture here shows the diploma from Sweden in which Svenska Deckarakademin confirms that “När kungen dör is one of the five BEST TRANSLATED CRIME NOVELS of 2021”.

 

ALL THE KING’S MEN

Saana has been fired from her job as a click-bait journalist, so she decides to spend a summer with her aunt in a small-town Hartola. It sounds like a perfect opportunity to take it easy and recover. But when Saana begins to dig into a case of a teenage girl who died 30 years earlier, the peace of the small town is shaken.

Meanwhile in Helsinki a fire-marked body is found at Suomenlinna Sea Fortress, and crime investigator Jan Leino and his team have a new case in their hands. However, the investigation isn’t going anywhere, and Jan fears that the murder at King’s Gate a is just the beginning…

Saana and Jan continue working on their own cases until their paths cross – for more than one reason.

STILL WATERS RUN DEEP

Is evil lurking beneath the calm waters? Still Waters Run Deep is an awaited sequel to the bestselling All The Kings Men!

Three young men are making a documentary film about a mystical hermit, living in the Isle of Sheep in Helsinki. First one of them disappears, then another one. When one of them is found dead in the nearby nature reserve, the police becmes involved.

Saana Havas, recovering from burnout, hears that her  colleague’s younger brother has gone missing and decides to set up a true crime podcast to help with the search. Meanwhile, police commissioner Jan Leino and his team are investigating the disappearance and possible murder of the documentary makers.

When young men disappear and die, it’s ofter regarded just an accident. But could it be that someone is actually hunting for them?

 

ALL THE KING’S MEN
Kun kuningas kuolee, 2020
Otava, 495 pp.

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
ALBANIA: Dritan
CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada
ESTONIA: Varrak Publishers
GERMANY: Piper
HUNGARY: Maxim
ITALY: Newton Compton
LITHUANIA: BALTO
NETHERLANDS: Cargo
NORWAY: Cappelen Damm
POLAND: Czarna Owca
ROMANIA: Lebada Neagra
RUSSIA: Mann, Ivanov and Ferber
SLOVAKIA: Arkus Vydavatelstvo
SWEDEN: Bokfabriken
TV: Aurora Studios

STILL WATERS RUN DEEP
Kun jäljet katoavat, 2021, Otava, 450 pp.

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
ESTONIA: Varrak Publishers
GERMANY: Piper
HUNGARY: Maxim
NETHERLANDS: Cargo
NORWAY: Cappelen Damm AS
POLAND: Czarna Owca
RUSSIA: Mann, Ivanov and Ferber
SWEDEN: Bokfabriken

About author


Elina Backman

Elina Backman is an author and a media & marketing professional living in Helsinki. Elina loves books (all sorts), traveling, cycling and is a host of a Book & Wine Club. She is a creative soul with a commercial mind, and her goal is to find readers globally.

Her debut novel All the King's Men was published in 2020 and immediately gained an enormous amount of attention from the Finnish media, including a praising review by the biggest daily newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. The Havas series is now a best-selling series in Finland and an international TV series is in development. Elina's books have sold over 100 000 copies in Finland.

Together with Heidi Holmavuo, Elina has also narrated the true crime podcast Ratkaisematon (Unsolved), which turned into a full-length audio book as the two crime writers started investigating the murder of a young girl in 1967. They were able to uncover new evidence and their research led the police to reopen the investigation. This story is narrated in the book Unsolved - The Case of Elli Immo.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

How to Face Death

Elina Backman


2022, Crime & Suspense

Before the Polar Night Falls

Elina Backman


2022, Crime & Suspense

Unsolved - The Case of Elli Immo

Elina Backman


2021, Crime & Suspense

Still Waters Run Deep

Elina Backman


2020, Crime & Suspense

All the King's Men

Elina Backman