Crime & Thriller

When the King Dies

When the king dies
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Opening of a new detective series, that became an international hit within weeks!

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 be 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.

 

Coming up: Book #2 Isle of Sheep coming in June 2021

Rights sold:

FINLAND (orig.): Otava
ALBANIA: Dritan
CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada
ESTONIA: Varrak (2-book-deal)
GERMANY: Piper Verlag (2-book-deal)
LITHUANIA: BALTO
NETHERLANDS: Cargo/De Bezige Bij (2-book-deal)
NORWAY: Cappelen Damm (2-book-deal)
POLAND: Czarna Owca
SLOVAKI: Arkus
SWEDEN: Bokfabriken (2-book-deal)

TV RIGHTS: Aurora Studios

Ripple Effect

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Maria Kallio Series has sold over 2 million copies worldwide and been translated into 30 languages. The 15th book will surely catch one’s ear!

Maria Kallio is getting ready for her daughter’s graduation when her cat brings her a human ear. She takes it to the forensic lab and doesn’t think any more of it.

Maria and her team are assigned to investigate a rape of a young woman when things start to heat up. The accused rapist is a young man with an immigrant background, which causes a lot of racism and heated discussions in the papers and media. Angry fathers are organizing a street patrol to keep their daughters safe, and when Rahim is released from the police station, his safety is not guaranteed. Maria and her team are working to solve a new case, but online trolls are targeting them and doing everything to distract them. But when Maria is almost killed by an earless driver, it makes her wonder if all the harassment is related to the case, or could it be something more personal?

Rights sold:

FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
GERMANY: Rowohlt

TV & FILM RIGHTS: MTV3/C More

Pulse

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Don’t trust anyone. Don’t panic. A suspenseful mystery set in the darkness of Lapland. For the fans of Liane Moriarty, Paula Hawkins and A.J.Finn.

New layers are added to the relationship between passionate world-improver Leia and hacker Timo, when Leia is left alone as a hostage in a cottage in the middle of winter. Has the man gone mad or are they both in danger? The idyllic Northern Lights dance in the sky outside, but inside the cabin things are getting more dangerous. The Hitchcockian suspense deepens, when the AI in the cottage suddenly starts to talk to Leia. But the biggest surprise is yet to come….

A standalone sequel to the award-winning Rear Window and Siren.

 

Evil’s Net

Evil's Net, Jessika Niemi #2
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Standalone sequel to New York Times Best Seller, Faithful Reader aka The Witch Hunter – rights sold to 40 countries and Hollywood!

Jessica Niemi has another mystery on her hands: Two famous Instagram bloggers go missing, and a strange picture is uploaded
on both of their accounts. It’s a picture of an old lighthouse on a rocky island. And underneath there’s a poem. A poem that describes their deaths…

Jessica starts to investigate the disappearances and soon she finds out that the two bloggers have been sharing a secret that got them involved in something very mystical and dark.

Rights sold:

FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
BELGIUM: A.W. Bruna (2-book deal)
BULGARIA: EMAS (2-book deal)
CANADA: Berkley/Penguin Random House (2-book deal)
CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada (2-book deal)
DENMARK: Gutkind (2-book deal)
ESTONIA: Pegasus (2-book deal)
FRANCE: Michel Lafon (2-book deal)
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe (2-book deal)
GREECE: Livani (2-book deal)
HUNGARY: Animus (2-book deal)
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji (2-book deal)
MACEDONIA: Matica (2-book deal)
NETHERLANDS: A.W. Bruna (2-book deal)
NORWAY: Aschehoug (2-book deal)
POLAND: Sonia Draga (2-book deal)
PORTUGAL: Bertrand Editora (2-book deal)
ROMANIA: Litera (2-book deal)
SERBIA: Vulkan (2-book deal)
SLOVENIA: Didakta (2-book deal)
UNITED KINGDOM: Welbeck Publishing UK (2-book deal)
UNITED STATES: Berkley/Penguin Random House (2-book deal)

The Oathbreaker

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A man is abducted at Helsinki airport and left to drown in a remote lake. He survives and a journey for answers begins!

#crime #revenge #espace #secretsfromthepast

Aino is a ranger, located at a distant corner of the Finnish wilderness. One day she finds a man fighting for his final breath. The man, Tomas, has been abducted at the airport, drugged, and abandoned to die. Aino saves his life, and when Tomas recovers, together they hope to find out what happened and why. Tomas learns that he has gotten involved in a murderous plot by bloodthirsty motorbike gang.

Do they stand a chance against their new enemies? Can they find a way out of the nightmare that someone else has started? Or is it time to break the oaths, made so long ago…

 

Rights sold:

FINLAND: Tammi (orig)

ESTONIA: Pegasus
LITHUANIA: BALTO

Faithful Reader a.k.a. The Witch Hunter, by New York Times Bestselling Author, Max Seeck!

the witch hunter
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The coolest Nordic Noir comes from Finland! In this psychological thriller from New York Times bestselling author, Max Seeck, a strong female detective chases a serial killer.

Detective Jessica Niemi is called to investigate a murder case that is out of ordinary. The wife of a famous writer, Roger Koponen, seems to have been killed in a bizarre ritual. As more ritual murders occur, it becomes obvious that Jessica is after a serial killer.
But the murders are not random – they follow a pattern taken from Roger’s bestselling trilogy. Has a fan gone mad, or is this case more personal? How can Jessica stop a criminal who knows every detail of the book even better than the author?

Rights sold:

FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)

ALBANIA: Muza
ARABIC: Arab Scientific Publishers (World Arabic)
ARMENIA: Guitank
AZERBAIJAN: Alatoran
BELGIUM, A.W. Bruna (2-book deal)
BULGARIA: EMAS (2-book-deal)
CANADA: Berkley/Penguin Random House (2-book-deal)
CROATIA: Fokus
CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada (2-book-deal)
DENMARK: Gutkind (2-book-deal)
ESTONIA: Pegasus (2-book-deal)
ICELAND: Forlagid
ISRAEL: Tchelet Books
ITALY: Piemme/Mondadori
FRANCE: Michel Lafon (2-book-deal)
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe (2-book-deal)
GREECE: Livani (2-book-deal)
HUNGARY: Animus (2-book-deal)
KOREA: Cheongmirae
LATIN AMERICA: Editorial Maeva/Maeva Noir
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji (2-book-deal)
LITHUANIA: Baltos lankos
MACEDONIA: Matica (2-book-deal)
NETHERLANDS: A.W. Bruna (2-book-deal)
NORWAY: Aschehoug (2-book-deal)
POLAND: Sonia Draga (2-book-deal)
PORTUGAL: Bertrand Editora (2-book-deal)
ROMANIA: Litera (2-book-deal)
RUSSIA: AST
SERBIA: Vulkan (2-book-deal)
SLOVENIA: Didakta (2-book-deal)
SLOVAKIA: Motýľ
SPAIN: Editorial Maeva/Maeva Noir
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
TURKEY: Doğan Kitap
UNITED KINGDOM & COMMONWEALTH: Welbeck Publishing UK (2-book deal)
UNITED STATES: Berkley/Penguin Random House (2-book-deal)

TV RIGHTS: Stampede Ventures

Dark Light

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The son calls. The father answers. The next night begins the destruction. A new fast-paced psychological thriller about a parent’s love for their son – and the crimes committed to protect him.

Henrik Valli despises his drug addict son, Niko. They’ve been an unhappy family as long as they can remember. Henrik has done his best to purge Niko from their life. But one night the telephone rings. Niko has made a bigger mess of his life than Henrik ever feared. A father’s love wins out: he has to help his son. It requires a crime.

Henrik’s wife, and Niko’s mother Anna, is a police detective, and they have to hide the crime from her. But that’s easier said than done, and soon the family enters a nightmare, in which everyone’s notions of right and wrong must be re-evaluated. What are you willing to do to protect your child?

Silphium

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Continuation to the culinary crime series about the top chef Riku Mäki, known from the novel Fugu!

The top chef Riku Mäki faces danger again, when a Japanese billionaire – who’s also known for his culinary ambitions – sends him off to Greece to track down an ancient delicacy called the silphium. The billionaire is, however, not the only one who wants to find this legendary spice, which according to the story was last tasted by the emperor Nero himself.

The Killer’s Girlfriend

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In The Killer’s Girlfriend, Lehtolainen delights the readers with short stories featuring the loved protagonists of her Maria Kallio and The Bodyguard books, but expands also into mystery and ghost stories. How does a librarian become a killer’s girlfriend? Is love stronger than death, and can a child have three fathers?

The capturing stories take their characters in unexpected situations and don’t let the reader off the hook.

Goblins — Journey into the Darkness

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The world’s first goblin thriller!

When author Antti Leikas suddenly receives several generous research grants for as weird a project as goblin studies, alarms should go off. When he sits in dusty libraries around Europe and feels under surveillance, alarms should go off. And when a pretty representative from the Finnish Cultural Foundation appears at his door asking about goblins, alarms should be ringing all out.

But Leikas is a man with no fear, and so he finds himself amid events that threaten the existence of the whole universe. In the heat of crashing airplanes, threatening commando troops, and suspicious book publishers, Leikas finds out about the real powers linked to the goblins’ existence. He will have to face the forces unleashed by his exploration.

Goblins takes the reader on the verge of ultimate questions—and plunges into the depths of an assuredly unprecedented thriller. What are souls? What is our universe built of? How efficiently does goblin Koponen’s liver burn alcohol? Jump in, and you will know. This is a journey into the darkness.

Rights sold (Goblins):
FINLAND, Siltala
CZECH REPUBLIC, Paseka

The Russia Account

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Imagine a Rei Shimura mystery dropped into the business world and you have Anniina Tarasova’s debut novel, The Russia Account. The main character, Reija Wren, is a hardnosed yet blithe, imperfect heroine, whose job as an internal auditor-cum-corporate detective in the Russian subsidiary of a Finnish company takes a deadly turn.

Reija Wren receives the chance of a lifetime when she’s assigned to travel to St. Petersburg to conduct an internal audit for her company. After years of having her career languish in the shadow of her father, the chairman of the corporation, Reija now leaves her pleasant yet bland fiancé in Finland to plan their wedding, while she dives headfirst into the champagne-soaked expatriate community of St. Petersburg. But as Reija’s investigation proceeds, the assignment turns dangerous and friends transform into enemies.

The Russia Account is a blithe and original depiction of a hard-nosed woman making her way in the business world. Part career woman, part detective, and part Rei Shimura or Bridget Jones, Reija is ambitious, fearless, and imperfect. At work she tracks every decimal point and crosschecks every sum, but in her free time you’ll find Reija at the poker table with a beer in her hand and a cigar in her mouth.

The Undertaker: Death Angel

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BOOK 2: DEATH ANGEL
For a long time, the police have been chasing a nameless ghost-like criminal boss, and now they have a clue: the undertaker/murderer Kivi’s right-hand man has ratted on him. Kivi manages to hold his cover, but is now in need of a new aide, and Kivi’s new assistant at the funeral home, Tuomas, seems like a perfect replacement. Tuomas starts sinking into the world of crime: by the time his brother’s killer is revealed, there may not be any other option left than to accept his fate.

The Undertaker series about the thin line between right and wrong continues with an anticipated new novel. The series will be adapted as a TV series, an international coproduction, with the shooting set to start in fall 2018.

The Call of Hades

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Hades Calling is the ‘Daniel Kuisma’ trilogy’s final installment that begins with four executed men found in a Zagreb apartment. The place is owned by the U.K. government, but no one seems to know anything about the case. When Daniel Kuisma receives an unexpected guest from Southern Europe he hears something that makes him board the next plane to Zagreb: the lives of thousands of people might be at risk. Meanwhile Annika Lehto is recovering from an assault, but offers him all the help she can from her sickbed.

 

Rights sold:
FINLAND, Tammi (Orig. publisher)

ALBANIA: Muza
ESTONIA, Pegasus

Below the Surface

Below the Surface US cover image
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When a woman’s body turns up in a lake—a bullet to the back of her head—Violent Crime Unit commander Maria Kallio, freshly back from maternity leave, is fast to get on the case. The victim is ID’d as Annukka Hackman, wife of a prominent publisher and author of an upcoming unauthorized tell-all book on Sasha Smeds, Finland’s celebrated racing rally driver.

Almost as soon as the inquiry starts, it goes off the rails, as those connected to Annukka—and to Smeds—seem to have more secrets than they have alibis. Was the journalist about to reveal a bombshell that someone was desperate to keep quiet? Or will it take some reading between the lines? The clues may be few, but the list of suspects is long. As she struggles to balance her home life, run a department tainted by career-threatening allegations, and catch a killer, Maria is shocked to find just what someone was willing to do in the name of love…or revenge.

The Guardian Angel

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True crime meets psychological suspense in a gripping thriller about hypnosis murders in post-war Copenhagen.

The Guardian Angel, which is based on true events, is about a bizarre double murder that shook Copenhagen in the 1950s. Palle Hardrup, a former Nazi collaborator recently released from prison, walks into a bank, demands money and shoots two employees point blank. The police catch the man in no time, but according to the witnesses, he acted in a trance-like state. Inspector Anders Olsen’s suspicions are aroused: what if the man was operating under hypnosis – and what if the real killer is still at large?

The novel combines the genres of true crime and psychological thriller, against the atmospheric backdrop of post-war society in Copenhagen. The story of the singular crime committed under hypnosis mirrors also modern-day issues of manipulation and psychological effects of the new technology.

The book has been written alongside the feature film, a Finnish-Danish-Croatian co-production, which premiers internationally on 9 March 2018, starring Pilou Asbaek (Game of Thrones), Josh Lucas (A Beautiful Mind) and Rade Serbedzija (Downton Abbey).

Rights sold: 

FINLAND, WSOY
DENMARK, Hr. Ferdinand
ITALY, Piemme
PORTUGAL, Grupo Planeta
SERBIA, Vulkan

 

100 wide

RADE ŠERBEDŽIJA

Josh Lucas

Mikko Nousiainen

 

 

The End of Innocence

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Book 14 in the bestselling Maria Kallio series. A female detective police procedural, The End of Innocence is also a study of young men’s fragile sexuality. Perfect for fans of Lynda La Plante’s DCI Jane Tennison series.

When a newly-released child molester is found dead in an abandoned playground, the case lands on Maria Kallio’s desk. As newly-appointed chief of the child & youth crime unit, Kallio finds herself with a highly sensitive homicide case on her hands, with suspects including the deceased’s victims and their relatives. A harrowing case for Maria, the mother of a teenage son herself, the novel examines whether we can survive abuse, and privacy in the age of the internet.

Rights sold:
FINLAND, Tammi
GERMANY, Rowohlt

The Undertaker: Death Sentence

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A moral study embodied in a hard-boiled crime novel in the vein of Dexter and The Shield.

Young student Tuomas Lintu and his girlfriend Maria have always tried to do the right thing, but with Maria’s depression, their underprivileged backgrounds and bills piling up, it’s not easy. When Tuomas’ brother dies, he agrees to organize the funeral, although he can’t even afford to buy food. Undertaker Jarmo Kivi offers him a helping hand in the form of a job at Kivi’s funeral parlor. Little does he know Kivi is a high-level hitman – and responsible for Tuomas’ brother’s death. Enter the heart of darkness…

The Undertaker is the opening of a gripping new series about the thin line between right and wrong, published to glowing reviews. The story was originally planned for a TV series, but the novel was finished first.

Fugu

Fugu Finnish cover
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Rei Shimura meets Masterchef in this debut thriller set in Tokyo.

When Riku Mäki, a Finnish celebrity chef, is invited to a cooking contest in Japan, he is concerned that he will be heavily outperformed by the other contestants. What he should be worried about is fugu, the lethally poisonous puffer fish that someone is buying from the market with bad intentions. Mix in the yakuza and the dish is ready to be served.

Fugu is a culinary thriller set in Tokyo told from alternating perspectives. The story is decorated with a delightful array of detail reminiscent of Hideo Yokoyama’s SixFour, transporting the reader to the Japanese capital.

Siren

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Imagine the most luxurious cruise. Then, imagine the most destructive explosive.

A substance, a detonator, a spark. Imagine the damage they can do. Then, imagine a hand that ignites the spark with the press of a button, trigger, or click of a mouse. Boom.

Look at the hand. It’s yours.

Security at the port of Barcelona is already tight when Leia Laine and her sister embark on a luxury cruise of the Mediterranean aboard the Siren a new, luxury cruise ship. Their holiday becomes increasingly overshadowed by strange coincidences and a growing sense of unease in Leia as she begins to suspect that all is not well aboard the luxury liner with its thousands of passengers. Soon, the relaxing holiday onboard the vessel turns into a living nightmare as Leia witnesses firsthand the injustices of global inequality, a terror threat, and the face of a ghost from her past.

Meanwhile, aboard a much smaller boat making a perilous journey across the same seas as Leia and her fellow passengers, eleven-year-old Amira and her parents find that every last ounce of their courage and endurance will be put to the test as their fate on their rickety boat becomes intertwined with those of the passengers on the Siren.

Rights sold:
FINLAND, Tammi (Orig. publisher)
GERMANY, DTV

The Mephisto Touch

Seeck Mephisto Touch FI cover
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The hotly-anticipated second novel by Finland’s bestselling, ‘Debut Thriller of the Year Award’ 2017 winning author, Max Seeck.

Missing-presumed-dead Finnish diplomat, Jare Westerlund has fled from Croatia on a forged passport, leaving behind a decapitated body and his trail goes cold at Stockholm airport.

When Interpol officer Annika Lehto hears of his escape, she abandons her sick leave to go off in pursuit of Westerlund, with the aid of special forces specialist Daniel Kuisma. What follows is a dramatic chain of events, from northern Norway, to San Francisco, to The Hague, as the pair continue the chase.  The further their investigations go, the clearer it becomes that the man they are after has not merely gone astray; his true nature is far worse than anyone had imagined . . .

A gripping, international game of cat and mouse that began in The Angels of Hammurabi, which reads both as a standalone or sequel to the first installment.

Rights sold:
FINLAND, Tammi (Orig. publisher)

ALBANIA: Muza
ESTONIA, Pegasus
ICELAND, Forlagid
ITALY, Newton Compton

Venla

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Venla‘s case is the undercurrent in all the parts of the series. The sudden disappearance of Miia and Nikke’s sister Venla in the 1980s left its mark on the whole family, and was never solved. As Miia finds herself being pulled back into Venla’s mystery, she begins to see connections between the stories of Laura, Noora and Venla.

RIGHTS SOLD:

The Palokaski Trilogy

ESTONIA, Pegasus
GERMANY, Suhrkamp
GREECE, Kedros
NETHERLANDS, The House of Books
POLAND, Literackie
FILM AND TV RIGHTS, Eyeworks/Warner Bros.

Nights of Awe

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The first entry in the Inspector Kafka series.

During the period known as the Days of Awe that lead up to Yom Kippur, Ariel Kafka, inspector in the Violent Crime Unit of the Helsinki police and one of two Jewish policemen in Finland, is confronted with the most difficult case of his career. Two Arabs are killed near the capital city and, shortly after, Kafka discovers two more bodies at an Iraqi-owned garage. Are these deaths evidence of gang warfare or international terrorism?

When it transpires that an Israeli Minister will make an unofficial visit to Helsinki, matters become truly complicated. The Finnish Security Police and Mossad all have a role to play and Kafka is on a trail that leads him back to his youth.

Rights sold:
ISRAEL, Steimatsky
ITALY, Atmosphere di Libri
RUSSIA, Text Publishers
UK, Bitter Lemon Press

Ariel and the Spider Woman

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The second entry in the Inspector Kafka series.

The police receives an anonymous telephone call about the discovery of two bodies who have been stabbed to death. Much to his surprise, Kafka recognises one of the victims as Maija Erkkilä, known in criminal circles as “Spider Woman.” The identity of the other victim surprises him even more: It is Aimo Ikonen, Helsinki Violent Crime Unit’s deputy commissioner.

The deeper Ariel and his subordinates dig, the more tangled the affair becomes, complicated by evidence of Ikonen’s troubled past. In the course of his investigation Ariel meets Ikonen’s artist daughter Saara, a woman more ill-fated than Maija Erkkilä, and one who leaves an everlasting mark on him.

Holy Ceremony

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The fourth entry in the Ariel Kafka series.

In the neighbourhood of Töölö in Helsinki, a dead female is discovered with religious texts written onto her body. This is not a murder victim, however, but a body stolen from the morgue. Soon after its discovery, the body is stolen once more and ceremoniously burned in Helsinki’s Central Park.

Ariel Kafka’s investigation leads him to the enigmatic Brotherhood of the Holy Vault and one of its members Reijo Laurén, who is also suspected of stealing the body. Before Kafka begins to put together the mystery piece by piece, many people have to pay for their past sins with their lives

In the middle of Nowhere

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The third Inspector Kafka novel.

Ariel Kafka is assigned to investigate the death of a wealthy entrepreneur, a respected member of the Helsinki Jewish community and the father of his ex-girlfriend. Clues point towards the local Jewish circles, Israel, and a Finnish suspect who returns from Tel Aviv to set up an importing company.

Ariel finds himself embroiled in international intrigue that claims victims both innocent and guilty, and pits his own morals against the future of his nearest and dearest.

 

The Lion King

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The fifth Ariel Kafka mystery.

Two-time winner of Finland’s Strongest Man contest, Jukka Aro, aka “Jimmy Boy” or “The Lion King,” is found dead in his home. Did he shoot himself or was he murdered?

While investigating the cause of Aro’s death, Lieutenant Ariel Kafka digs deep into the outlandish jet-set life of Jimmy Boy and his wife Dodo, a former erotic model. While attempting to solve the case, Ariel is thrown off his game by the return of a former girlfriend. The detective finds himself caught between two women during the most intense moments of this criminal investigation.

The Eye of the Tiger

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When the 92-year-old textile industry magnate Lovisa Johnson offers Hilja a job as her bodyguard, she does not hesitate. The businesswoman lives in a mansion that’s rumored to be haunted, after all. Johnson is childless, but her grandnephews and -nieces – a doctor, an oil industry lobbyist, a security guard and a clairvoyant – are eager for their cut of the inheritance. A combination of a mansion mystery and a fast-paced thriller, the novel is an anticipated new entry in the series.

Rights sold:

Original publisher: FINLAND, Tammi
GERMANY, Rowohlt

The Devil’s Cubs

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The final installment of the trilogy can also be read as a standalone thriller. When uninvited guests show up at the wedding of a Finnish businessman and his Russian girlfriend for whom Hilja Ilveskero is working, an international mystery begins to unravel. Hidden truths are revealed, and soon Hilja comes face-to-face with an unthinkable tragedy from her childhood: the murder of her mother.

Rights sold:
Original publisher: FINLAND, Tammi
ARMENIA, Guitank
CZECH, Argo
FRANCE, Hachette (Book 1-2)
GERMANY, Rowohlt
HOLLAND, Unieboek (Book 1)
RUSSIA, Azbooka-Atticus
SPAIN, Destino
TAIWAN, Linking
TURKEY, Nemesis
WORLD ENGLISH, Amazon Crossing

The Lion of Justice

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Hilja Ilveskero is visiting her lover David Stahl in Italy, where he is hiding from a Belorussian mobster. After David suddenly disappears, Hilja is forced to return to Finland to work for her former client who owns a restaurant. When someone begins threatening the business, Hilja is drawn into a web of international crime.

The Lion of Justice was published in August 2011, and it immediately hit the top of Finland’s official bestseller list and the bestseller list of Adlibris, the biggest online bookshop in the Nordic countries!

Rights sold:
Original publisher: FINLAND, Tammi
ARMENIA, Guitank
CZECH, Argo
FRANCE, Hachette (Book 1-2)
GERMANY, Rowohlt
HOLLAND, Unieboek (Book 1)
RUSSIA, Azbooka-Atticus
SPAIN, Destino
TAIWAN, Linking
TURKEY, Nemesis
WORLD ENGLISH, Amazon Crossing

The Bodyguard

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A thrilling trilogy with a complex female protagonist, New York-trained bodyguard Hilja Ilveskero.

In the first book, Hilja’s client conducting real estate business in Russia is killed, and she is suspected of murder. She sets out to prove her innocence – both to the authorities and to herself. Going underground, she soon realizes that someone is after her. Can she trust anyone, even the people closest to her – and what is the price of betraying, or saving, another person?

Rights sold:
Original publisher: FINLAND, Tammi
ARMENIA, Guitank
CZECH, Argo
FRANCE, Hachette (Book 1-2)
GERMANY, Rowohlt
HOLLAND, Unieboek (Book 1)
RUSSIA, Azbooka-Atticus
SPAIN, Destino
TAIWAN, Linking
TURKEY, Nemesis
WORLD ENGLISH, Amazon Crossing

A Stroke of Sadness

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The body of Jaakko Pulma, an antiques and diamond dealer, is found at the church of Tapiola near Helsinki. Whoever murdered him appears to also have stolen a set of priceless family diamonds. A former employee becomes the primary suspect, but the situation becomes more complicated when Pulma’s lost phone begins to send out messages. Maria Kallio and her colleagues soon receive tips of a money laundering operation.

A hunt for the missing diamonds leads the police into an international web of crime. Buried deep into Pulma’s history is evidence of blackmail and an accident that turns out to not have been one at all. Not even the police is safe in the final showdown. A hit song, A Stroke of Sadness, by a band called Starflower adds an unusual twist to the story.

Rights sold:
Original publisher: FINLAND, Tammi
GERMANY, Rowohlt

Iron Triangle

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An intense drama set in the Finnish archipelago. Two bodies, a dead socialite, ghosts from the past, and a woman beaten to within an inch of her life. And Maria Kallio playing summer vacation widow with a handsome local cop.

Mari Kallio’s Special Crimes Unit is assigned to solve the mystery of two corpses wrapped in plastic found on the shore of tiny Brändö Island. The female victim is an impoverished former model and fiery defender of Swedish language minority rights, Saila Lind, who has enemies to spare. Nearby is a villa owned by a famous hockey star where Lind visited frequently.

Also sticking his nose into the case is local cop Jon Berg, whose appeal for Maria is increased by the rest of her family being on a sailing vacation abroad. As she investigates the identity of the other victim, alarming things float to the surface from Maria’s past. A serious assault in the family of the hockey player further complicates the situation.

Who will make it home to port alive?

Rights sold:
Original publisher: FINLAND, Tammi
GERMANY, Rowohlt

Where Have All the Young Girls Gone

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Maria Kallio, working on an EU project training Afghani police, travels to the opening ceremonies for the country’s new police academy. Disaster follows.

Upon returning home to Finland, Maria begins work as head of the newly-established Espoo Special Crimes Unit and is assigned to investigate the disappearance of three immigrant girls. The girls frequented the same girls club as Maria’s daughter Ida.

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 beliefs and deeply ingrained, habitual perceptions. Who is in the right when there are two truths?

Rights sold:
Original publisher: FINLAND, Tammi
WORLD ENGLISH, AmazonCrossing
DENMARK, Bazar
GERMANY, Rowohlt
LATVIA, Jumava
NORWAY, Bazar
POLAND, Rebis
ROMANIA, Hardcover & Paperback
SWEDEN, Bazar
TAIWAN, Linking

On the Wrong Track

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In my dreams, everything I’ve experienced in my life comes back to me. The muzzle of a moose rifle extends towards my chest, and when it withdraws, I see an exploding mailbox, which launches into the air with my daughter Iida.

Mari Kallio has left behind the Espoo Police Department. However, her plans for establishing a law firm to serve the less fortunate founder when her intended partner and school friend Leena is permanently disabled in an automobile accident. Maria begins work with a domestic violence research project under the auspices of the Ministry of the Interior, safely behind a desk.

Through Leena, Maria becomes acquainted with a journalist, Jutta Särkikoski, who has exposed the illegal doping of two champion discus throwers. Särkikoski has been injured under mysterious circumstances: his car was forced off the road after he had been interviewing Toni Väärä, a runner who had recently made a surprise breakthrough in the 800-meter. Väärä, who was also in the car, is injured so badly that he will be out of competition for the following season. Särkikoski had been receiving death threats before the accident, and there doesn’t seem to be any end to them.

Letting go of the past isn’t easy for Maria, evidenced by the repetitive dreams that torment her. When the threats against Särkikoski are carried out, Maria is unexpectedly forced back to her old workplace and its familiar faces. Memories of her last, nearly catastrophic homicide investigation won’t leave her alone, but there isn’t any room for resting on the back stretch in a race with a murderer.

Before the tape is broken at the finish line, far too many people manage to put the police on the wrong track in this tale of scandal in the world of sports.

Rights sold:
Original publisher: FINLAND, Tammi
WORLD ENGLISH, AmazonCrossing
GERMANY, Rowohlt
LATVIA, Jumava
POLAND, Rebis

Indecent Nightingale

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A badly cut-up, scantily-clad woman is brought to Jorvi Hospital in Espoo. Maria Kallio’s suspicions of a connection to the world of sex for money are confirmed the next day when a well-known prostitute is murdered during a live television broadcast.

Celebrity prostitute Lulu Nightingale offered sex services in her Indecent Nightingale Studio, the clients of which included some of the top names in Finnish society. Influential television host Ilari Länsimies and National Bureau of Investigation Inspector (NBI) Lasse Nordström have both met with the murdered prostitute recently under mysterious circumstances.

Maria Kallio and her subordinates’ investigation is hampered by a turf war with an NBI underworld operation. On top of it all, more homicides keep rolling in. Maria Kallio’s life also isn’t made any easier by the fact that her husband, Antti, is getting along so well at his new job in Vaasa, 400 km to the north.

Leena Lehtolainen’s Indecent Nightingale is an irresistibly gripping thriller about current, politically-sensitive issues. It is also a dramatic and daring story about the night side of humanity and the world of sex for hire, where even Maria Kallio gets into the fix of her life.

Rights sold:
Original publisher: FINLAND, Tammi
WORLD ENGLISH, AmazonCrossing
GERMANY, Rowohlt
LATVIA, Jumava
SWEDEN, Albert Bonniers

The Rage

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Maria Kallio has returned to work at the Espoo Police Department crime division from her second maternity leave. A lot has changed: Maria now has a stunningly beautiful female subordinate, Maria and her husband, Antti, have been forced to move into a high-rise apartment building, which grates on their relationship, and things aren’t helped one bit by the fact that Maria is thrown into the center of a murder investigation. The journalist Annukka Hackman is found shot dead in Kirkkonummi, on the shore of Humaljärvi Lake with a wet suit on.

Little by little, Maria discovers that there were more than a few people with a motive to murder Annukka. Annukka was an ambitious, ruthless journalist who was writing a tell-all book about top Finnish rally driver Sasha Smeds, and her methods of acquiring information wouldn’t exactly stand up to the light of day. Events also seem to be connected in some way to the Soviet occupation of the Porkkala Peninsula. In addition, Maria’s colleague “Carrion” Kervinen has gotten mixed up in the case and someone in the police department is leaking classified information to the press . . .

Rights sold:
Original publisher: FINLAND, Tammi
WORLD ENGLISH, AmazonCrossing
GERMANY, Rowohlt
LATVIA, Jumava

Before I Go

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A battered man lies beside a bicycle path. Someone has beaten furniture designer and Green Party city councilor Petri Ilveskivi into an inch of his life. Ilveskivi, a familiar face in the media, known for his sharp tongue, has managed to run afoul of all sorts of people in his private and political lives. Is the assault a result of a personal grudge, or was this a random act of violence? Did the skinheads just get tired of Petri’s open homosexuality?

The Ilveskivi case turns out to be unusually complicated. Drugs, xenophobia, and municipal power politics are all thrown into the cauldron.

In her own life, Maria Kallio is forced to grapple with the question of another addition to her family. Even though everything seems to be going well at home, Maria is still forced to weigh the significance of police work to herself and her family. She also discovers that it isn’t only her own safety that is at risk . . .

Rights sold:
Original publisher: FINLAND, Tammi
WORLD ENGLISH, AmazonCrossing
GERMANY, Rowohlt
LATVIA, Jumava
SWEDEN, Albert Bonniers

Fatal Headwind

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Maria Kallio is returning from maternity leave to take up her post as the head of violent crime at the Espoo Police Department. She spends her last free weekend with her husband, Antti, and her baby, Ida, on the fortress island of Rödskär.

A year earlier, one of Maria’s ex-boyfriends, Harri Immonen, a bird watcher, died in a fall on the steep cliffs of the island. The island’s owner, Anne Merivaara, asks Maria to reopen the case. Was it really an accident or is this a case of murder?

On the anniversary of Harri’s death, Juha Merivaara loses his life on the same rocks. It can’t be a coincidence. Who would want to get rid of the CEO of a company that makes ecological paint products? His wife, Anne, his animal rights activist son, or his daughter, who is dating an opera singer her father’s age? Or is the culprit world-circumnavigating sailor Mikke Sjöberg, who Maria finds altogether too interesting?

After losing the race for chief inspector to Maria, Pertti Ström has begun acting strangely. At the same time, the violent crimes unit is being kept busy by animal rights activist strikes all over Espoo. As the fields of Kauklahti burn, Maria is forced to decide who is really on the side of nature and justice.

Rights sold:
Original publisher: FINLAND, Tammi
CHINA, Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House
WORLD ENGLISH, AmazonCrossing
GERMANY, Rowohlt
JAPAN, Tokyo Sogensha
LATVIA, Jumava
POLAND, Terytoria
SWEDEN, Albert Bonniers

Death Spiral

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Noora Nieminen was destined to become a world-champion pairs skater. When the 16-year-old skating sensation is found slain with her own skates, her trainers and parents’ dreams are shattered. Who is the culprit? Karaoke king Vesku Teräsvuori? The stalker who has been going around Espoo molesting young girls? Or is the murderer someone close to Noora after all?

Sergeant Maria Kallio is in her seventh month of pregnancy, but that isn’t going to stop her from putting everything she has into solving the murder. She is also driven by the competition between herself and her adversary, Pertti Ström, for the post of chief crime inspector. But the death spiral is already gaining momentum.

Rights sold:
Original publisher: FINLAND, Tammi
WORLD ENGLISH, AmazonCrossing
BRAZIL, Editora Nemo
FRANCE, Gaia
GERMANY, Rowohlt
JAPAN, Tokyo Sogensha
LATVIA, Jumava
NORWAY, Centrum Norsk Forlag
POLAND, Terytoria
SWEDEN, Albert Bonniers
TURKEY, Bizim Kitaplar

Snow Woman

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The director of a women’s therapy center in idyllic Nuuksio National Park in the south of Finland disappears. Was Elina Rosberg murdered? At the top of the list of suspects are the participants of the current therapy group, which has no shortage of problem cases, ranging from the mother of a large family belonging to the Laestadian religious sect to a sex worker from one of the grittier parts of Helsinki. There is also room enough on the list for the poet Joona Kirstilä, Rosberg’s male friend, who clearly has something to hide.

Maria Kallio has transferred to the Espoo Police Department and gotten married. She throws herself at the case, despite suffering from a strange case of fatigue and nausea. The pressure on Maria is increased by the news that Markku “Madman” Halttunen has escaped from prison and intends to take revenge on Maria for putting him there. Will her fate be the same as Rosberg’s—ending up as a snow woman somewhere deep in the forest?

Rights sold:
Original publisher: FINLAND, Tammi
WORLD ENGLISH, AmazonCrossing
BRAZIL, Editora Nemo
FRANCE, Gaia
GERMANY, Rowohlt
JAPAN, Tokyo Sogensha
LATVIA, Jumava
POLAND, Fundacja im. Adama Wittmanna
SWEDEN, Albert Bonniers

Copper Heart

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Arpikylä is Maria Kallio’s childhood hometown, a quiet mining city in North Karelia. Maria has returned to enjoy some relaxed country living as the temporary summer replacement for the local sheriff. But her peace is disturbed, first by her old flame, Johnny, and then by the body that is found at the base of the mine tower. Was the dead woman, local artist Meritta Flöjt, pushed from the tower?

The crime plays havoc with both the gold medal pursuits of javelin-thrower Kaisa Miettinen and the business activities of entrepreneur Seppo Kivinen. The case takes Maria from the pinnacle of the tower into the bowels of the mine, from a strip club into the secret lives of her schoolmates. And soon the same copper hearts are dangling from Maria’s ears as from the murdered woman’s . . .

Rights sold:
Original publisher: FINLAND, Tammi
WORLD ENGLISH, AmazonCrossing
FRANCE, Gaia
GERMANY, Rowohlt
LATVIA, Zvaigzne
RUSSIA, Ast

Her Enemy

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Maria Kallio has left the Helsinki crime squad to work for a law office in Espoo, headquarters of the cell phone giant Nokia. Police work isn’t her job now, but when a new acquaintance, Armi Mäenpää, is found strangled in her home and the case is labeled a sex crime, Maria can’t keep her hands off. The unofficial inquiries of our willful redhead push her old enemy, Inspector Pertti Ström, to the verge of apoplexy. Maria will stop at nothing to push behind the curtains of Espoo high society—and almost loses everything in the process.

Rights sold:
Original publisher: FINLAND, Tammi
WORLD ARABIC, Al Arabi
WORLD ENGLISH, AmazonCrossing
FRANCE, Gaia
GERMANY, Rowohlt
GREECE, Livani
HUNGARY, Animus
ISRAEL, Penn
JAPAN, Tokyo Sogensha
LATVIA, Zvaigzne
POLAND, Rebis
RUSSIA, Ast

My First Murder

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A student choir’s animated practice sessions at a Helsinki villa are cut short when first bass Jukka Peltonen is found dead at the water’s edge. The case becomes a chance for police sergeant Maria Kallio to show what she can do, her career in the crime squad being burdened by the fact that she is both young and a woman—and a redhead to boot! Behind the choir’s jovial facade lie bitter passions, and ferreting them out is hardly helped by the discovery that some of Maria’s old friends belong to the group.

Rights sold:
Original publisher: FINLAND, Tammi

WORLD ARABIC, Al Arabi
WORLD ENGLISH, AmazonCrossing
BRAZIL, Autentica
DENMARK, Bazar
ESTONIA, Pegasus
FRANCE, Gaia
GERMANY, Rowohlt
GREECE, Livani
HUNGARY, Animus
ISRAEL, Penn
JAPAN, Tokyo Sogensha
LATVIA, Zvaigzne
NORWAY, Bazar
POLAND, Rebis
RUSSIA, Ast
SPAIN, Destino
SWEDEN, Bazar
TAIWAN, Linking
TURKEY, Bizim Kitaplar
TV RIGHTS, Studio Hamburg

The Angels of Hammurabi

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Jo Nesbø meets Apocalypse Now in the Balkans: An action-packed page-turner about revenge, war, international crime – and love

Jare Westerlund, an employee of the Finnish Embassy in Zagreb goes missing. The local police has no leads, except for the anonymous threats Westerlund has received before his disappearance. Daniel Kuisma from the Finnish Defence Forces is sent to investigate, along with Annika Lehto from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

The investigation gets unexpectedly complicated when the mysteries of the past start to unravel on the stony shores of the Adriatic Sea.

Kuisma knows Croatia like the back of his hand from his days as a peacekeeper during the Yugoslav Wars, and it seems he has been waging a war of his own ever since. What really happened twenty years ago?

In the same war fought the Italian Antonio Franzo, who dodges a murder attempt in Dubrovnik. Soon he finds out that also the other men who took part in a secret operation during the war are in danger, amongst them one Finn.

The ministry has insisted on sending Lehto, a relatively inexperienced young official, on the mission. Is there more than meets the eye in the woman who stops the show with her beauty?

It all seems to boil down to a group called The Angels of Hammurabi. Who are they – and who is killing them off, one by one?

14,000 copies sold in Finland (as at September 2017)

Rights sold: 
FINLAND, Tammi (Original publisher)

ALBANIA: Muza
ESTONIA, Pegasus
GERMANY, Blanvalet
ICELAND, Forlagid
ITALY, Newton Compton
SLOVENIA, Didakta

Rear Window

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The system has detected an intruder.

“It came to her again – the feeling that someone was watching. That someone at this very moment was quietly observing her from the dark, with sinister intentions.

Leia had heard of what could happen. And now it was happening to her.”

Hate speech. Sex trade. Racism. Single mom Leia Laine becomes entangled in much more than she bargained for when she takes on a project whose aim is to provide support to men who frequent prostitutes. It feels as if half of Finland becomes furious at her.

Among Leia’s new enemies are the new, sharp-tongued Justice Minister whose career is in danger thanks to some unseemly interactions online, and an online troll whose greatest thrill is in crossing virtual boundaries.

RIGHTS SOLD:

Original publisher: FINLAND, Tammi
CZECH, Knizni Klub/Euromedia
GERMANY, dtv

Clue of the Year 2016 Winner

White Shadow

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Mosaic artist Mona Malin has a strange gift: she experiences intense and uncontrollable visions and sensations about people, even strangers. When a carpenter she knows is found dead, Mona begins to suspect that she may have killed him without her knowledge.

Roni Arosuo is sitting in a mental hospital for prisoners after murdering a man with seemingly no premeditation. His doctor enrolls Roni in a mosaic course organized by Mona, hoping that she might help him determine how this man with a previously clean record suddenly committed a shocking act of violence. Mona’s visions become more and more realistic, and soon Roni’s doctor is found dead.

Silent Heart

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A woman named Vera commissions Mona to create a mosaic for Vera’s mother Ada, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. The subject of the work – a replica of Russian artist Mikhail Vrubel’s six-winged Seraph – is oppressive and dark.

As Mona proceeds on the project, she begins to have new visions and uncovers secrets from the family’s past. Soon Vera’s husband is found dead with his tongue cut off and his chest displaying strange burn marks.

Shattered Face

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While attending a mosaic course in Italy, Mona begins to have terrifying visions of a headless empress, Theodora, whose face Mona has been attempting to depict in her work. As Mona realizes that someone is pursuing her, Roni is trying his best to get his sentence repealed and come to Italy to help her. He threatens to tell authorities that he has been made a guinea pig in a medical research project that has resulted in strong hallucinations.

Mona escapes to her mother’s home in Venice, and begins to find out that her mother had many things in common with the murderous empress Theodora.

The Land of the Living

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A gripping depiction of police work against drug crime, but also a haunting love story.

Can people from the opposing sides of life find each other? Is there any hope for them?
Pike has lived her whole life outside the law with Lalli, who rules the underworld with ferocious violence. When she finds out that she is pregnant, Pike is ready to take new steps in her life, but her old life won’t leave her alone. The aging vice cop Elias Kaski notices the strange change in his former regular customer. The change in Pike’s life also begins a process of change in Kaski. In the end, these two lonely souls find that they are each other’s only possibility. But what kind of possibility is it?

Laura

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What happened to Laura Anderson?

In the first part of the Palokaski Trilogy, Miia Pohjavirta, a former internet cop, begins a new career as a counselor at her former high school. Nikke is her younger brother, a broad-minded school psychologist. Laura Anderson, a high school student and Nikke’s client, has gone missing as the school year begins. When Laura’s parents start a Facebook page to try and find their daughter, they open up a Pandora’s box.

Laura is an intelligent and unabashedly entertaining book. A reader feels a fondness for its characters like one does for friends or family members – loveable and infuriating, impossible to put aside. You simply have to read one more chapter

RIGHTS SOLD:

The Palokaski Trilogy

ESTONIA, Pegasus
GERMANY, Suhrkamp
GREECE, Kedros
NETHERLANDS, The House of Books
POLAND, Literackie
FILM AND TV RIGHTS, Nordisk Film TV

Noora

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The second part in the Palokaski Trilogy focuses on Noora, a desperately lonely girl with no friends. Once having desperately sought Laura’s friendship, Noora has followed the case and is prepared to do almost anything, including creating a second identity, to get even a fraction of the attention Laura received. Miia Pohjavirta is trying to move on, but is plagued by new suspicions as the people closest to her begin displaying strange behaviours and old traumas are brought to the surface.

Noora soon comes up with an elaborate and dangerous plan, and both Miia and Noora find out that the evil Laura encountered is closer than they could ever have imagined.

RIGHTS SOLD:

The Palokaski Trilogy

ESTONIA, Pegasus
GERMANY, Suhrkamp
GREECE, Kedros
NETHERLANDS, The House of Books
POLAND, Literackie
FILM AND TV RIGHTS, Nordisk Film TV

Cruel is the Night

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Three cell phones ring in an opulent London apartment. The calls go unanswered because their recipients are all dead.

Earlier that night, four Finnish friends meet for dinner. It’s been ten years since the host, Robert, has seen his once-best friend, Mikko. The two had an ideological falling-out because Robert, a banker, made millions off of unethical (but not illegal) interest rate manipulation. Mikko, meanwhile, is an investigative journalist who has dedicated his career to bringing down corrupt financiers and politicians. Mikko’s wife, Veera—with whom Robert once had a secret affair—and Robert’s young trophy wife, Elise, are also joining the fray. Mikko has arrived in London with an agenda and thinks he’s about to get away with murder, but he has no idea what’s on the menu for the night: not only does every diner have a bone to pick with another, but there’s an arsenal of deadly weapons hiding in plain sight.

And by the end of the night, there will only be one survivor…

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND, WSOY
FRANCE, Actes Sud
ITALY, Newton Compton Editori
WORLD ENGLISH, Soho Press

Black Whirlpool

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The black whirlpools of fate spin Mujunen from Helsinki to East Karelia.

The time is late summer, 1942, and the offensive phase of the Finnish Continuation War has bogged down in trench warfare. Former State Police Senior Detective Mujunen thinks his life is over, but then two femmes fatale and a nighttime air raid draw him back to work.

Communist prisoners escape from Riihimäki, north of the capital, and, soon after, a time bomb goes off in an antiaircraft ammunition depot in West Helsinki. One of the perpetrators is apprehended, but he escapes. One of these saboteurs, now disguised as a military lieutenant, is on the loose in Helsinki, as is the German Reichsführer of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, whose life Mujunen is obliged to protect. At the same time, Mujunen experiences a torrid romance with a co-worker and does his best to save the Jewish refugees whom the leadership of the State Police intend to expel to Germany – meaning certain death. Himmler offers the same fate for all of Finland’s Jews.

On the trail of vandals and murderers, Mujunen ends up in Finnish-occupied Petrozavodsk, which has been rechristened Äänislinna, in the Finnish concentration camp and the Karhumäki amusement park set up near the front for the troops. He finally finds the truth in Berlin, but whose truth? Can a counter-espionage agent maintain his humanity during wartime, or is that just an unnecessary luxury?

Tapani Bagge has outdone himself again. Strong period description and precise character development combine in a fast-paced, exciting story that will also move you.

Red Shadow

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Mujunen encounters twists of fate in postwar Finland

”These are dreadful times”, says the prime minister of Finland in 1944. A treaty of peace has just been concluded between Finland and the Soviet Union and the Finnish troops are now fighting Germans in Lapland.

The Russian control commission has occupied the Hotel Torni in Helsinki, casting a long shadow over the entire country. Mujunen is interrogating prisoners of war, but is called to investigate the murder of a Russian captain – and to report to the commission. Are the Russians using the murder as an excuse to occupy Finland?