MILO by Max Seeck published in France!

We are so excited about the French publication of Milo, Échec et Mat, by our internationally bestselling author Max Seeck at Méra éditions! Milo is out as an e-book already and the physical book will be published February 14th! Milo has also been sold to Bastei Lübbe in Germany and Kodansha in Japan and many more. The German edition, BLINDSPIEL, will be published in June 2025.

Download the materials for Milo here!

Milo

✓ FINLAND’S NO. 1 BESTSELLER! Total sales 45,000 copies! 

✓ Solar Films will adapt Milo to an international TV series for global distribution, with development starting in 2024 and a planned release in 2026!

✓ Rights to Milo have been sold to Bastei Lübbe in Germany, Aschehoug in Norway, Mera Éditions in France, Latvijas Medijii in Latvia, Piemme/Mondadori in Italy, Pegasus in Estonia!

✓ Max Seeck won the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for The Last Grudge!

✓ Max Seeck’s books have sold over 400,000 copies in Finland! Big Hollywood news coming!

The game has only just begun.

On a cold November evening, a body is discovered on the shore of Seurasaari. The victim’s skin is covered with a thick layer of white paint, and during the autopsy, a chess piece is found lodged in its throat.

The police are baffled. Why would the murderer go to such lengths to disguise the body? And why wasn’t there any attempt to hide it?

Milo Perho, an art gallery owner specializing in profiling killers, is called in to assist. What follows is a nerve-wracking game where every move costs a life, and no one wants it to end in checkmate.

MILO is the gripping debut of the Milo series by internationally acclaimed author Max Seeck. Even before its release, the book’s translation rights were sold to numerous countries, and a TV series adaptation is already in the works.

“We are very honored to introduce the highly popular Max Seeck from Finland to Japan. Nordic mysteries is one of the most popular genre of crime fictions among Japanese readers, and we are very much looking forward to their reactions!”

— Yutaro Ichikawa, Editor at Kodansha, Japan

MILO
Merkitty – Tammi 2024 – 400 p.

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ESTONIA: Pegasus
FILM & TV: Solar Films
FRANCE: Mera Editions
GERMANY: Bastei Luebbe
ITALY: Piemme
JAPAN: Kodansha Ltd.
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
NORWAY: Aschehoug

Reading Materials:
50 p. English sample + long synopsis, Finnish edition, synopsis of book 2

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

10 titles represented by Ahlback Agency nominated for Storytel Awards

We are thrilled to let you know that ten different titles represented by the Ahlback Agency have been nominated for the Storytel Awards 2025 in three different categories!

Storytel will honour the best audiobooks of the year and their readers in Finland at the Storytel Awards Gala in March 2025, now for the sixth time. The Storytel Awards and the Great Audiobook Prize aim to promote the development of the audiobook market, share the joy of listening and raise awareness of the importance of professional authors in creating listening experiences. The awards will be presented and the winners announced at the Storytel Awards on March 13th, 2025.

Storytel picks the most listened to and best reviewed audiobooks from January to December 2024. Only books published during 2024 are included. The five most voted books in each category will go through to the final and a jury selects the winners. You can vote for the nominees on Storytel’s website from January 20th to February 3rd.

On the fiction category our nominees are:

Pine Bark by Tommi Kinnunen

How We Met Your Mother by Kaj Korkea-aho

Treatment by Hanna-Riikka Kuisma

Push, Pace, Position, Pray by Miika Nousiainen

On Children’s Fiction and Young Adult category our nominee is:

Dad Man and the Doppelgänger Disaster by Arttu Unkari and Kai Vaalio

On Crime and Thrillers category our nominees are:

How to Face Death by Elina Backman

The Eagle by Tuomas Oskari

Milo by Max Seeck

THE KRISTINESTAD MURDERS #2: Alone by Kaisu Tuokko

The Stager by Arttu Tuominen

About author


Arttu Tuominen

Arttu Tuominen lives in Pori and works as  an environmental inspector. During the evenings, he writes dark and tough crime novels. Tuominen is skilled at giving a strong voice to both sides of the law, a humane and a recognisable voice.

About author


Arttu Unkari

Arttu Unkari is a teacher from Helsinki and a Master of Education (University of Helsinki, 2015) who majored in ethics and philosophy.  He combines his educational background and experience as a teacher in his books – his stories are anarchist and zany, but at the same time the humour often revolves around profound and intriguing concepts such as honesty, obedience, and morality in ways that speak to children in their own language. His books are enjoyed by adults as well because they contain layers that open up differently to readers of all ages. This is one of the reasons Dad Man is such a great series for the whole family.

As an author Unkari is a Runeberg prize nominee 2023 for the third instalment of the Dadman series: Dad Man and the Horrible Hypnosis (Isämies ja hyytävä hypnoosi, Otava 2022). The Runeberg Prize is a literary prize awarded by the newspaper Uusimaa, the City of Porvoo, the Finnish Writers' Union, the Finnish Critics' Association and the Finland’s-Swedish Writer’s Association. The prize was established in 1986 and it is awarded annually in Porvoo on 5th February, the day when Finland celebrates their national poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg.  All of his previous books (Dad Man and the Exploding poop, Dad Man and the Evil Little Brother,  Dad Man and the Horrible Hypnosis and Dad Man and the Impossible Time Warp) have been nominated for best children’s audiobook in the 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 Finnish Storytel awards. He’s also participated in making a Finnish language schoolbook (Loikka 3, Otava 2022).

Unkari is a sought after inspirational speaker in his home country. He’s visited schools all over Finland advocating for the importance of reading.

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 Saana 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 1955. 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.

About author


Hanna-Riikka Kuisma

Hanna-Riikka Kuisma (b. 1978) is a Pori-based writer, art critic and columnist. Kuisma is known for exploring the darkness of the human mind and our contemporary society. She has published seven novels and a collection of short stories. Her latest novel Treatment was nominated for the 2024 Finlandia Prize in Fiction.

Kuisma's fifth novel, High-Rise, was nominated for the Finlandia Prize for Fiction in 2019, and in the same year she was awarded the Satakunta Arts Council's Art Prize. In 2021, she was awarded the Nortamo Prize for Literature.

Kuisma's debut collection of short stories, Elinkautinen, was published in 2005. Since then, she has published the novels Snake's Nest, Heart Shadow, White Light, Fifth Season, High-Rise, Guilty and Treatment. The Fifth Season was nominated for the Tiiliskivi Literary Prize.

The blackly intense atmosphere and surgical precision of Kuisma's works are counterbalanced by colourful visuals and poetic language. Her literary contemporaries include Juha Seppälä, Asko Sahlberg and Hanna Marjut Marttila.

About author


Kai Vaalio

Kai Vaalio (b. 1986) is an illustrator, comic artist, and a bit of a cosmopolitan as well. He’s written and illustrated underground comic books for adults about his travels in South-East Asia and Latin America — the latter won Mondo magazine’s Travel book of the year award back in 2014. Recently he’s ventured into the world of illustrating children’s books mainly with Arttu Unkari’s Dad Man Series. Together they’ve made several books about this goofy detective and his clever little posse. The Dad Man Series has received Storytel Awards and Runeberg Junior 2023 award nominations. Vaalio’s been on and off in the graphic industry since 2005 when he graduated as a graphic designer from Lahti College of Arts and Crafts. In 2018 he got his bachelor’s degree from Lahti University of Applied Science.

About author


Kaisu Tuokko

Kaisu Tuokko’s aim is to create a series where interpersonal relationships and the idyll of a small town are mixed with cruel events – using psychological tension to build stories about how badly we know the families or friends of our neighbors, of our loved ones. Everyone has secrets, but some of them are more dangerous than others.

Tuokko loves the stories of strangers, secrets of small towns, rainy autumn evenings, and the Swedish language. She lives in Helsinki, and has named her main character after her grandparents.

About author


Kaj Korkea-aho

Kaj Korkea-aho (b. 1983) is a writer, columnist and a comedian. Moreover, he has a career as an actor and a host in TV and radio. In his varied acting roles, he has often taken a stand for the rights of queer people, and his texts often discuss themes such as growing up, sexual minorities, religious revival communities and literature.

Korkea-aho has published four novels: Se till mig som liten är (God Who Holds The Little Dear) (2009), Gräset är mörkare på andra sidan (The Grass Is Darker on the Other Side) (2012), Onda boken (The Evil Book) (2015) which has been already translated into six languages and sold to Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, and Röda rummet (The Red Room) (2021). His books have attained wide readership in Finland and have scored several prizes, such as the The Swedish Literary Society’s prize in 2010 and 2013, the Thanks for the Book Award in 2016 and the Längmans Cultural Foundation’s prize in 2018. In 2017, Korkea-aho’s YA book Virala genier (Viral Geniuses) was nominated for the prestigious Finlandia Prize for children’s and young adult’s literature.

Since 2005, together with Ted Forsström, Korkea-aho has created comedy in Swedish for radio, TV and plays, whilst also writing the YA series Zoo! (the basis for the TV series Virala genier). Together, they also run the Ted & Kaj podcast, one of the biggest podcasts in Finland.

Kaj Korkea-aho was born and raised in the small town of Esse in Ostrobothnia, but now lives in Helsinki.

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

About author


Miika Nousiainen

Miika Nousiainen (b. 1973 in Säynätsalo) has worked as a news and current affairs journalist for MTV3's news department. In addition, he has written for several popular TV-shows.

Nousiainen’s debut novel, Raspberry Boat Refugee (2007), tells the story of Mikko Virtanen, a man who desperately wants to become Swedish at any cost. In this tragicomic work, Nousiainen makes sharp observations about our western neighbor and illustrates that we’re all self-proclaimed experts on Sweden.

Roots (2016) follows the search for a missing father, taking readers across continents from Lieksa, Finland, to Australia. The book was also well-received internationally.

In Facelift (2020), Nousiainen gently explores themes of family and the longing for connection.

In addition, he has written The Danger of the Long Distance Runner (2009) and Forrest Giant (2011).

Nousiainen's novels have been adapted countless times and translated into languages such as Swedish, German, Dutch, Italian, and Estonian.

Miika Nousiainen have been awarded with: Laila Hirvisaari Foundation Grant (2008), Kalevi Jäntti Prize (2009) and Honorable Mention in the Sports Museum Foundation’s Sports Book of the Year Competition (2010)

About author


Tommi Kinnunen

Tommi Kinnunen (1973) was born in Kuusamo in northeastern Finland and currently lives in Turku, where he works as a teacher of Finnish language and literature. His works include novels, opera librettos, short stories, and a non-fiction title on the changes taking place in the Finnish school system.

Kinnunen’s novels give a voice to those whose stories have been kept untold. He made a stellar debut with Where Four Roads Meet (orig. Neljäntienristeys) which was nominated for the Finlandia Prize and won the Young Aleksis Prize in 2015. The following novels The Light Behind the Eyes (orig. Lopotti), The Glass River (orig. Pintti), and Defiance (orig. Ei kertonut katuvansa) have been both critical and commercial successes. His books have been translated into 20 languages.

During his spare time, Kinnunen likes to refurbish old buildings.

About author


Tuomas Oskari

Tuomas Oskari is the international pen name of Tuomas Niskakangas, a crime author and a politics and economics journalist for Helsingin Sanomat, the biggest newspaper in Finland. He has a Master in Economics. Formerly Niskakangas has worked in Washington, D.C. as the USA correspondent for Helsingin Sanomat.

Bulgarian rights sold for GHOST ISLAND by Max Seeck!

We are happy to announce that EMAS has acquired the Bulgarian rights to GHOST ISLAND, book #4 in the Jessica Niemi series by Max Seeck! The deal was closed by Sten-Erik Tammemäe.

Jessica Niemi series by the New York Times bestselling author Max Seeck is a true international phenomenon – the rights for the series have been sold to 41 territories and a TV series based on the titles is in development. Additionally, book #3 in the series, THE LAST GRUDGE, won the prestigious Glass Key Award in 2023.

In addition to the Jessica Niemi series, Max’s new crime series, focusing on the investigations of criminal profiler and art gallerist Milo Perho, has also gained traction, with rights sold to 7 territories and a TV series based on the first novel in pre-production.

We are also happy to remind you that the latest FILI translation grant application round is ongoing and will last until February 1st!
You can find more information here: Translation and printing grants for publishers outside Finland – FILI

Now is the perfect time to acquire the rights for this or any of the other amazing titles on our list!

Download materials for GHOST ISLAND here!

Ghost Island

Max Seeck

The fourth title in the NYT-bestselling Jessica Niemi series!

A month after solving the Zetterborg case, Jessica Niemi is ordered on paid leave after an altercation, and she decides to travel to a small island in the Åland archipelago to escape the attention and find some peace. Meanwhile, a group of old people arrive on the same island, and Jessica learns that they are the remaining members of the Doves, the people who had to flee from Finland to Sweden during World War II and ended up living in an orphanage on the very same island.

One evening, Jessica hears a local legend about a girl who also inhabited the orphanage once, but who was mentally ill. Every night at two o’clock, the girl put on her blue coat and went to stand on the pier, waiting for something that never showed up. One night she disappeared and was never found. That same night, one of the remaining Doves dies.

Jessica soon finds out that two other people have previously faced the same fate on the same island, and all three people seem to have something to do with the girl in the blue coat. A chain of events starts to escalate, and we don’t know whether we’re facing a killer or – just like the legend says – a ghost, the girl in the blue coat.

Jessica Niemi is once again facing a scary mystery where the stakes are considerable. Whilst battling her own demons, uncertain what is real and what is not, she needs to find out the truth.

GHOST ISLAND
LOUKKO
Tammi, 2022, 358 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English edition

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
BULGARIA: EMAS
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Kirjastus Pegasus
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
HUNGARY: Animus
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
NETHERLANDS: A.W. Bruna
NORWAY: Aschehoug
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
UK: Welbeck
USA & CANADA: Berkley / Penguin Random House
WORLD ARABIC: Arab Scientific Publishers

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

Bestselling Max Seeck heads to Japan!

Great news for our internationally bestselling author, Max Seeck. MILO will be published in Japan by Kodansha! Marking as Max’s first-ever Japanese deal. We are very proud to see Japan added to the long list of countries where his work has been translated. The deal was closed by Elina Ahlbäck and Julia Bogen in collaboration with Tuttle-Mori Agency. Congratulations Max and Kodansha!

 Yutaro Ichikawa, Editor at Kodansha shared his excitement:

We are very honored to introduce the highly popular Max Seeck from Finland to Japan. Nordic mysteries is one of the most popular genre of crime fictions among Japanese readers, and we are very much looking forward to their reactions!
– Yutaro Ichikawa, Editor at Kodansha

That is not the only good news! Since its release September, his latest book, MILO, has sold over 40,000 copies domestically.

Max’s French publisher Méra Editions will publish Echec et Mat on January 15, as the first publisher outside Finland to publish MILO. Bastei Lübbe will publish BLINDSPIEL in German in June 2025. Check their stunning cover here.

TV series is now in pre-production with Solar Films, script is being finalized, and shooting starts in 2025/2026 for a 6-episodes TV series with focus on international sales & distribution.

Click here to request reading materials for MILO series here!

About MILO:

Milo, a 38-year-old art enthusiast, gallery owner and criminal profiler struggles with sexual frustration that are both the cause and consequence for his marital problems with his wife Ronja. A body of a young woman is found painted in all-white representing a piece of chess. The chief inspector receives an anonymous letter with a short message: Bxc6. This indicates a chess move and along the location where the body was found the investigators feel that more chess moves might be on the way.

Milo struggles to form a clear picture of the killer. He soon understands that in order to help the police force to catch the killer he needs to understand the game of chess better. As much as he hates it, he decides to face the ghost of the past: her mother’s former partner Stanislav who happens to be a European champion in chess…

MILO
Merkitty – Tammi 2024 – 400 p.

Rights Sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ESTONIA: Pegasus
FRANCE: Mera Editions
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
ITALY: Piemme / Mondadori Group
JAPAN: Kodansha
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
NORWAY: Aschehoug
FILM & TV: Solar Films

Reading Materials:
50 p. English sample + long synopsis, Finnish edition, synopsis of book 2

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

Five of our talented authors nominated for the Adlibris Prize

We are delighted to announce that five of our authors have been nominated for the prestigious Adlibris Prize 2024! These nominations celebrate outstanding achievements in suspense, fiction, and children’s literature.

Fiction Category

  • Finlandia nominee Kaj Korkea-aho for his autobiographical novel HOW WE MET YOUR MOTHER.
  • Finlandia nominee Tommi Kinnunen for his sixth novel PINE BARK.

 

Children’s Category

    • Riikka Jäntti, whose beloved LITTLE MOUSE series has been translated into 21 languages, for her latest book LITTLE MOUSE GOES ON A CRUISE.

Suspense Category

  • New York Times bestselling author Max Seeck for his MILO.
  • Spiegel bestseller Arttu Tuominen for his THE STAGER.

About the Adlibris Prize

The winner is chosen by readers across Finland. The Adlibris Prize was launched in Finland last year, and this year’s winners in each category will be revealed on February 5. Congratulations to all the nominees!

Congratulations to all the nominees!

About author


Arttu Tuominen

Arttu Tuominen lives in Pori and works as  an environmental inspector. During the evenings, he writes dark and tough crime novels. Tuominen is skilled at giving a strong voice to both sides of the law, a humane and a recognisable voice.

About author


Kaj Korkea-aho

Kaj Korkea-aho (b. 1983) is a writer, columnist and a comedian. Moreover, he has a career as an actor and a host in TV and radio. In his varied acting roles, he has often taken a stand for the rights of queer people, and his texts often discuss themes such as growing up, sexual minorities, religious revival communities and literature.

Korkea-aho has published four novels: Se till mig som liten är (God Who Holds The Little Dear) (2009), Gräset är mörkare på andra sidan (The Grass Is Darker on the Other Side) (2012), Onda boken (The Evil Book) (2015) which has been already translated into six languages and sold to Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, and Röda rummet (The Red Room) (2021). His books have attained wide readership in Finland and have scored several prizes, such as the The Swedish Literary Society’s prize in 2010 and 2013, the Thanks for the Book Award in 2016 and the Längmans Cultural Foundation’s prize in 2018. In 2017, Korkea-aho’s YA book Virala genier (Viral Geniuses) was nominated for the prestigious Finlandia Prize for children’s and young adult’s literature.

Since 2005, together with Ted Forsström, Korkea-aho has created comedy in Swedish for radio, TV and plays, whilst also writing the YA series Zoo! (the basis for the TV series Virala genier). Together, they also run the Ted & Kaj podcast, one of the biggest podcasts in Finland.

Kaj Korkea-aho was born and raised in the small town of Esse in Ostrobothnia, but now lives in Helsinki.

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

About author


Riikka Jäntti

Riikka Jäntti, a 2003 graduate of University of Industrial Art of Helsinki, now part of Aalto University, is a Helsinki-based illustrator and author who has created art for both nonfiction and fairy tale books for children. Her first children’s book was published in 2005. Jäntti is best known for the adorable Little Mouse series that has publishers in 20 territories, including Australia, Nepal, and China!

In her illustrations, she uses pen and ink as well as watercolor and gouache. In 2009 Jäntti won the first-ever Tieto-Lauri, an award for children’s and juvenile non-fiction, for her illustrations in Viidakkotanssi (Jungle Dance). The book was written by Markku Löytönen about the explorer Rafael Karsten in Ecuador.

About author


Tommi Kinnunen

Tommi Kinnunen (1973) was born in Kuusamo in northeastern Finland and currently lives in Turku, where he works as a teacher of Finnish language and literature. His works include novels, opera librettos, short stories, and a non-fiction title on the changes taking place in the Finnish school system.

Kinnunen’s novels give a voice to those whose stories have been kept untold. He made a stellar debut with Where Four Roads Meet (orig. Neljäntienristeys) which was nominated for the Finlandia Prize and won the Young Aleksis Prize in 2015. The following novels The Light Behind the Eyes (orig. Lopotti), The Glass River (orig. Pintti), and Defiance (orig. Ei kertonut katuvansa) have been both critical and commercial successes. His books have been translated into 20 languages.

During his spare time, Kinnunen likes to refurbish old buildings.

Max Seeck’s new MILO series secures a two-book deal!

Max Seeck’s MILO series is on fire, securing a two-book deal in Estonia! The Estonian rights for the recently published first installment and its upcoming sequel have been acquired by Pegasus. The deal was closed by Elina Ahlbäck and Julia Bogen.

The first book of the series has already been sold to Bastei Lübbe in GermanyAschehoug in NorwayMéra Editions in FranceLatvijas Medijii in Latvia and Piemme in Italy. Solar Films adapts the book to an international TV show for global distribution. Pegasus joins this impressive list of publishers and by being the first to acquire the sequel, solidifiying Milo’s status as an international must-read in crime fiction.

Pegasus is proud to continue its collaboration with Max, whose previous books have also been published by the imprint. With this latest addition, readers can expect more thrilling narratives that highlight Seeck’s touch for suspense. Pegasus is known for its impressive list of Scandinavian crime authors, already home to heavyweights such as Camilla Läckberg, Lars Kepler, Viveca Sten, and Jussi Adler-Olsen.

Max Seeck is a New York Times and Spiegel Bestselling Author, and with MILO, he begins a new crime series, with a complex and relatable main character. Selling over  30,000 copies in Finland, and for the first time Max Seeck has claimed the top spot in Finland’s bestseller charts across all formats (print, e-book & audio) and genres. Just recently Max confirmed his status as the most translated Finnish author between 2020 and 2024, with 96 translations.

Rights still available in the UK, Spain, Poland, Czechia, Iceland, Japan, China…

Click here to download all reading materials for MILO!

About MILO:
Milo, a 38-year-old art enthusiast, gallery owner and criminal profiler struggles with sexual frustration that are both the cause and consequence for his marital problems with his wife Ronja. A body of a young woman is found painted in all-white representing a piece of chess. The chief inspector receives an anonymous letter with a short message: Bxc6. This indicates a chess move and along the location where the body was found the investigators feel that more chess moves might be on the way.

Milo struggles to form a clear picture of the killer. He soon understands that in order to help the police force to catch the killer he needs to understand the game of chess better. As much as he hates it, he decides to face the ghost of the past: her mother’s former partner Stanislav who happens to be a European champion in chess…

About MILO 2:
It’s early September in Helsinki, Finland. Ten months have passed since the events of the first book, and a lot has happened. Our hero Milo Perho, an art gallerist and a criminal profiler, has divorced and moved on with his life. While his marriage has fallen apart, he actually has gained some more confidence and is happier single. Milo has given up his dreams of becoming a father, and he tries to enjoy life as it is.

MILO
Merkitty – Tammi 2024 – 400 p.

Rights Sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ESTONIA: Pegasus
FRANCE: Mera Editions
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
ITALY: Piemme / Mondadori Group
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
NORWAY: Aschehoug
FILM & TV: Solar Films

Reading Materials:
50 p. English sample + synopsis, Finnish edition

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

MILO Italian rights sold at auction to PIEMME/MONDADORI GROUP!

Max Seeck’s MILO is on fire, with another deal – this time rights were acquired in Italy at auction, conducted and closed by Elina Ahlback and Julia Bogen. The Italian rights to Max Seeck’s brand new series MILO has gone to his previous publisher Piemme/Mondadori Group. Solar Films adapts Milo to an international TV show for global distribution. Rights were previously sold to Bastei Lübbe in Germany, Aschehoug in Norway, Mera Éditions in France and Latvijas Medijii in Latvia. Huge congratulations, Max!

Max Seeck is a New York Times and Spiegel Bestselling Author, and MILO is currently Finland’s #1 Bestseller!! MILO has sold over 25,000 copies since publication in September! MILO begins a new crime series, with a complex and relatable main character, criminal profiler and art gallerist Milo Perho. Bodies with chess pieces in their mouth – Milo needs to understand the game of chess in order to catch a killer.

Praise for MILO:  

Milo is a slightly different Seeck detective story and as such a quality piece of work. More than that, it’s an outright masterpiece  (…)  Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year’s winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction.

Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

About MILO:
Milo, a 38-year-old art enthusiast, gallery owner and criminal profiler struggles with sexual frustration that are both the cause and consequence for his marital problems with his wife Ronja. A body of a young woman is found painted in all-white representing a piece of chess. The chief inspector receives an anonymous letter with a short message: Bxc6. This indicates a chess move and along the location where the body was found the investigators feel that more chess moves might be on the way.

Milo struggles to form a clear picture of the killer. He soon understands that in order to help the police force to catch the killer he needs to understand the game of chess better. As much as he hates it, he decides to face the ghost of the past: her mother’s former partner Stanislav who happens to be a European champion in chess…

Rights still available in the UK, Spain, Poland, Czechia, Iceland, Japan, China…

Click here to download all reading materials for MILO!

MILO
Merkitty – Tammi 2024 – 400 p.

Rights Sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.), FRANCE: Mera Editions, GERMANY: Bastei Luebbe, ITALY: Piemme/Mondadori Group, LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji, NORWAY: Aschehoug, FILM & TV: Solar Films

Reading Materials:
50 p. English sample + synopsis, Finnish edition

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

MILO #1 bestselling book in September

Great news for MILO by our international bestselling author Max Seeck. The book was #1 bestselling book in Finland in September. Congratulations Max!

Since its publication in early September the newest book by the NY Times bestselling author has sold over 25 000 copies and continues to dominate the top charts in print, e-book, and audio formats.

For those who don’t know, Max Seeck is one of Finland’s top selling crime authors, with over 400,000 copies sold. His popular Jessica Niemi series has sold in 40 territories and Hollywood, where Stampede Ventures is developing The Witch Hunter an international TV series. Solar Films is develeloping a feature film targeted towards an international audience.

MILO is following in the footsteps of Seeck’s previous successes, captivating readers!

About MILO:

Milo, a 38-year-old art enthusiast, gallery owner and criminal profiler struggles with sexual frustration that are both the cause and consequence for his marital problems with his wife Ronja. A body of a young woman is found painted in all-white representing a piece of chess. The chief inspector receives an anonymous letter with a short message: Bxc6. This indicates a chess move and along the location where the body was found the investigators feel that more chess moves might be on the way.

Milo struggles to form a clear picture of the killer. He soon understands that in order to help the police force to catch the killer he needs to understand the game of chess better. As much as he hates it, he decides to face the ghost of the past: her mother’s former partner Stanislav who happens to be a European champion in chess…

Join the success all Max Seeck publishers around the world! And for our other Hot Frankfurt crime & thriller titles browse our rights guide here.

The rights are still available for Poland, Italy, the UK/US etc.. Get in touch with us and acquire your next bestseller!

Click here to access all reading materials for MILO!

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

Fantastic new praise for MILO, WOLF CUB, and OUR LAST GAME!

To round off the week, we have some fantastic praise for our hot titles: MILO by NY Times bestseller Max Seeck, our wilderness noir WOLF CUB by award-winning author Johanna Holmström, and OUR LAST GAME by Finland’s literary favorite Riikka Pulkkinen!

MILO

“I found Seeck’s choice to deal with infertility from a male perspective particularly commendable. In the book, a child is precisely Milo’s dream, and when that dream doesn’t come true, it leads to many unexpected consequences.”

– Amman lukuhetki blog

*****

“The most important thing for a detective story is, of course, a well-rolling, addictive plot that reveals just the right amount: not too much, not too little. (-) As before, Seeck draws both the characters and the milieu with such force that everything can be seen as a film before your eyes. Not surprisingly, a TV series is already in the pipeline.”

– Amman lukuhetki blog

You can download materials for MILO here!

WOLF CUB

“We end up in the middle of the primeval forest, the wilderness. The best writers create their own genre. Like Johanna Holmström. Understanding half of what Johanna Holmström means and wants is enough to think that “Vargens unge” is a really good novel, even the best Swedish-language detective, crime, police and suspense novel of the year. A crime novel and novel critical of civilization.

– Bengt Eriksson, Opulens magazine, Sweden

*****

“Johanna Holmström succeeds in telling a strong story about lost and lonely people, about children who are both loved and hurt, about living both inside and outside society, and also makes strong contemporary events such as the pandemic and the Ukrainian war into thought-provoking parts of the story. At the same time, she also writes a classic crime novel with police investigation, suspense and unexpected disputes. The mix of all this makes “The Wolf’s Cub” a great read for everyone, whether you like crime fiction or not.”

– Nerikes Allehanda newspaper, Örebro, Sweden

You can download materials for WOLF CUB here!

OUR LAST GAME

Pulkkinen masters the distinctive voices of the characters, right down to the narrator. The work poses ethical and philosophical questions through the mouths of its numerous characters… OUR LAST GAME asks how much of what was broken in childhood can be repaired with medicine. Above all, it asks what is ultimately broken in us and what is the fabric of life itself.

– Maija Alander, Helsingin Sanomat newspaper

*****

Riikka Pulkkinen’s OUR LAST GAME is a masterpiece of psychiatric power. It is a stunningly beautiful cry for help for the mentally broken. The novel has the makings of a Finlandia nominee.

– Maaseudun Tulevaisuus newspaper, Finland

You can download materials for OUR LAST GAME here!

MILO
Merkitty – Tammi 2024 – 400 p.
Rights Sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.), FRANCE: Mera Editions, GERMANY: Bastei Luebbe, LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji, NORWAY: Aschehoug, FILM & TV: Solar Films
Reading Materials: 50 p. English sample + synopsis, Finnish edition

WOLF CUB
Vargens unge – Albert Bonniers Förlag 2024 – 428 p.
Rights Sold:
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag (orig.), FINLAND: Förlaget (Swedish) & Otava (Finnish)
Reading Materials: English sample & 27-page synopsis, Swedish edition, Finnish edition

OUR LAST GAME
Viimeinen yhteinen leikki – Otava 2024 – 411 p.
Reading Materials: English sample & synopsis, Finnish edition

About author


Johanna Holmström

Johanna Holmström is one of the most successful Finnish-Swedish writers of her generation. Her works have been published in over 10 countries.

She made her debut at 21 years old with the short story collection Inlåst och andra noveller in 2003, and was nominated for Sveriges Radio’s award. She had her literary breakthrough in 2009 with her fourth book, the short story collection Camera Obscura, which received both Svenska Dagbladet's literature prize in Sweden and Svenska YLE's literature prize in Finland.

Her novel Asfaltsänglar (2013) has been published in seven countries.  With Själarnas ö (2017), her acclaimed novel centered around women in a mental hospital in the Finnish archipelago from the late 1800s–1962, Holmström was nominated for the prestigious Runeberg Prize in 2018. Her short story collection Handbok i klardrömmar (2022) was the first Finnish-Swedish title to receive the Karin Boye prize in Sweden. Vargens unge (2024) is published by Albert Bonniers.

In her writing, Johanna Holmström explores the darker sides of human nature in a psychologically credible way. She writes about relationships and power structures within the family and society. Holmström is one of Finland's most skilled at environmental portrayal, and for her the environment is at least as central as the characters when it comes to creating drama. She has a narrative drive that few can match, without forgetting to maintain a top class and wayward language.

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

About author


Riikka Pulkkinen

Riikka Pulkkinen (b. 1980) is one of the top names in Finnish literature. Her debut novel The Limit (2006) gained wide attention, was a bestseller, and was adapted into a play and a TV series in Finland. Her international breakthrough came with her second novel, True (2010), which was the one novel everyone was talking about that year at the Frankfurt book fair. The novel has been published in 17 countries to date.

Pulkkinen’s novels are characterized by the precision with which she describes the psychology of the characters, and the philosophical themes that reflect from the characters into the refined structure of the novels and culminate on the level of the plot. The main questions she explores in her novels concern power, responsibility, and justice.

Pulkkinen has an M.A. in Literary Studies from the University of Helsinki, and she lives in Helsinki with her husband and her two children. She enjoys dancing and running in the forest or by the seaside. If she weren’t a writer, she would be a psychologist or a baker.

For her works, Riikka Pulkkinen has received the Kaarle award in 2007, the Laila Hirvisaari Fund stipend in 2007, the Veijo Meri Award in 2019, and her novel True was nominated for the Finlandia Prize in 2010. Her acclaimed novel The Enchantment (Otava, 2022) will be published in English by Scribe in 2025, and her new novel Our Last Game (Otava, 2024), published in Finland in August 2024, has gained starred reviews.

FILI Grants Fall 2024 open from now until November 1st!

The FILI Fall 2024 grant application period is now open and will last until November 1st 2024! Now is the perfect time to acquire your Finnish bestseller and award-winner! Check out our Fall Catalogue here:  Ahlback Agency Fall 2024 – and latest news here: Ahlback Agency News

FILI offers grants to support the translation of Finnish literature. These grants are intended for publishers outside Finland and are to be applied towards the translator’s fee. Grants are awarded for translating works of fiction and general non-fiction, children’s and young adult (YA) books, and comics and graphic novels from the Finnish, Finland-Swedish and Sámi languages. Grants are awarded to cover part of the translation cost, on average, 50 to 70 per cent. Grants are also available for printing costs for comics and graphic novels and for children’s picture books. Read more here: APPLY FOR FILI GRANTS

Good news for German publishers: there is an extra guarantee of a 70% grant for German publishers.

FILI grants can be applied for all Ahlback Agency titles. Below are some picks of our bestsellers, award-winners & new titles. We look forward to spreading Finnish literature together!

 

Wolf Cub

Johanna Holmström

“Finland-Swedish Holmström’s suspense debut is unusually literary, also atmospheric, dense and unpredictable. In an instant, the mood can change from calming to unsafe. Whether it’s due to nature’s whims, threatening people or unkempt things that we suddenly imagine. Johanna Holmström manages to capture that. She is even more skilled at the relationships between people, when trust is there and when it is lacking. When everything breaks down.”

– Bella Stenberg, Ystads Allehanda newspaper, Sweden

“Vargens unge” is a really good novel, even the best Swedish-language detective, crime, police and suspense novel of the year. A crime novel and novel critical of civilization.

– Bengt Eriksson, Opulens magazine, Sweden

 

Our Last Game

Riikka Pulkkinen

“Pulkkinen masters the distinctive voices of the characters, right down to the narrator. The work poses ethical and philosophical questions through the mouths of its numerous characters… OUR LAST GAME asks how much of what was broken in childhood can be repaired with medicine. Above all, it asks what is ultimately broken in us and what is the fabric of life itself.”

– Maija Alander, Helsingin Sanomat newspaper

 

Daughter of Two Bloods

 S. K. Rostedt

“An addictive and titillating domestic fantasy novel that is just as good as all the hype suggests. Smooth storytelling, with just the right amount of plot twists and surprises. This book is on your mind when you can’t read it and you get sucked in as soon as you pick it up.”

– Kirjoihin kadonnut bookstagram

 

The Kristinestad Murders #1: Revenge

 Kaisu Tuokko

”Will Kaisu Tuokko’s Kristinestad be Finland’s equivalent to Camilla Läckberg’s Fjällbacka or Mari Jungstedt’s Visby? Tuokko has taken a model from another classic author, namely Agatha Christie. The reader has no real chance to identify the killer, although clearly the most important question is ”who dunnit”. The key thing is that Tuokko succeeds in creating excitement and suspense by bringing up current social phenomena against an idyllic setting.”

– Taika Dahlbom, Helsingin Sanomat newspaper

 

The Kristinestad Murders #2: Alone

 Kaisu Tuokko

“Kaisu Tuokko perfectly balances the combination of a gorgeous, atmospheric setting and the aftermath of a terrible crime that exposes the eerie underbelly below the shiny surface of lovely Kristinestad. Mats and Eevi, a police investigator and a journalist, complement each other so well because one of them can always keep digging where the other one reaches their limits. Her investigative team is capable and likeable – what more could you ask for?”

– Sarah Mainke, Editor, Aufbau Verlage, Germany

 

Milo

Max Seeck

“Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year’s winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction.”

– Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper
“The most important thing for a detective story is, of course, a well-rolling, addictive plot that reveals just the right amount: not too much, not too little. (-) As before, Seeck draws both the characters and the milieu with such force that everything can be seen as a film before your eyes. Not surprisingly, a TV series is already in the pipeline.”

– Amman lukuhetki blog

WOLF CUB
Vargens Unge
Albert Bonniers, 2024, 428 p.
Rights sold:
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag (orig.)
FINLAND: Förlaget (Swedish) & Otava (Finnish)
Reading materials:
English sample & 27-page synopsis
Swedish edition
Finnish edition

OUR LAST GAME
Viimeinen yhteinen leikki
Otava, 2024, 411 p.
Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
Reading materials:
English sample and synopsis
Finnish edition

DAUGHTER OF TWO BLOODS
Kahden veren tytär
Otava, 2024, 509 p.
Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
Reading materials:
English sample and synopsis
Finnish edition

Kristinestad Murders 1: REVENGE
Kosto
Otava 2023, 298 p.
Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
Reading materials:
Full English translation
English sample and synopsis; series presentation

Kristinestad Murders 2: ALONE
Yksin
Otava, 2024, 300 p.
Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
Reading materials:
English synopsis and series presentation
Finnish edition

MILO
Merkitty
Tammi, September 2024, 400 p.
Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.), FRANCE: Mera Editions, GERMANY: Bastei Luebbe, LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji, NORWAY: Aschehoug, FILM & TV: Solar Films
Reading materials:
Longer English sample + synopsis
Finnish edition

About author


Johanna Holmström

Johanna Holmström is one of the most successful Finnish-Swedish writers of her generation. Her works have been published in over 10 countries.

She made her debut at 21 years old with the short story collection Inlåst och andra noveller in 2003, and was nominated for Sveriges Radio’s award. She had her literary breakthrough in 2009 with her fourth book, the short story collection Camera Obscura, which received both Svenska Dagbladet's literature prize in Sweden and Svenska YLE's literature prize in Finland.

Her novel Asfaltsänglar (2013) has been published in seven countries.  With Själarnas ö (2017), her acclaimed novel centered around women in a mental hospital in the Finnish archipelago from the late 1800s–1962, Holmström was nominated for the prestigious Runeberg Prize in 2018. Her short story collection Handbok i klardrömmar (2022) was the first Finnish-Swedish title to receive the Karin Boye prize in Sweden. Vargens unge (2024) is published by Albert Bonniers.

In her writing, Johanna Holmström explores the darker sides of human nature in a psychologically credible way. She writes about relationships and power structures within the family and society. Holmström is one of Finland's most skilled at environmental portrayal, and for her the environment is at least as central as the characters when it comes to creating drama. She has a narrative drive that few can match, without forgetting to maintain a top class and wayward language.

About author


Kaisu Tuokko

Kaisu Tuokko’s aim is to create a series where interpersonal relationships and the idyll of a small town are mixed with cruel events – using psychological tension to build stories about how badly we know the families or friends of our neighbors, of our loved ones. Everyone has secrets, but some of them are more dangerous than others.

Tuokko loves the stories of strangers, secrets of small towns, rainy autumn evenings, and the Swedish language. She lives in Helsinki, and has named her main character after her grandparents.

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

About author


Riikka Pulkkinen

Riikka Pulkkinen (b. 1980) is one of the top names in Finnish literature. Her debut novel The Limit (2006) gained wide attention, was a bestseller, and was adapted into a play and a TV series in Finland. Her international breakthrough came with her second novel, True (2010), which was the one novel everyone was talking about that year at the Frankfurt book fair. The novel has been published in 17 countries to date.

Pulkkinen’s novels are characterized by the precision with which she describes the psychology of the characters, and the philosophical themes that reflect from the characters into the refined structure of the novels and culminate on the level of the plot. The main questions she explores in her novels concern power, responsibility, and justice.

Pulkkinen has an M.A. in Literary Studies from the University of Helsinki, and she lives in Helsinki with her husband and her two children. She enjoys dancing and running in the forest or by the seaside. If she weren’t a writer, she would be a psychologist or a baker.

For her works, Riikka Pulkkinen has received the Kaarle award in 2007, the Laila Hirvisaari Fund stipend in 2007, the Veijo Meri Award in 2019, and her novel True was nominated for the Finlandia Prize in 2010. Her acclaimed novel The Enchantment (Otava, 2022) will be published in English by Scribe in 2025, and her new novel Our Last Game (Otava, 2024), published in Finland in August 2024, has gained starred reviews.

About author


S. K. Rostedt

S. K. Rostedt aka Saara Rostedt (1993) is an author and marketing professional who grew up in Finland's book capital Sastamala. Now based in Helsinki, she is an avid romantasy reader who loves to spend time in nature and at her summer cabin. She has popular BookTok and Bookstagram social channels, where she talks about her writing and reading experiences. S. K. Rostedt, who gave up reading as a teenager, rediscovered the world of books in her twenties with the help of romantasy. Saara is known in social media as @skrostedt.

20,000 copies sold for Milo and Latvian deal!

Since its publication, MILO by crime superstar Max Seeck has sold over 20,000 copies in Finland! Considering the international success of New York Times Bestseller Seeck’s Jessica Niemi series, however, we can’t say we’re surprised. It’s also the #1 bestseller in audio and e-book!

Adding on to the good news: the Latvian publisher for the Jessica Niemi series Latvijas Mediji has acquired Latvian rights to Milo, in a deal closed by Elina Ahlbäck and Julia Bogen! This is the 5th territory Milo has sold too, including TV rights with Solar Films.

About MILO:

Milo, a 38-year-old art enthusiast, gallery owner and criminal profiler struggles with sexual frustration that are both the cause and consequence for his marital problems with his wife Ronja. A body of a young woman is found painted in all-white representing a piece of chess. The chief inspector receives an anonymous letter with a short message: Bxc6. This indicates a chess move and along the location where the body was found the investigators feel that more chess moves might be on the way.

Milo struggles to form a clear picture of the killer. He soon understands that in order to help the police force to catch the killer he needs to understand the game of chess better. As much as he hates it, he decides to face the ghost of the past: her mother’s former partner Stanislav who happens to be a European champion in chess…

Join the success all Max Seeck publishers around the world! And for our other Hot Frankfurt crime & thriller titles browse our rights guide here.

Click here to access all reading materials for MILO!

This week you can meet us at Gothenburg Book Fair, at IRC table K-A07 – see you there!

Publication Info:
Merkitty, Tammi Sep 2024, 400 p.

Rights Sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.), FRANCE: Mera Editions, GERMANY: Bastei Luebbe, LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji, NORWAY: Aschehoug, FILM & TV: Solar Films

Reading Materials:
Long English sample + synopsis, original Finnish edition

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

Happy Publication Day to MILO! Film updates, extended English sample, and more…

It’s official: MILO by Max Seeck, New York Times bestselling author and Spiegel bestselling author, has hit the shelves in Finland, and we’re thrilled to say it’s his best work yet!

If you’re not fluent in Finnish, don’t worry – we have a new extended English sample of 50 pages for you.

For those who don’t know, Max Seeck is one of Finland’s top selling crime authors, with over 400,000 copies sold. His popular Jessica Niemi series has sold in 40 territories and Hollywood, where Stampede Ventures is developing The Witch Hunter an international TV series. Needless to say, MILO does a great job following in these footsteps!

By the way, the launch party Wednesday night was a blast, and you can see our great photo of Elina and Max on the sidebar!

 

Also stay tuned (forgive the pun) for some film updates. But first, a little bit about the new series…

From New York Times and Spiegel bestseller Max Seeck, MILO begins a new crime series, with a complex and relatable main character, criminal profiler and art gallerist Milo Perho. Bodies with chess pieces in their mouths – Milo needs to understand the game of chess in order to catch a killer.

A body of a young woman is found painted in all-white representing a piece of chess. The chief inspector receives an anonymous letter with a short message: Bxc6. This indicates a chess move and along the location where the body was found the investigators feel that more chess moves might be on the way.

Milo struggles to form a clear picture of the killer. He soon understands that in order to help the police force to catch the killer he needs to understand the game of chess better. As much as he hates it, he decides to face the ghost of the past: her mother’s former partner Stanislav who happens to be a European champion in chess…

Book 2: The sequel to MILO will deepen the story between Milo and Stanislav and enlighten the past events that led to current situation. The main storyline will happen in the present and will be about espionage and assassination of a person of high status.

As for film updates: the adaptation is quickly progressing! Solar Films is developing this feature film targeted toward an international audience. As of Fall 2024, the film will already be in pre-production, with shooting tentatively planned for 2025/2026.

Rights to MILO have already sold to Bastei Luebbe in Germany, Mera Editions in France, and Aschehoug in Norway!

Click here to download English reading materials for MILO!

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

Max Seeck listed on Vogue’s “19 best Nordic noir of all time”!

New York Times Bestselling Author Max Seeck has been included in Vogue’s list of the 19 best Nordic noir books of all time!!! According to Vogue: there are plenty of stellar authors who have made a lasting impression on the world, their works being read by millions across the globe. Such iconic Nordic noir writers include names like Stieg Larsson, Henning Mankell, Jo Nesbø, Camilla Läckberg, Jussi Adler-Olsen and Max Seeck.

Here’s what Vogue had to say: “Finnish author Max Seeck has a knack for crafting gripping crime narratives, demonstrated in his novel The Witch Hunter, which swiftly garnered international acclaim upon its release in 2019.

As the inaugural instalment of Seeck’s Jessica Niemi series, The Witch Hunter follows a bestselling author whose wife is discovered dead, her body adorned in a black gown and her face frozen in a chilling smile. Investigator Jessica takes charge of the case, initially suspecting a copycat emulating the macabre murders depicted in the victim’s husband’s bestseller, The Witch Hunter. However, Jessica soon discerns that a different malevolent force is at play. With the body count rising, Jessica races against the clock to solve the case.”

 

That said, we invite crime and thriller fans to hop on the bandwagon and download materials for THE WITCH HUNTER (Jessica Niemi #1) here! While THE WITCH HUNTER has sold to over 40 countries–plus Hollywood!–we still have gaps in China, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

 

 

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.); ALBANIA: Muza; AZERBAIJAN: Alatoran; BULGARIA: EMAS; CROATIA: Fokus; CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada; DENMARK: Gutkind; ESTONIA: Pegasus; FRANCE: Michel Lafon; GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe GmbH & Co. KG; GREECE: Livanis; HUNGARY: Animus; ICELAND: Forlagid; ISRAEL: Tchelet Books/ Steimatzky; ITALY: Edizioni Piemme S.p.a; LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji; LITHUANIA: Baltos lankos; NETHERLANDS & BELGIUM: A.W. Bruna; NORTHERN MACEDONIA: MATICA MAKEDONSKA dooel; NORWAY: Aschehoug; POLAND: Sonia Draga; PORTUGAL: Bertrand Editora Lda; ROMANIA: GRUP MEDIA LITERA; RUSSIA: AST Publishers; SERBIA: Vulkan; SLOVAKIA: Motyl; SLOVENIA: Didakta; SOUTH KOREA: Cheongmirae; SPAIN & LATIN AMERICA: Maeva Ediciones; SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag; TURKEY: Doğan Kitap; TV RIGHTS: Stampede Ventures; UK: Welbeck Publishing; UKRAINE: Family Leisure Club; USA & CANADA: Berkley / Penguin Random House; WORLD ARABIC: Arab Scientific Publishers, Inc.

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

Max Seeck nominated for the Glass Knife Award!

Norway has a new crime fiction award: Glasskniven or the Glass Knife – and we are thrilled to share that THE WITCH HUNTER by Max Seeck has been nominated! THE WITCH HUNTER is the first title in the New York Times bestselling Jessica Niemi series, published in Norway by Aschehoug.

The prize will be awarded to the best translated crime novel published in Norway in last three years, and it is the first award international crime writers can win in the country.
The jury – which has selected the five finalists – consists of big names:  Editor of Hverdagsnett Magasinet, Anne Lise Johannessen; author and cultural journalist for Adresseavisen, Ole Jacob Hoel; festival director of Osterøy Crime Festival, Bent Arild Raknes; reviewer and journalist Simen Ingemundsen; and journalist for Agderposten, Siri Fossing.

The jury said of THE WITCH HUNTER:

“An easy to read and immersive crime novel with many surprising twists. It is not rare for the reader to feel chills run down their spine when reading this book by the Finnish grandmaster. [The Witch Hunter] is stylistic crime that manipulates you as a reader. Nothing is random, and the author writes playfully. The killings themselves are both disgusting and simple, but what really makes this a page-turner is the pacing. Here it is driven in top gear until the solution is a fact. A different and driving crime novel, which is a joy to read.”

The other nominees are Pascal Engman, Sara Ströberg, Anders de la Motte and Sam Lloyd.

The winner will be announced on May 15th, although the prize ceremony is in autumn. The award is created by glassblower Pål Roland Janssen, and is a literal glass knife that will be stuck into the winning book. 

Massive congrats, Max!

 

The Jessica Niemi series by Max Seeck has sold to 40 territories and Hollywood – but rights are still available in e.g. Japan, Brazil, Thailand, Armenia…

Download the English materials for the Jessica Niemi series here!

USKOLLINEN LUKIJA
Tammi, 2019, 395 pp.

PAHAN VERKKO
Tammi, 2020, 448 pp.

KAUNA
Tammi, 2021, 430 pp.

LOUKKO
Tammi, 2022, 358 pp.

Reading material:
English editions

Rights sold:

FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ALBANIA: Muza
ARABIC: Arab Scientific Publishers (World Arabic)
ARMENIA: Guitank
AZERBAIJAN: Alatoran
BELGIUM, A.W. Bruna
BULGARIA: EMAS
CANADA: Berkley/Penguin Random House
CROATIA: Fokus (Book 1)
CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Pegasus
FRANCE: Michel Lafon (Books 1-2)
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
GREECE: Livanis (Book 1-2)
HUNGARY: Animus
ICELAND: Forlagid
ISRAEL: Tchelet Books (Book 1)
ITALY: Piemme (Books 1-2)
KOREA: Cheongmirae
LATIN AMERICA: Editorial Maeva/Maeva Noir
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
LITHUANIA: Baltos lankos (Book 1)
MACEDONIA: Matica
NETHERLANDS: A.W. Bruna
NORWAY: Aschehoug
POLAND: Sonia Draga (Books 1-2)
PORTUGAL: Bertrand Editora (Books 1-2)
ROMANIA: Litera (Books 1-2)
RUSSIA: AST
SERBIA: Vulkan
SLOVAKIA: Motýľ
SLOVENIA: Didakta
SPAIN: Editorial Maeva/Maeva Noir (Book 1)
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
TURKEY: Doğan Kitap
UKRAINE: Family Leisure Club
UNITED KINGDOM & COMMONWEALTH: Welbeck Publishing UK
UNITED STATES: Berkley/Penguin Random House

FILM & TV RIGHTS: Stampede Ventures (Greg Silverman)

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

Cover for Max Seeck’s new crime series revealed!

We are thrilled to share with you the cover and more information on the New York Times bestselling author Max Seeck’s upcoming novel MILO!

Milo, a 38-year-old art enthusiast, gallery owner and criminal profiler struggles with sexual frustration that are both the cause and consequence for his marital problems with his wife Ronja. A body of a young woman is found painted in all-white representing a piece of chess. The chief inspector receives an anonymous letter with a short message: Bxc6. This indicates a chess move and along the location where the body was found the investigators feel that more chess moves might be on the way.

Milo struggles to form a clear picture of the killer. He soon understands that in order to help the police force to catch the killer he needs to understand the game of chess better. As much as he hates it, he decides to face the ghost of the past: her mother’s former partner Stanislav who happens to be a European champion in chess…

MILO starts a new thriller series, with a complex and relatable main character. The first book includes surprising twists and interesting facts about the game of chess – and, in a typical Max Seeck style, a thrilling crime plot: a serial killer uses Helisnki as a chess board and corpses as the chess pawns.

Milo’s is also a story of complex human relationships, sex and issues people are facing when they approach the middle-age. The novel also covers a lot of art and other cultural references, maintaining the erotic vibe that stems from Milo’s and Ronja’s sexual adventures.

The rights to MILO have been sold to France, Germany, and Norway pre-publication!
Furthermore, the TV rights have been acquired by Solar Films! 

Rights to MILO are still available in e.g. World English, Iceland, Italy, Spain…

Download the English materials for MILO here!

MILO
Tammi, September 2024

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
FRANCE: Mera éditions
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
NORWAY: Aschehoug

FILM & TV rights: Solar Films

Reading materials:
English sample and synopsis
Finnish manuscript in December 2023

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

Lovely reception for INHERITED LAND in France and GHOST ISLAND in the US!

Maria Turtschaninoff’s award-winning INHERITED LAND has been published in France by Éditions Paulsen, and the reception has been wonderful!

“With inventiveness and finesse, the novelist analyses the evolution of  the relationships [between human and nature] without didacticism. [–] Each era is painted from the inside, bathing in its own atmosphere, the transitions from one to another taking place smoothly, without forcing or erasing anything. [–] This unforgettable portrait of Finland through the centuries is based on solid scholarship. Even if it is fiction, Maria Turtschaninoff has no equal when it comes to diving deep into the spirit of an era.”
– Elena Balzamo in Le Monde des Livres, France

“The very beautiful [Inherited Land] by the Finnish writer Maria Turtschaninoff [tells the story of] a cabin built four centuries ago by a soldier on the shores of the Gulf of Ostrobothnia, of the families that succeed one another and of a curse that awakens when the men of the family do not respect the promise made to the creatures living in the bogs. [–] An immersive reading experience guaranteed.”
– Isabelle Falconnier in Le Matin Dimanche, France

INHERITED LAND is the first adult novel by Turtschaninoff who rose to fame with her YA series Maresi. Having sold to 23 territories, INHERITED LAND has charmed readers in Finland and abroad. It is an episodic work of literary fiction depicting human relationships with nature across generations, following in the tradition of family sagas like One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.

The rights to INHERITED LAND are still available in e.g. Spain, Japan, Portugal, Greece…

Download the English materials for INHERITED LAND here!

Furthermore, GHOST ISLAND by Max Seeck has now been published in the US by Berkley!

The fourth and final installment of the New York Times bestselling and Glass Key Award-winning series sees the protagonist Jessica Niemi travel to a  remote island, hoping to find some peace. But alas, what she finds instead is suspicious deaths and ghosts from the past…

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [–] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines.”
–Publisher’s Weekly, starred review

“Jessica Niemi is anything but ordinary, sort of a spiritual daughter of Lisbeth Salander [–] Seeck likes to play with the supernatural, which he does effectively here. [–] If you like your Scandi noir with a splash of horror, Ghost Island is a don’t-miss destination.”
—Lisa Henricksson on Air Mail

“A chilling psychological mystery whose complex heroine deserves some peace of mind.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Fans of the series and of Nordic mysteries in general will enjoy this frosty, enigmatic tale with its chilly atmosphere and subtle twists.”
—Booklist

The Jessica Niemi series by Max Seeck has sold to 40 territories and Hollywood – but rights are still available in e.g. Japan, Brazil, Thailand, Armenia…

Download the English materials for the series here!

Arvejord
Forlaget, August 2022, 371 pp.

Rights sold: FINLAND: Förlaget (orig. Finland-Swedish)
FINLAND: Tammi (Finnish)
AZERBAIJAN: Alatoran
BULGARIA: Izida
CHINA: Rentian Ulus
CROATIA: Hena Com
CZECH REPUBLIC: Argo
DENMARK: Alpha Forlag
ESTONIA: Rahva Raamat
FRANCE: Éditions Paulsen
GERMANY: Rowohlt
HUNGARY: L’Harmattan
ISRAEL: Hakibbutz Hameuchad – Sifriat Poalim
ITALY: Bompiani
NETHERLANDS: Atlas Contact
NORWAY: Bonnier Norsk Forlag
POLAND: Poznańskie
ROMANIA: Editura Univers
SWEDEN: Förlaget
TURKEY: Timas Yayinlari
UKRAINE: Old Lion Publishing House
UNITED KINGDOM & COMMONWEALTH: Pushkin Press
UNITED STATES & CANADA: Pushkin Press
WORLD ALBANIAN: Shkupi Publishing House

 

Jessica Niemi series
Tammi, 2019-2022
Series rights sold:

FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ALBANIA: Muza
ARABIC: Arab Scientific Publishers (World Arabic)
ARMENIA: Guitank
AZERBAIJAN: Alatoran
BELGIUM, A.W. Bruna
BULGARIA: EMAS
CANADA: Berkley/Penguin Random House
CROATIA: Fokus (Book 1)
CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Pegasus
FRANCE: Michel Lafon (Books 1-2)
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
GREECE: Livanis (Book 1-2)
HUNGARY: Animus
ICELAND: Forlagid
ISRAEL: Tchelet Books (Book 1)
ITALY: Piemme (Books 1-2)
KOREA: Cheongmirae
LATIN AMERICA: Editorial Maeva/Maeva Noir
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
LITHUANIA: Baltos lankos (Book 1)
MACEDONIA: Matica
NETHERLANDS: A.W. Bruna
NORWAY: Aschehoug
POLAND: Sonia Draga (Books 1-2)
PORTUGAL: Bertrand Editora (Books 1-2)
ROMANIA: Litera (Books 1-2)
RUSSIA: AST
SERBIA: Vulkan
SLOVAKIA: Motýľ
SLOVENIA: Didakta
SPAIN: Editorial Maeva/Maeva Noir (Book 1)
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
TURKEY: Doğan Kitap
UKRAINE: Family Leisure Club
UNITED KINGDOM & COMMONWEALTH: Welbeck Publishing UK
UNITED STATES: Berkley/Penguin Random House

FILM & TV RIGHTS: Stampede Ventures (Greg Silverman)

About author


Maria Turtschaninoff

Maria Turtschaninoff is known for crafting lyrical, historically inspired fantasy stories starring strong female protagonists. In addition to J.R.R. Tolkien, she counts Philip Pullman, Ursula K. Le Guin and C.S. Lewis among her favorite authors. She is a two-time winner of the Society of Swedish Literature Prize, winner of the Swedish YLE Literature Prize, winner of the Thank You for the Book Award, a nominee for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (2020-2024), and winner of the 2014 Finlandia Junior Prize. In 2024, Maria Turtschaninoff won the Eeva Joenpelto Literary Prize (10,000 euro award) for her literary masterpiece Tangled Roots.

Her Red Abbey Chronicles YA trilogy has been sold into 30 languages, while her first adult novel Tangled Roots has been sold to 23 territories. Maria has a Master of Arts in human ecology and works full-time as a writer.

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Three new fiction deals! Katja Kettu sold in Germany, GHOST ISLAND in the Netherlands & MEMORY OF WATER in Albania!

We are thrilled to share three new fiction deals with you!

The German rights for Katja Kettu’s bestselling novel THE INVESTIGATIONS OF A CERTAIN CAT have been sold to Weissbooks Verlag in a deal closed by Anna Kappauf at Elina Ahlback Literary Agency. This is the 9th language this title will be published in.

Weissbooks Verlag are an independent publisher with a well-curated literary list that includes Booker-Prize shortlisted author Cheon Myeong-kwan, Heinrich-Böll-Prize winning author José F. A. Oliver, and critically acclaimed author Mary Miller.

This is what Weissbooks Publisher Bärbel Brands said about acquiring Katja Kettu’s novel:

“The Investigations of a Certain Cat” is for me a text that is as historical as it is topical, as feminine as it is universal, one that entertains in the most intelligent way and at the same time inspires and shakes us up. I am particularly interested in two (three) things that I find highly topical and existential for every society: the deep understanding of  human nature (motherhood and loss) and nature itself in contrast to over-civilised humanity, and the power of language, words and communication, which seems at least as important to me. Even across generations. When we look at the current crises, indeed wars, we know that there is a lack of willingness to enter into negotiations, to find the right words. And formally, not to forget the dramaturgical twist of giving the cat a perspective and an instance of its own, which has both a commentary character and elegantly connects the different narratives. (…) In terms of positioning, I see it close to Cheon’s “The Whale“ (short-listed for the International Booker Prize 23), this exuberant novel full of dream images, dominated by two strong female protagonists, which described a Korea on the threshold of modernity in disguise of a Korean Thousand and One Nights. There is no doubt about it, “Investigations of a Certain Cat” will be our most important title, to which we devote all our persuasive power and passion.”

Download the materials for THE INVESTIGATIONS OF A CERTAIN CAT here!

 

We are also happy to report that A.W. Bruna acquired the Dutch rights to Max Seeck’s GHOST ISLAND in a deal closed by Anna Kappauf at Elina Ahlback Literary Agency.

This is the 4th instalment in the New-York-Times-bestselling Jessica Niemi crime series, which has been sold to 40 countries and Hollywood. In 2023, Max Seeck was won the prestigious Glass Key Award for the third book in the series, THE LAST GRUDGE. Finnish publisher Tammi will publish Max Seeck’s new and independent title MILO in September 2024 and the rights have already been pre-empted for 3 territories and Film & TV.

Download the materials for GHOST ISLAND here!

 

And last but not least, Emmi Itäranta’s THE MEMORY OF WATER was sold to Dituria in Albania in a deal closed by Sten-Erik Tammemäe at Elina Ahlback Literary Agency. The rights for this speculative fiction title, originally published in Finland in 2012, have already been sold in over 25 territories and its environmental message is today more topical than ever.

Dituria, founded in 1991, publishes literature for both adults and children, and about 60% of their publications are by foreign authors. Their mission is to spread the pleasure of reading and become a companion for social change. Their authors include Hilary Mantel, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Per Olov Enquist, Lucinda Riley, J.K. Rowling, Maria Parr, Milan Kundera, Philip Roth,  Rosa Liksom, Roald Dahl, and Umberto Eco.

Download the materials for THE MEMORY OF WATER here!

Erään kissan tutkimuksia
Otava, September 2023, 380 pp.

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
CZECHIA: ARGO
DENMARK: Lindhardt og Ringhof
ESTONIA: Koolibri
GERMANY: Weissbooks Verlag
ITALY: Mondadori
NORWAY: Pax Forlag
ROMANIA: Humanitas Fiction
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag

Reading materials:
English sample and synopsis
Finnish edition

 

Loukko
Tammi, September 2022, 358 pp.

Rights sold in series:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ALBANIA: Muza
ARMENIA: Guitank
AZERBAIJAN: Alatoran
BULGARIA: EMAS
CROATIA: Fokus
CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Pegasus
FRANCE: Michel Lafon
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
GREECE: Livanis
HUNGARY: Animus
ICELAND: Forlagid
ISRAEL: Tchelet Books/Steimatzky
ITALY: Piemme
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
LITHUANIA: Baltos lankos
NETHERLANDS & BELGIUM: A.W. Bruna
NORTH MACEDONIA: Matica Makedonska
NORWAY: Aschehoug
POLAND: Sonia Draga
PORTUGAL: Bertrand Editora Lda
ROMANIA: Litera
RUSSIA: AST Publishers
SERBIA: Vulkan
SLOVAKIA: Motyl
SLOVENIA: Didakta
SOUTH KOREA: Cheongmirae
SPAIN & LATIN AMERICA: Maeva Ediciones
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
TURKEY: Doğan Kitap
UK: Welbeck
UKRAINE: Family Leisure Club
USA & CANADA: Berkley / Penguin Random House
WORLD ARABIC: Arab Scientific
TV RIGHTS: Stampede Ventures

Reading materials:
English edition

 

Teemestarin kirja
Teos, November 2012, 266 pp.

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Teos (orig.)
ALBANIA: Dituria
ARABIC: Dar Al Muna
BRAZIL: Record
BULGARIA: Perseus
CHINA: Sichuan People’s Publishing House
CROATIA: VBZ
CZECH REPUBLIC: Albatros Media/Plus
DENMARK: Turbine
ESTONIA: Koolibri
FRANCE: Place des Editeurs
GEORGIA: Palitra L Publishing
HUNGARY: Metropolis Media
ITALY: Sperling&Kupfer
JAPAN: Nishimura Shoten
KOREA: The Book in My Life
LATVIA: Janis Roze
LITHUANIA: Nieko Rimto
NETHERLANDS: Atlas Contact
NORWAY: Gresvik Forlag
RUSSIA: Text Publishers
SERBIA: Heliks
SPAIN: Ediciones B.
SWEDEN: Modernista
TURKEY: Dogan Egmont
WORLD ENGLISH: HarperCollins
FILM & TV RIGHTS: Bufo

Reading materials:
English edition

About author


Emmi Itäranta

Emmi Itäranta (b.1976) holds two MA degrees, one in Drama and another in Creative Writing. Her award-winning debut novel Memory of Water (Teemestarin kirja) was published in Finland in 2012 to great accolades, followed by The Weaver (Kudottujen kujien kaupunki) in 2015. Her latest novel The Moonday Letters (Kuunpäivän kirjeet) was published in September 2020.

Itäranta’s writing has been compared to that of Ursula K. Le Guin. Her honours include the Young Aleksis Kivi Prize 2013, the Kalevi Jäntti Literary Prize 2012 and first place in the Teos Fantasy and Sci-Fi Literary Contest 2011.

Memory of Water has sold to over 25 languages to date, and it has also been nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award recognizing the best science fiction novel published in the UK in 2014, and the Golden Tentacle award. In addition, Itäranta has been included on the Honor List of the Otherwise Award (formerly James Tiptree, Jr. Award).

Itäranta’s CV is an eclectic mix of writing-related activities, including stints as a columnist, theatre critic, press officer and dramaturge. Her poems, short stories, articles and essays have appeared in anthologies, film magazines and science fiction magazines in the UK and Finland. She now lives in Finland after 14 years in the United Kingdom.

About author


Katja Kettu

Katja Kettu is an acclaimed and award-winning writer with a strong, unique voice from Northern Finland. Originally from Rovaniemi, Lapland, she graduated from the Turku Academy of Arts in 2001 as an animation director and has also studied in the University of Tampere and in the National Film and Television School in the UK. She has worked as a columnist for numerous Finnish newspapers and magazines.

Her debut novel Surujenkerääjä (2005) was nominated for the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize and won the Tiiliskivi Prize, but her breakthrough came with The Midwife (orig. Kätilö, 2011), which won the Kalevi Jäntti Prize, the Runeberg Prize and the Thank You for the Book Medal. The rights for the novel have been sold to 19 countries, it has sold more than 160,000 copies in Finland, and in 2015 it was adapted into a film.

To date, she has published five novels, written or edited two collections of short stories, authored a graphic novel, edited a fiction/non-fiction book on women’s experiences with sexual harassment and violence, and a biography of Ismo Alanko, a Finnish musician. In addition, she has collaborated with photographer Meeri Koutaniemi and documentarist Maria Seppälä on a book and a TV series about Finnish emigrants in North America and their relationships with the Ojibwe people. Outside of literature, Kettu has directed, written or helped produce 10 animations and been a singer in the punk band Confusa.

Kettu’s works have been characterized as “Laplandic magical realism”. Kettu is meticulous in the research for her works and she is interested in microhistory, especially the fates of women caught up in conflicts where individuals have a limited influence on their lives.

Her novel Rose on poissa was a Finlandia Prize 2018 nominee. Kettu's works have been translated into 23 languages.

Katja Kettu's literary works:

Surujenkerääjä, 2005 WSOY

Hitsaaja, 2008 WSOY

Kätilö, 2011 WSOY

Piippuhylly, novelleja, 2013 WSOY

Novelli palaa! Matkanovelleja, co-edited with Aki Salmela, 2013 WSOY

Yöperhonen, 2015 WSOY

Peräkammarin poika, illustrated by Jan Andersson, 2015 Otava

Rose on poissa, 2018 WSOY

Erään kissan tutkimuksia, 2023 Otava

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Arabic rights to GHOST ISLAND by Max Seeck sold!

We are happy to announce that the Arabic rights for GHOST ISLAND (Loukko), the fourth title in the Jessica Niemi series by The New York Times bestselling author and Glass Key Award winner Max Seeck, have been acquired by Arab Scientific Publishers! The deal was closed by Elsa Lindström at Elina Ahlback Literary Agency.

Fans of the series and of Nordic mysteries in general will enjoy this frosty, enigmatic tale with its chilly atmosphere and subtle twists.”
–Booklist, USA

GHOST ISLAND is the fourth novel in the internationally bestselling Jessica Niemi series which has been sold to 40 territories and Hollywood  an international TV-show is in development. GHOST ISLAND was included in Hasty Book List’s Most Anticipated 2024!
Max Seeck’s books have sold more than 400,000 copies in Finland alone, THE LAST GRUDGE (Jessica Niemi #3) won the Glass Key Award of 2023. Max Seeck is currently writing a new, independent crime novel, MILO, which has already been sold to Germany and will be published in Finland in September 2024.

Download the materials for GHOST ISLAND here!

Loukko
Tammi, September 2022, 358 pp.
Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ARABIC: Arab Scientific Publishers
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Pegasus
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
HUNGARY: Animus Kiadó Kft.
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
NORWAY: Aschehoug
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
UK: Welbeck
USA & CANADA: Berkley / Penguin Random House
TV RIGHTS: Stampede Ventures
Reading materials:
English edition

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

SOLAR FILMS acquires Film & TV Rights to MILO by Glass Key Award winner and NYT bestselling author Max Seeck!

The auction for Film & TV rights of MILO, the forthcoming crime novel by NYT bestselling author Max Seeck, has been closed and the winner is SOLAR FILMS Inc. Oy.  Solar Films will adapt MILO to an international TV-series for global distribution, with development starting in 2024 for a planned release in 2025.The deal was negotiated by Elina Ahlbäck at the Ahlback Agency.
Max Seeck and Ahlback Agency are absolutely thrilled about this collaboration!

Rights to MILO have been sold pre-publication to Bastei Lübbe in Germany, to Aschehoug in Norway and to Mera Éditions in France – with more offers expected! In Finland, MILO (orig. title Merkitty) will be published in July 2024 by Tammi Publishers. Congratulations, Max and Solar Films, and all Max Seeck publishers!

Join the global success of MILO now!

Download the materials for MILO here!

Solar Films CEO Jukka Helle said:
”The development and writing process for the series begins in 2024 with the real production starting in 2025 the earliest. The timing will naturally become clearer as the project progresses. We at Solar are very happy to continue our cooperation with Max.”

Our CEO & Founder Elina Ahlbäck said:
Max Seeck has created a totally unique and universal world, ready to the silver screen, and I can only admire his wild, visual imagination and exceptional talent! Milo, a criminal profiler and art gallery owner who struggles with sexual frustration, tries to form a clear picture of the killer. A body of a young woman is found painted in all-white representing a piece of chess, with more chess moves and bodies on the way. Milo needs to understand the game of chess better in order to catch the killer.”

 

Milo (working title)

Max Seeck

New independent crime novel by the New York Times Bestselling and Spiegel Bestselling Author Max Seeck, winner of the Glass Key Award 2023!

MILO is a psychological suspense novel with surprising twists and interesting facts about the game of chess. It’s also a story of complex human relationships, sex and issues people are facing when they approach the middle-age. The novel also covers a lot of art and other cultural references, maintaining the erotic vibe that stems from Milo’s and Ronja’s sexual adventures.

Milo, a 38-year-old art enthusiast, gallery owner and criminal profiler struggles with sexual frustration that are both the cause and consequence for his marital problems. A body of a young woman is found painted in all-white representing a piece of chess. The chief inspector receives an anonymous letter with a short message: dxe5. This indicates a chess move and along the location where the body was found the investigators feel that more chess moves might be on the way. Milo struggles to form a clear picture of the killer. He soon understands that in order to help the police force to catch the killer he needs to understand the game of chess better. As much as he hates it, he decides to face the ghost of the past: her mother’s former partner Stanislav who happens to be a European champion in chess…

Orig. publication
Merkitty
Tammi, July 2024

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
FRANCE: Mera Éditions
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
NORWAY: Aschehoug
FILM & TV rights: Solar Films

Reading materials:
English sample and synopsis
Finnish manuscript in Spring 2024

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

New accolades for Elina Pitkäkangas, Maria Turtschaninoff, and Max Seeck!

We have many happy news from last week’s Helsinki Book Fair to share with you!

First up, Elina Pitkäkangas won the Kuvastaja award for best Finnish fantasy title published in 2022 with her genre-breaking novel SANG! The jury said:

“The author challenges our perception of what is a fantasy world in different ways, especially by including elements that remind us of modern technology, such as geren and HeavenNet. Why should fantasy worlds be only pre-industrial societies? [–] There are also other interesting elements in the book, such as the use of sign language and the matriarchal succession.” 

Massive congrats, Elina!
SANG has sold to Germany, Denmark, and Turkey – rights in other territories are still available!

Download the materials for SANG here!

 

Secondly, Maria Turtschaninoff received flowers and the Young Aleksis award for her novel INHERITED LAND! The award is given by the high schoolers in Finland, and the jury said:

“Inherited Land is a beautiful recounting of Finnishness, nature, and folk traditions. The winning work is an easily approachable nature description. [–] The title fits for many different readers and is interesting in its narration and style.”

Huge congrats, Maria!
INHERITED LAND has sold to 23 territories – rights are still free in Spain, Portugal, Japan, Lithuania…

Download the materials for INHERITED LAND here!

 

Last but not least, Max Seeck finally received the physical award for the Glass Key win! THE LAST GRUDGE was chosen as the best Nordic crime title in August, and this was celebrated at the Helsinki Book Fair. The Glass Key jury said:

The Last Grudge combines a classic locked room mystery and an action plot with murders and all, thus reminding one of both the world of Peter Wimsey, by Dorothy L. Sayers, and of the media-sexy descriptions of a battle of power within a powerful family, as evidenced by HBO’s Succession-series. The title is written in a gripping and exciting way, merging homeliness and horror in a way that’s very popular in crime literature at the moment.

The Jessica Niemi series has so far sold to over 40 territories, but the rights are still available in e.g. Japan, China, Brazil, Georgia…

Download the materials for JESSICA NIEMI series here!

About author


Elina Pitkäkangas

Elina Pitkäkangas is an author from Nokia, Finland, and an active advocate of YA literature. She has studied creative writing and did hermaster's degree in the University of Helsinki majoring in literature. Her works seamlessly combine elements of fantasy, social criticism and moral questions. Her accolades include winning the Topelius Award 2023, the City of Tampere Literature Prize 2023, and the Kuvastaja Prize 2023. Pitkäkangas has written five novels and produces book-related videos to TikTok and Instagram on her channel @elinapitkakangas.

About author


Maria Turtschaninoff

Maria Turtschaninoff is known for crafting lyrical, historically inspired fantasy stories starring strong female protagonists. In addition to J.R.R. Tolkien, she counts Philip Pullman, Ursula K. Le Guin and C.S. Lewis among her favorite authors. She is a two-time winner of the Society of Swedish Literature Prize, winner of the Swedish YLE Literature Prize, winner of the Thank You for the Book Award, a nominee for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (2020-2024), and winner of the 2014 Finlandia Junior Prize. In 2024, Maria Turtschaninoff won the Eeva Joenpelto Literary Prize (10,000 euro award) for her literary masterpiece Tangled Roots.

Her Red Abbey Chronicles YA trilogy has been sold into 30 languages, while her first adult novel Tangled Roots has been sold to 23 territories. Maria has a Master of Arts in human ecology and works full-time as a writer.

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Two new deals for MILO by Glass Key Award winner and NYT bestselling author Max Seeck!

We are thrilled to announce two new pre-publication deals for MILO, the new standalone crime novel by star author Max Seeck! The French rights have been acquired by Mera éditions in a deal closed by Elina Ahlbäck at Elina Ahlbäck Literary Agency. And the Norwegian rights have been acquired by Aschehoug in a deal closed by Anna Kappauf at Elina Ahlbäck Literary Agency.

Mera éditions was founded at the beginning of 2022 and is dedicated to introducing international thrillers to a French audience. They publish internationally bestselling authors like Antonio Lanzetta, Andrea Mara. and Vish Dhamija.

Aschehoug, founded in 1872, is one of Norway’s leading publishing house and home to bestselling crime authors like Jo Nesbø, Hjorth & Rosenfeldt, and of course, Max Seeck!

Max Seeck won the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his crime novel THE LAST GRUDGE (orig. Kauna, Tammi 2021), which is part of the Jessica Niemi crime series that has sold into 40 territories and Hollywood: an international TV-show is in developement. Over 400,000 copies of his books have been sold in Finland alone.

About the book: 

Milo, a 38-year-old art enthusiast and criminal profiler struggles with sexual frustration. A body of a young woman is found painted in all-white representing a piece of chess. The chief inspector receives an anonymous letter with a short message: dxe5. This indicates a chess move and along the location where the body was found the investigators feel that more chess moves might be on the way.

MILO will be published in Finland by Tammi in September 2024. The German rights have previously been sold to Bastei Lübbe. There is also strong film & TV interest for MILO – watch this space for more on this soon!

The rights are still available for UK, Spain, Italy, Poland, etc.. Get in touch with us and acquire your next bestseller!

Download the materials for MILO here!

MILO
Tammi, September 2024

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
FRANCE: Mera éditions
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
NORWAY: Aschehoug

Reading materials:
English sample and synopsis
Finnish manuscript in December 2023

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

Turkish sale for THE ICE COVEN by Max Seeck!

We’re thrilled to announce a new deal for Max Seeck! The second title in the Jessica Niemi series, THE ICE COVEN, has been acquired by Dogan Yayinlari in Turkey. In THE ICE COVEN, Detective Jessica Niemi is on a hunt to save the life of a missing blogger in the icy Helsinki winter. But is it already too late? And why is Jessica having nightmares about her mother?
The deal was closed by Elsa Lindström at Elina Ahlback Literary Agency.

The Jessica Niemi series has so far sold to over 40 territories, including US and Hollywood, but the rights are still available in e.g. Japan, China, Brazil, Georgia…

Download the materials for THE JESSICA NIEMI SERIES here!

The Jessica Niemi series

THE WITCH HUNTER, THE ICE COVEN, THE LAST GRUDGE and GHOST ISLAND
Max Seeck

New York Times Bestseller!
Winner of the Glass Key award! 

In The Witch Hunter, book 1 of the Jessica Niemi series, Helsinki Police Detective Jessica Niemi hunts an occultist serial killer. In The Ice Coven, Jessica and her team follow clues hidden on Instagram to solve the disappearance of a young influencer and a manga artist. In The Last Grudge, a prominent business executive Eliel Zetterborg is found brutally murdered in his home in Helsinki. In Ghost Island, Jessica Niemi is ordered on paid leave after an altercation, and she decides to travel to a small island in the Aland archipelago to escape the attention and find some peace.

“THE WITCH HUNTER, translated with icy precision by Kristian London, is written in short, sharp, present tense chapters, a technique which adds to its relentless tension. Flashbacks to earlier episodes in Jessica’s life suggest that the strangeness currently unfolding is tied to her personal history. Discovering the how and why of it brings a resolution as bleak as anything Poe might have conjured.”
– The Wall Street Journal

“An intricate, beautifully written, character-driven page-turner with some shocking twists.”
– Kirkus Reviews

The Jessica Niemi series
Tammi, 2019-2022.

Rights sold:

FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ALBANIA: Muza
ARMENIA: Guitank
AZERBAIJAN: Alatoran
BULGARIA: EMAS
CROATIA: Fokus
CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Pegasus
FRANCE: Michel Lafon
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
GREECE: Livanis
HUNGARY: Animus
ICELAND: Forlagid
ISRAEL: Tchelet Books/Steimatzky
ITALY: Piemme
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
LITHUANIA: Baltos lankos
NETHERLANDS & BELGIUM: A.W. Bruna
NORTH MACEDONIA: Matica Makedonska
NORWAY: Aschehoug
POLAND: Sonia Draga
PORTUGAL: Bertrand Editora Lda
ROMANIA: Litera
RUSSIA: AST Publishers
SERBIA: Vulkan
SLOVAKIA: Motyl
SLOVENIA: Didakta
SOUTH KOREA: Cheongmirae
SPAIN & LATIN AMERICA: Maeva Ediciones
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
TURKEY: Doğan Kitap
UK: Welbeck
UKRAINE: Family Leisure Club
USA & CANADA: Berkley / Penguin Random House
WORLD ARABIC: Arab Scientific
TV RIGHTS: Stampede Ventures

Reading materials:

English edition

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

GHOST ISLAND by Max Seeck sold to Hungary!

We are happy to announce that the Hungarian rights for GHOST ISLAND (Loukko), the fourth title in the Jessica Niemi series by The New York Times bestselling author and Glass Key Award winner Max Seeck, have been acquired by Animus! The deal was closed by Sten-Erik Tammemäe at Elina Ahlback Literary Agency.

We are very happy to acquire the 4th book by the fantastic Max Seeck, whose talent deserves the amazing Glass Key award! More precise storytelling, more thrilling books, a more professional author book by book. We will be ready for the next ones!”
László Marosi, Senior Publishing Editor, Animus, Hungary

GHOST ISLAND is the fourth novel in the internationally bestselling Jessica Niemi series which has been sold to 40 territories and Hollywood  an international TV-show is in development. Max Seeck’s books have sold more than 400,000 copies in Finland alone, THE LAST GRUDGE (Jessica Niemi #3) won the Glass Key Award of 2023 two weeks ago, and Max Seeck is currently writing a new, independent crime novel, MILO, which has already been sold to Germany and will be published in Finland in September 2024.

Download the materials for GHOST ISLAND here!

The Archipelago

Max Seeck

The fourth title in the NYT-bestselling Jessica Niemi series!

A month after solving the Zetterborg case, Jessica Niemi is ordered on paid leave after an altercation, and she decides to travel to a small island in the Åland archipelago to escape the attention and find some peace. Meanwhile, a group of old people arrive on the same island, and Jessica learns that they are the remaining members of the Doves, the people who had to flee from Finland to Sweden during World War II and ended up living in an orphanage on the very same island.

One evening, Jessica hears a local legend about a girl who also inhabited the orphanage once, but who was mentally ill. Every night at two o’clock, the girl put on her blue coat and went to stand on the pier, waiting for something that never showed up. One night she disappeared and was never found. That same night, one of the remaining Doves dies.

Jessica soon finds out that two other people have previously faced the same fate on the same island, and all three people seem to have something to do with the girl in the blue coat. A chain of events starts to escalate, and we don’t know whether we’re facing a killer or – just like the legend says – a ghost, the girl in the blue coat.

Jessica Niemi is once again facing a scary mystery where the stakes are considerable. Whilst battling her own demons, uncertain what is real and what is not, she needs to find out the truth.

 

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck

The third title in the NYT-bestselling Jessica Niemi series! Winner of the Glass Key Award of 2023!

A prominent business executive Eliel Zetterborg is found brutally murdered in his home in Helsinki. The company he led has just announced drastic cutbacks and Zetterborg gained hundreds of enemies and death threats in the process.

But the murder motive become less clear, when the police finds out that the murderer had other targets as well. The only clue the police has is a photo of Zetterborg with three other men, whose faces are all scratched off. Who are the faceless men, and why can’t the police identify them? Are they other victims? Or something more sinister?

While Jessica Niemi suffers from a mental breakdown after her encounter with the witch coven, Jusuf gets a chance to lead the investigations and prove his skills as a police officer, while helping Jessica battle her demons that seem to come closer and closer…

 

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck

Standalone sequel to The New York Times bestseller, 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.

 

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck

The New York Times bestseller!

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?

GHOST ISLAND
LOUKKO
Tammi, 2022, 358 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English manuscript

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Pegasus
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
HUNGARY: Animus Kiadó Kft.
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
NORWAY: Aschehoug
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
UK: Welbeck
USA & CANADA: Berkley / Penguin Random House
TV RIGHTS: Stampede Ventures

 

THE LAST GRUDGE
KAUNA
Tammi, 2021, 390 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English edition

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ALBANIA: Muza
BULGARIA: EMAS
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Pegasus
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
HUNGARY: Animus Kiadó Kft.
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
NETHERLANDS: A.W. Bruna
NORWAY: Aschehoug
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
UK: Welbeck
USA & CANADA: Berkley / Penguin Random House
WORLD ARABIC: Arab Scientific
TV RIGHTS: Stampede Ventures

 

THE ICE COVEN
PAHAN VERKKO
Tammi, 2020, 370 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English edition

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ALBANIA: Muza
BULGARIA: EMAS
CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Pegasus
FRANCE: Michel Lafon
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
GREECE: Livanis
HUNGARY: Animus
ITALY: Piemme
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
NETHERLANDS & BELGIUM: A.W. Bruna
NORTH MACEDONIA: Matica Makedonska
NORWAY: Aschehoug
POLAND: Sonia Draga
PORTUGAL: Bertrand Editora Lda
ROMANIA: Litera
SERBIA: Vulkan
SLOVAKIA: Motýl
SLOVENIA: Didakta
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
UK: Welbeck
USA & CANADA: Berkley / Penguin Random House
WORLD ARABIC: Arab Scientific
TV RIGHTS: Stampede Ventures

 

THE WITCH HUNTER
USKOLLINEN LUKIJA
Tammi, 2019, 400 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English edition

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ALBANIA: Muza
ARMENIA: Guitank
AZERBAIJAN: Alatoran
BULGARIA: EMAS
CROATIA: Fokus
CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Pegasus
FRANCE: Michel Lafon
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
GREECE: Livanis
HUNGARY: Animus
ICELAND: Forlagid
ISRAEL: Tchelet Books/Steimatzky
ITALY: Piemme
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
LITHUANIA: Baltos lankos
NETHERLANDS & BELGIUM: A.W. Bruna
NORTH MACEDONIA: Matica Makedonska
NORWAY: Aschehoug
POLAND: Sonia Draga
PORTUGAL: Bertrand Editora Lda
ROMANIA: Litera
RUSSIA: AST Publishers
SERBIA: Vulkan
SLOVAKIA: Motyl
SLOVENIA: Didakta
SOUTH KOREA: Cheongmirae
SPAIN & LATIN AMERICA: Maeva Ediciones
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
TURKEY: Doğan Kitap
UK: Welbeck
UKRAINE: Family Leisure Club
USA & CANADA: Berkley / Penguin Random House
WORLD ARABIC: Arab Scientific
TV RIGHTS: Stampede Ventures

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

THE LAST GRUDGE by Max Seeck has won the prestigious Glass Key Award! 

We are beyond thrilled to announce that THE LAST GRUDGE (orig. Kauna, Tammi 2021)  by New York Times Bestselling Author Max Seeck won the Glass Key Award 2023! The Glass Key Award (Glasnyckeln/Glasnøglen) is an award by the Scandinavian Crime Novel Society and is given out to a book written by a Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian or Swedish author each year. Previous winners include Henning Mankell, Peter Høeg, Jo Nesbø, Stieg Larsson, Karin Fossum, and many more. The members of the jury read the Danish edition of the book, Zetterborg-sagen (Gutkind, 2022), translated by Siri Nordborg Møller.

Please join us in congratulating Max Seeck and his 40+ publishers to this amazing —  and well deserved — achievement! 

The jury’s motivations were as follows:

The Last Grudge combines a classic locked room mystery and an action plot with murders and all, thus reminding one of both the world of Peter Wimsey, by Dorothy L. Sayers, and of the media-sexy descriptions of a battle of power within a powerful family, as evidenced by HBO’s Succession-series. The title is written in a gripping and exciting way, merging homeliness and horror in a way that’s very popular in crime literature at the moment.

I’m very honored by the win, for I know all the titles nominated are deserving of the win. I want to thank my family, my Finnish publisher Tammi, my Danish publisher Gutkind, my agency the Ahlback Agency, and the board of the Whodunnit society who chose The Last Grudge as the Finnish nominee for the Glass Key Award! I rate this award at the very top and it’ll have an honorary spot on my bookshelf in my office”, said Max Seeck right as he heard of the win.

Our CEO Elina Ahlbäck commented:
We are overjoyed for Max Seeck’s world-class win of the Glass Key Award. Finnish crime literature is now permanently on the world map.The Last Grudge (orig. Kauna) is a gem of world-class crime literature and Max Seeck the brightest-shining star in crime literature.

This is only the second time a Finnish crime or thriller novel has been awarded the Glass Key Award. The previous Finnish winner was Ystävät kaukana (“Friends far away”) by Matti Rönkä in 2007.

The Last Grudge is the third novel in the Jessica Niemi series. Rights sold in 40 territories and Hollywood: an international TV-show is in development. Over 400,000 copies of his books have been sold in Finland alone. Max Seeck is currently writing a new, independent crime novel, MILO, which has already been sold to Germany and will be published in Finland in September 2024.

Download the materials for THE LAST GRUDGE here!

Get in touch with us for first materials of MILO here!

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

Milo (working title), the brand new novel by Max Seeck is sold to Germany pre-publication!

We are very excited to announce that New York Times Bestselling Author Max Seeck is working on a new independent crime novel, MILO (working title)! And the good news don’t stop there, we are also thrilled to share that Bastei Lübbe have just acquired the German rights to Max Seeck’s new novel! The deal was negotiated by Anna Kappauf and Elina Ahlback at Elina Ahlback Literary Agency. Warmest Congratulations, Max Seeck and Bastei Lübbe!

MILO will be published by Tammi in Finland in September 2024. Rights for Max Seeck’s previous Jessica Niemi crime series have been sold into 40 territories and Hollywood: an international TV-show is in developementOver 350,000 copies of his books have been sold in Finland alone. Book 3 in the series, THE LAST GRUDGE (orig. Kauna, Tammi 2021), is nominated for the Glass Key Award 2023 – the winner will be announced this summer.

Here is what Max Seeck said about writing MILO:

I’m so very excited and grateful for the confidence and commitment by both Bastei Lübbe and the Ahlback Agency. This gives me a great boost to finish the novel and make it as good as I can.

We believe MILO has all the potential to outdo Max Seeck’s already very impressive sales records – get in touch with us if you would like to receive first materials and acquire the rights!

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

THE LAST GRUDGE by Max Seeck is nominated for the prestigious Glass Key Award!

We are beyond thrilled to announce that THE LAST GRUDGE (orig. Kauna, Tammi 2021)  by New York Times Bestselling Author Max Seeck is nominated for the Glass Key Award 2023! The Glass Key Award (Glasnyckeln/Glasnøglen) is an award by the Scandinavian Crime Novel Society and is given out to a book written by a Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian or Swedish author each year. Previous winners include Henning Mankell, Peter Høeg, Jo Nesbø, Stieg Larsson, Karin Fossum, and many more.

The 2023 nominees are:

Finland: Max SeeckKauna
Iceland: Ragnheidur GestsdóttirFarangur (engl. Baggage)
Norway: Torkil DamhaugHund uten grav
Sweden: Sara StrömbergSkred
Denmark: Torben MunksgaardDamevennens død

The winner will be announced in mid-June 2023. The Last Grudge, the third novel in the Jessica Niemi series,  has been published in Danish (Gutkind) as Zetterborg-sagen and in Swedish (Albert Bonniers) as Djävulspakten. Rights sold in 40 territories and Hollywood (TV-show). Max Seeck continues to be one of the top bestselling authors in Finland with over 300,000 copies of his books sold!

Praise for THE LAST GRUDGE:

An intricate, beautifully written, character-driven page-turner with some shocking twists.
—  Kirkus Reviews, USA

“Max Seeck has done it again. — The Last Grudge is an example of both his knowledge of the suspense thriller tradition and his meticulous way of building a story. — Seeck offers the readers incorrect clues and bluffs that are part of the suspense genre tradition, along with various references from film and literary works throughout the plot line – which is meandering and surprising in an exemplary way.” 
— Pertti Avola,Helsingin Sanomat newspaper, Finland

Download the full Englishtext for THE LAST GRUDGE here!

Kauna
Tammi, September 2021, 390 pp.

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ALBANIA: Muza
BULGARIA: EMAS
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Pegasus
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
HUNGARY: Animus Kiadó Kft.
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
NETHERLANDS: A.W. Bruna
NORWAY: Aschehoug
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
UK: Welbeck
USA & CANADA: Berkley / Penguin Random House
WORLD ARABIC: Arab Scientific
TV RIGHTS: Stampede Ventures

Reading materials: English edition

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

THE ARCHIPELAGO by Max Seeck sold to Latvia!

We are happy to announce that the Latvian rights for THE ARCHIPELAGO (Loukko), the fourth title in the Jessica Niemi series by The New York Times bestselling author Max Seeck have been acquired by Latvijas Mediji! The deal was closed by Sten-Erik Tammemäe at Elina Ahlback Literary Agency.

THE LAST GRUDGE, book #3 in the Jessica Niemi series, will be published in the US next week, February 7, 2023 by Berkley Penguin Random House. A Hollywood TV series, based on THE WITCH HUNTER, is in development.

Helsingin Sanomat, the leading newspaper in Finland, has praised THE ARCHIPELAGO, published in Finland in 2022, as Seeck’s finest to date:
Max Seeck’s earlier novels in the Jessica Niemi series have been impressive, but the series’ fourth book, THE ARCHIPELAGO, is the best to date. This is because it is a seamless and constrained whole that works superbly and also because in this work Seeck imbues his protagonist’s character with new, deeper sides.
– Pertti Avola, Helsingin Sanomat, Finland

Max Seeck continues to be one of the bestselling authors in Finland – in 2022, his books sold over 100,000 copies across all formats in Finland! In addition, Max’s books have been sold to 40 countries and a Hollywood TV series is in development, based on THE WITCH HUNTER.

Download the materials for THE ARCHIPELAGO here!

The Archipelago

Max Seeck

The fourth title in the NYT-bestselling Jessica Niemi series!

A month after solving the Zetterborg case, Jessica Niemi is ordered on paid leave after an altercation, and she decides to travel to a small island in the Åland archipelago to escape the attention and find some peace. Meanwhile, a group of old people arrive on the same island, and Jessica learns that they are the remaining members of the Doves, the people who had to flee from Finland to Sweden during World War II and ended up living in an orphanage on the very same island.

One evening, Jessica hears a local legend about a girl who also inhabited the orphanage once, but who was mentally ill. Every night at two o’clock, the girl put on her blue coat and went to stand on the pier, waiting for something that never showed up. One night she disappeared and was never found. That same night, one of the remaining Doves dies.

Jessica soon finds out that two other people have previously faced the same fate on the same island, and all three people seem to have something to do with the girl in the blue coat. A chain of events starts to escalate, and we don’t know whether we’re facing a killer or – just like the legend says – a ghost, the girl in the blue coat.

Jessica Niemi is once again facing a scary mystery where the stakes are considerable. Whilst battling her own demons, uncertain what is real and what is not, she needs to find out the truth.

 

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck

A prominent business executive Eliel Zetterborg is found brutally murdered in his home in Helsinki. The company he led has just announced drastic cutbacks and Zetterborg gained hundreds of enemies and death threats in the process.

But the murder motive become less clear, when the police finds out that the murderer had other targets as well. The only clue the police has is a photo of Zetterborg with three other men, whose faces are all scratched off. Who are the faceless men, and why can’t the police identify them? Are they other victims? Or something more sinister?

While Jessica Niemi suffers from a mental breakdown after her encounter with the witch coven, Jusuf gets a chance to lead the investigations and prove his skills as a police officer, while helping Jessica battle her demons that seem to come closer and closer…

 

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck

Standalone sequel to The New York Times bestseller, 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.

 

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck

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?

THE ARCHIPELAGO
LOUKKO
Tammi, 2022, 358 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English manuscript

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Pegasus
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
NORWAY: Aschehoug
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
UK: Welbeck
USA & CANADA: Berkley / Penguin Random House
TV RIGHTS: Stampede Ventures

 

THE LAST GRUDGE
KAUNA
Tammi, 2021, 390 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English edition

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ALBANIA: Muza
BULGARIA: EMAS
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Pegasus
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
HUNGARY: Animus Kiadó Kft.
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
NETHERLANDS: A.W. Bruna
NORWAY: Aschehoug
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
UK: Welbeck
USA & CANADA: Berkley / Penguin Random House
WORLD ARABIC: Arab Scientific
TV RIGHTS: Stampede Ventures

 

THE ICE COVEN
PAHAN VERKKO
Tammi, 2020, 370 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English edition

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ALBANIA: Muza
BULGARIA: EMAS
CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Pegasus
FRANCE: Michel Lafon
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
GREECE: Livanis
HUNGARY: Animus
ITALY: Piemme
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
NETHERLANDS & BELGIUM: A.W. Bruna
NORTH MACEDONIA: Matica Makedonska
NORWAY: Aschehoug
POLAND: Sonia Draga
PORTUGAL: Bertrand Editora Lda
ROMANIA: Litera
SERBIA: Vulkan
SLOVAKIA: Motýl
SLOVENIA: Didakta
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
UK: Welbeck
USA & CANADA: Berkley / Penguin Random House
WORLD ARABIC: Arab Scientific
TV RIGHTS: Stampede Ventures

 

THE WITCH HUNTER
USKOLLINEN LUKIJA
Tammi, 2019, 400 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English edition

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ALBANIA: Muza
ARMENIA: Guitank
AZERBAIJAN: Alatoran
BULGARIA: EMAS
CROATIA: Fokus
CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Pegasus
FRANCE: Michel Lafon
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
GREECE: Livanis
HUNGARY: Animus
ICELAND: Forlagid
ISRAEL: Tchelet Books/Steimatzky
ITALY: Piemme
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
LITHUANIA: Baltos lankos
NETHERLANDS & BELGIUM: A.W. Bruna
NORTH MACEDONIA: Matica Makedonska
NORWAY: Aschehoug
POLAND: Sonia Draga
PORTUGAL: Bertrand Editora Lda
ROMANIA: Litera
RUSSIA: AST Publishers
SERBIA: Vulkan
SLOVAKIA: Motyl
SLOVENIA: Didakta
SOUTH KOREA: Cheongmirae
SPAIN & LATIN AMERICA: Maeva Ediciones
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
TURKEY: Doğan Kitap
UK: Welbeck
UKRAINE: Family Leisure Club
USA & CANADA: Berkley / Penguin Random House
WORLD ARABIC: Arab Scientific
TV RIGHTS: Stampede Ventures

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

Excellent Kirkus review of THE LAST GRUDGE by Max Seeck in the US!

We are happy to share that THE LAST GRUDGE by New York Times bestselling Max Seeck was featured in the Kirkus Review and received glowing praise. The US publication date is February 7, 2023 by Berkley Penguin Random House, and the press is already buzzing:

“An intricate, beautifully written, character-driven page-turner with some shocking twists.” – Kirkus Review, 14 December 2022

You can read the full review HERE.

Max Seeck was recently nominated for the Finnish Crime Writers’ Society’s Clue of the Year Award for best crime novel published in 2022!
New York Times bestselling author Max Seeck is nominated for ARCHIPELAGO, the 4th book in the Jessica Niemi series.

Max Seeck is Finland’s no.1 bestselling fiction author in e-books and no. 2 bestselling author in all formats.  Over 300,000 copies of all his books have been sold in Finland. Max’s books have been sold to 40 countries and a Hollywood TV Show is in development based on THE WITCH HUNTER. THE LAST GRUDGE is the 3rd book in his Jessica Niemi series.

Congratulations, Max!

Download the materials for THE LAST GRUDGE here. 

Max Seeck Jessica Niemi Series

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

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

Award Nomination News: Backman and Seeck both nominated for the Finnish Crime Writers’ Society’s Clue of the Year Award

Award nomination news!

We are thrilled to announce that two of our agency’s authors have been nominated for the Finnish Crime Writers’ Society’s Clue of the Year Award for best crime novel published in 2022!

Elina Backman is nominated for BEFORE THE POLAR NIGHT FALLS, the third instalment in the Saana Havas crime series which is currently no. 3 in Audio Books. Elina Backman is now Finland’s no. 4 bestselling fiction author (all formats). Over 60 000 copies of Elina’s books have been sold in Finland, rights have been sold for 16 territories, and an international TV-series based on Elina Backman’s books is in development by Aurora Studios

New York Times bestselling author Max Seeck is nominated for ARCHIPELAGO, the 4th book in the Jessica Niemi series. Max Seeck is Finland’s no.1 bestselling fiction author in e-books and no. 2 bestselling author in all formats. Over 20,000 copies of ARCHIPELAGO and over 300,000 copies of all his books have been sold in Finland. Max’s books have been sold to 40 countries and Hollywood.

Here is the jury’s motivation for the nominations:

About BEFORE THE POLAR NIGHT FALLS by Elina Backman:

Saana Havas, who has gained a reputation with her podcast, travels to northern Lapland to seek new content and to investigate the case of a girl who disappeared and was then found murdered years ago. The book deserves special recognition for its descriptions of the milieu and the people living north of the Arctic Circle. Elina Backman succeeds in portraying Havas’ role in the strange environment which the “amateur detective” observes with sympathy.

About ARCHIPELAGO by Max Seeck: 

In ARCHIPELAGO, Max Seeck offers the reader an original and very appealing plot. Seeck’s detective, police officer Jessica Niemi, hopes to find a peaceful recovery on Åland’s most remote island due to her work setbacks. In the idyllic boarding house, which follows the tradition of a good detective story, Jessica meets people who share a painful past from decades ago. Soon a body is found on the beach, and Jessica can’t settle for the observer’s part. The story is strongly edged by the big turning point in Jessica’s own life.

The winner will be announced in January 2023.

Congratulations to our Authors!

Download the materials for WHEN THE POLAR NIGHT FALLS here!

Download the materials for THE ARCHIPELAGO here!

Elina Backman Saana Havas Series

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
ALBANIA: Dritan
CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada
DENMARK: Gyldendal
ESTONIA: Varrak
GERMANY: Piper Verlag
HUNGARY: Maxim
ITALY: Newton Compton
LITHUANIA: BALTO
NETHERLANDS: De Bezige Bij/Cargo
NORWAY: Cappelen Damm
POLAND: Czarna Owca
ROMANIA: Lebada Neagra
RUSSIA: Mann, Ivanov, Ferber
SLOVAKIA: Arkus
SWEDEN: Bokfabriken
FILM & TV RIGHTS: Aurora Studios

Max Seeck Jessica Niemi Series

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

 

 

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 Saana 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 1955. 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.

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Finnish crime rules: Max Seeck, Elina Backman, and Vera Vala news!

Exciting news! Max Seeck, the New York Times bestselling author with his crime novels, has sold over 300 000 copies in Finland in all formats! Warmest congratulations, Max and Tammi!

His newest title THE ARCHIPELAGO (Loukko, September 2022) is Finland’s #1 Fiction Bestseller, with over 20 000 copies sold, and received a starred review in Finland’s biggest daily:

“The fourth instalment of the Jessica Niemi series of detective novels is the best to date and proves Seeck’s mastery of the genre’s traditions.“
– Pertti Avola in Helsingin Sanomat newspaper

Download materials for the JESSICA NIEMI series here!
Furthermore, Elina Backman’s second title STILL WATERS RUN DEEP has been nominated in Sweden for the Best Translated Crime Novel of the Year 2022  by the Swedish Crime Writer’s Academy! We are so thrilled – this is the second time Elina receives this honour!

Elina Backman’s bestselling Saana Havas series, pitched as Tana French meets Jo Nesbo, have sold over 60 000 copies in Finland and rights have been sold to 16 territories and counting.  An international TV-series based on Elina Backman’s books is in development by Aurora Studios. ‘
Rights are still available in e.g. Spain, France, UK, USA, and Latvia.

Download materials for the SAANA HAVAS series here!
ITALIAN GAME by Vera Vala – Elena Ferrante meets Jo Nesbo

And if you’re looking for a new and exciting crime series with a strong female protagonist, complex characters, vivid descriptions and a gripping plot, why not take a look at Vera Vala’s new Salla Kotka series!

Pitched as Elena Ferrante meets Jo Nesbo, this series created a lot of buzz in Frankfurt and is an official bestseller in Finland! Readers love the psychological aspects and the strong female character.

The Italian Game begins a new crime series, and this opening title is impressing, the language and style are polished, and the narration keeps one in its grip until the end.” – Satakunnan Kansa newspaper

Download materials for the SALLA KOTKA series here!

THE ARCHIPELAGO
Loukko

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)

DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Kirjastus Pegasus
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
NORWAY: Aschehoug
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
UK: Welbeck
USA: Berkley / Penguin Random House
FILM & TV: Stampede Ventures, Hollywood

THE LAST GRUDGE
Kauna

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)

ALBANIA: Muza
ARABIC: Arab Scientific Publishers
BULGARIA: EMAS
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Pegasus
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
HUNGARY: Animus Kiadó Kft.
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
NETHERLANDS: A.W. Bruna
NORWAY: Aschehoug
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
UK: Welbeck
USA: Berkley / Penguin Random house
FILM & TV: Stampede Ventures, Hollywood

 

 

BEFORE THE POLAR NIGHT FALLS
Ennen kuin tulee pimeää

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)

DENMARK: Gyldendal

STILL WATERS RUN DEEP
Kun jäljet katoavat

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)

DENMARK: Gyldendal
ESTONIA: Varrak Publishers
GERMANY: Piper
HUNGARY: Maxim
ITALY: Newton Compton Editori
NETHERLANDS: Cargo
NORWAY: Cappelen Damm AS
POLAND: Czarna Owca
RUSSIA: Mann, Ivanov and Ferber
SLOVAKIA: Arkus
SWEDEN: Bokfabriken

 

 

ITALIAN GAME
Italialainen peli

Rights sold:
FINLAND: WSOY (orig.)

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 Saana 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 1955. 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.

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

About author


Vera Vala

Vera Vala’s roots are in Finnish forests, but her soul belongs to Italy, where she has been living for over 25 years. She has an infinite thirst for knowledge that has taken her to study various academic subjects from Physics to Assyriology and Romance Languages, and the information acquired during those years has been useful as background research for her novels.

Vera’s adventurous spirit has taken her from diving with sharks while living in Seychelles to rafting in Italian Alps and exploring the shadier parts of her former hometown, Rome: the diverse experiences have come in handy while creating intriguing plot twists.

Currently, Vera lives with her family in Milan where she is studying to become a clinical psychologist with a special interest in Forensic Psychology. Vera creates novel scenes in her mind while cooking Italian meals, and she loves slow chess games and meditation.

Happy Publication Day Max Seeck: The 4th Jessica Niemi Title Now Out in Finland!

The 4th and newest installment of the New York Times bestselling Jessica Niemi series is published today in Finland! 

Titled Loukko in Finnish and called The Archipelago in English, the newest title sees Jessica relocate from Helsinki to the Åland Islands, and deals in-depth with the topic of bullying, in addition to being a gripping murder mystery you can’t put down!

Max Seeck’s Jessica Niemi series started in 2019 with the publication of THE WITCH HUNTER  – a phenomenal Finnish crime title that broke into both New York Times and Spiegel Bestseller Lists and has sold to over 40 territories and Hollywood. The rights are still available in Japan, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Brazil, Georgia, etc. 

Request the reading materials for Max Seeck here!

 

THE ARCHIPELAGO by Max Seeck

The fourth title in the NYT-bestselling Jessica Niemi series!

A month after solving the Zetterborg case, Jessica struggles to hold on to everyday life. Due to a violent incident in her civil life, she is ordered on a unpaid leave. She eventually decides to travel out of town for a month and ends up on a small island on Åland archipelago.

More than 70 years ago there was an orphanage on the island, and one girl disappeared without a trace. Jessica also finds out many people have drowned on the shore ever since. Soon, one of the hostel guests is also found drowned on the shore. Does this have something to do with the legend, was it the ghost girl in the blue overcoat? Although being uncertain about what is real and what is not, Jessica needs to find out the truth.

 

THE LAST GRUDGE a.k.a. BAD BLOOD by Max Seeck

A prominent business executive Eliel Zetterborg is found brutally murdered in his home in Helsinki. The company he led has just announced drastic cutbacks and Zetterborg gained hundreds of enemies and death threats in the process.

But the murder motive become less clear, when the police finds out that the murderer had other targets as well. The only clue the police has is a photo of Zetterborg with three other men, whose faces are all scratched off. Who are the faceless men, and why can’t the police identify them? Are they other victims? Or something more sinister?

While Jessica Niemi suffers from a mental breakdown after her encounter with the witch coven, Jusuf gets a chance to lead the investigations and prove his skills as a police officer, while helping Jessica battle her demons that seem to come closer and closer.

 

THE ICE COVEN by Max Seeck

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.

Seeck’s outstanding sequel to THE WITCH HUNTER. [–] Seeck throws in
a murder that definitely happened, human trafficking, frog toxin, and somnophilia
into the mix, masterfully ratcheting up the tension. Ragnar Jónasson fans will be
mesmerized
– Publisher’s Weekly 

 

THE WITCH HUNTER by Max Seeck

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?

 One twist follows another, baffling the police and readers alike. Seeck imbues this riveting procedural with a deliciously creepy undertone. Readers will be excited to see what Seeck does next.
– Publishers Weekly (starred review)

LOUKKO, Tammi, September 2022, 358 pp.

Rights sold: FINLAND: Tammi (orig.), DENMARK: Gutkind, ESTONIA: Pegasus, GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
NORWAY: Aschehoug, SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers, UK: Welbeck, US: Berkley

 

 

KAUNA, Tammi, September 2021, 390 pp.

Rights sold: FINLAND: Tammi (orig.), ALBANIA: Muza, ARABIC: Arab Scientific Publishers, BULGARIA: EMAS, DENMARK: Gutkind, ESTONIA: Pegasus, GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe, HUNGARY: Animus Kiadó, LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji, NETHERLANDS: A.W. Bruna, NORWAY: Aschehoug, SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers, UK: Welbeck, US: Berkley

 

 

PAHAN VERKKO, Tammi, 2020, 370 pp.

Rights sold: FINLAND: Otava (orig.), ALBANIA: Muza, BULGARIA: EMAS, CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada, DENMARK: Gutkind, ESTONIA: Pegasus, FRANCE: Michel Lafon, GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe GmbH & Co. KG, GREECE: Livanis, HUNGARY: Animus, ITALY: Piemme/Mondadori, LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji, NETHERLANDS & BELGIUM: A.W. Bruna, NORTHERN MACEDONIA: MATICA MAKEDONSKA, NORWAY: Aschehoug, POLAND: Sonia Draga, PORTUGAL: Bertrand Editora Lda, ROMANIA: Litera, SERBIA: Vulkan, SLOVAKIA: Motýľ, SLOVENIA: Didakta, SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag, UK: Welbeck Publishing, USA & CANADA: Berkley / Penguin Random House, WORLD ARABIC: Arab Scientific

 

 

USKOLLINEN LUKIJA, Tammi, 2019, 400 pp.

Rights sold: FINLAND: Otava (orig.), ALBANIA: Muza, ARMENIA: Guitank, AZERBAIJAN: Alatoran, BELGIUM, A.W. Bruna, BULGARIA: EMAS, CANADA: Berkley/Penguin Random House, CROATIA: Fokus, CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada, DENMARK: Gutkind, ESTONIA: Pegasus, FRANCE: Michel Lafon, GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe GmbH & Co. KG, GREECE: Livanis, HUNGARY: Animus, ICELAND: Forlagid, ISRAEL: Tchelet Books, ITALY: Piemme/Mondadori, KOREA: Cheongmirae, LATIN AMERICA (World Spanish): Editorial Maeva/Maeva Noir, LITHUANIA: Baltos lankos, LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji, NETHERLANDS: A.W. Bruna, NORTHERN MACEDONIA: MATICA MAKEDONSKA, NORWAY: Aschehoug, POLAND: Sonia Draga, PORTUGAL: Bertrand Editora Lda, ROMANIA: Litera, RUSSIA: AST, SERBIA: Vulkan, SLOVAKIA: Motýľ, SLOVENIA: Didakta, SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag, TURKEY: Doğan Kitap, UKRAINE: Family Leisure Club, UK: Welbeck Publishing, USA & CANADA: Berkley / Penguin Random House, WORLD ARABIC: Arab Scientific

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

Italian rights for THE ICE COVEN sold!

We are thrilled to announce that New York Times bestselling author Max Seeck’s second Jessica Niemi thriller THE ICE COVEN has been acquired by his Italian publisher PiemmeThe deal was closed by Elsa Lindström at Elina Ahlback Literary Agency.

“I am delighted to be publishing in Italy the second installment in this incredible series, which has been a huge worldwide success and which we hope to build in Italy as well. I think Max Seeck is an immensely talented writer, and he deserves to be read everywhere!”
–Giulia DeBiase, Foreign Fiction editor

THE ICE COVEN was published in English last September, to praising reviews:

“Seeck’s outstanding sequel to THE WITCH HUNTER. [–] Seeck throws in
a murder that definitely happened, human trafficking, frog toxin, and somnophilia
into the mix, masterfully ratcheting up the tension. Ragnar Jónasson fans will be
mesmerized”

– Publisher’s Weekly 

“All distinct characters, and the tension within the Unit is wonderfully drawn and contributes to the tension within the book. [–] A cracker of a read and I loved it.”
–  Kerry Hood on Crimereview.co.uk 

The cover and Finnish title – LOUKKO – of the 4th Jessica Niemi thriller were revealed in Finland in the beginning of May and the book itself will be released in Finland in September. The rights for the 4th Jessica Niemi thriller have already been sold to 7 territories!

The rights for the Jessica Niemi series have been acquired in over 40 countries and a TV show is in development in Hollywood. The rights are still available in Japan, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Brazil, Vietnam, Georgia etc.

Download the English manuscript for THE ICE COVEN here


THE ICE COVEN (Jessica Niemi #2)
by Max Seeck
Tammi, 2020, 370 pp

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.

BAD BLOOD (Jessica Niemi #3)
by Max Seeck
Tammi, 2021, 390 pp

A prominent business executive Eliel Rosenström is found brutally murdered in his home in Helsinki. The company he led has just announced drastic cutbacks and Rosenström gained hundreds of enemies and death threats in the process.

But the murder motive become less clear, when the police finds out that the murderer had other targets as well. The only clue the police has is a photo of Rosenström with three other men, whose faces are all scratched off. Who are the faceless men, and why can’t the police identify them? Are they other victims? Or something more sinister?

While Jessica Niemi suffers from a mental breakdown after her encounter with the witch coven, Jusuf gets a chance to lead the investigations and prove his skills as a police officer, while helping Jessica battle her demons that seem to come closer and closer…


Jessica Niemi #4
by Max Seeck
Tammi, September 2022

A month after solving the Zetterborg case, Jessica struggles to hold on to everyday life. Due to a violent incident in her civil life, she is ordered on a unpaid leave. She eventually decides to travel out of town for a month and ends up on a small island on Åland archipelago.More than 70 years ago there was an orphanage on the island, and one girl disappeared without a trace. Jessica also finds out many people have drowned on the shore ever since. Soon, one of the hostel guests is also found drowned on the shore. Does this have something to do with the legend, was it the ghost girl in the blue overcoat? Although being uncertain about what is real and what is not, Jessica needs to find out the truth.

THE WITCH HUNTER (Jessica Niemi #1)
by Max Seeck
Tammi, 2019, 400 pp

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?

PAHAN VERKKO – THE ICE COVEN
Jessica Niemi #2
Tammi, 2020, 370 pp

Reading materials:
English manuscript

Rights sold:

FINLAND: Tammi
ALBANIA: Muza
BULGARIA: EMAS
CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Pegasus
FRANCE: Michel Lafon
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe GmbH & Co. KG
GREECE: Livanis
HUNGARY: Animus
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
NETHERLANDS & BELGIUM: A.W. Bruna
NORTHERN MACEDONIA: MATICA MAKEDONSKA
NORWAY: Aschehoug
POLAND: Sonia Draga
PORTUGAL: Bertrand Editora Lda
ROMANIA: Litera
SERBIA: Vulkan
SLOVAKIA: Motýľ
SLOVENIA: Didakta
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
UK: Welbeck Publishing
USA & CANADA: Berkley / Penguin Random House
WORLD ARABIC: Arab Scientific

 

KAUNA – BAD BLOOD
Jessica Niemi #3

Tammi, 2021, 390 pp

Reading materials:
English manuscript

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ALBANIA: Muza
ARABIC: Arab Scientific Publishers
BULGARIA: EMAS
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Pegasus
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
HUNGARY: Animus Kiadó
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
NETHERLANDS: A.W. Bruna
NORWAY: Aschehoug
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers
UK: Welbeck
US: Berkley

 

LOUKKO
Jessica Niemi #4

Tammi, September 2022

Reading materials:
English synopsis

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Pegasus
NORWAY: Aschehoug
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers
UK: Welbeck
US: Berkley

 

USKOLLINEN LUKIJA – THE WITCH HUNTER
Jessica Niemi #1

Tammi, 2019, 400 pp

Reading materials:
English edition

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
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji (2-book-deal)
LATIN AMERICA (World Spanish): Editorial Maeva/Maeva Noir
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
UKRAINE: Family Leisure Club
UNITED KINGDOM: Welbeck Publishing UK (2-book deal)
UNITED STATES: Berkley/Penguin Random House (2-book-deal)

TV RIGHTS: Stampede Ventures

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

Jessica Niemi #4 by New York Times bestselling author Max Seeck sold to Germany!

We are very excited to announce that New York Times bestselling author Max Seeck’s 4th Jessica Niemi thriller has been acquired by his German publisher Bastei LübbeThe deal was closed by Toomas Aasmäe and Elina Ahlbäck at Elina Ahlback Literary Agency.

The cover and Finnish title – LOUKKO – of the 4th Jessica Niemi thriller were revealed in Finland in the beginning of May and the book itself will be released in Finland in September.
The rights for the 4th Jessica Niemi thriller have already been sold to 8 territories!

The rights for the Jessica Niemi series have been acquired in over 40 countries and a TV show is in development in Hollywood. The rights are still available in Japan, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Brazil, Vietnam, Georgia etc.

Download the English materials for the title here!

Jessica Niemi #4
by Max Seeck
Tammi, September 2022

A month after solving the Zetterborg case, Jessica struggles to hold on to everyday life. Due to a violent incident in her civil life, she is ordered on a unpaid leave. She eventually decides to travel out of town for a month and ends up on a small island on Åland archipelago.

More than 70 years ago there was an orphanage on the island, and one girl disappeared without a trace. Jessica also finds out many people have drowned on the shore ever since. Soon, one of the hostel guests is also found drowned on the shore. Does this have something to do with the legend, was it the ghost girl in the blue overcoat? Although being uncertain about what is real and what is not, Jessica needs to find out the truth.

BAD BLOOD (Jessica Niemi #3)
by Max Seeck
Tammi, 2021, 390 pp

A prominent business executive Eliel Zetterborg is found brutally murdered in his home in Helsinki. The company he led has just announced drastic cutbacks and Zetterborg gained hundreds of enemies and death threats in the process.

But the murder motive become less clear, when the police finds out that the murderer had other targets as well. The only clue the police has is a photo of Zetterborg with three other men, whose faces are all scratched off. Who are the faceless men, and why can’t the police identify them? Are they other victims? Or something more sinister?

While Jessica Niemi suffers from a mental breakdown after her encounter with the witch coven, Jusuf gets a chance to lead the investigations and prove his skills as a police officer, while helping Jessica battle her demons that seem to come closer and closer…

THE ICE COVEN (Jessica Niemi #2)
by Max Seeck
Tammi, 2020, 370 pp

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.

THE WITCH HUNTER (Jessica Niemi #1)
by Max Seeck
Tammi, 2019, 400 pp

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?

LOUKKO
Jessica Niemi #4

Tammi, September 2022

Reading materials:
English synopsis

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Pegasus
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
NORWAY: Aschehoug
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers
UK: Welbeck
US: Berkley

KAUNA – BAD BLOOD
Jessica Niemi #3

Tammi, 2021, 390 pp

Reading materials:
English manuscript

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ALBANIA: Muza
ARABIC: Arab Scientific Publishers
BULGARIA: EMAS
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Pegasus
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
HUNGARY: Animus Kiadó
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
NETHERLANDS: A.W. Bruna
NORWAY: Aschehoug
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers
UK: Welbeck
US: Berkley

PAHAN VERKKO – THE ICE COVEN
Jessica Niemi #2

Tammi, 2020, 370 pp

Reading materials:
English edition

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi
ALBANIA: Muza
BULGARIA: EMAS
CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Pegasus
FRANCE: Michel Lafon
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe GmbH & Co. KG
GREECE: Livanis
HUNGARY: Animus
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
NETHERLANDS & BELGIUM: A.W. Bruna
NORTHERN MACEDONIA: MATICA MAKEDONSKA
NORWAY: Aschehoug
POLAND: Sonia Draga
PORTUGAL: Bertrand Editora Lda
ROMANIA: Litera
SERBIA: Vulkan
SLOVAKIA: Motýľ
SLOVENIA: Didakta
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
UK: Welbeck Publishing
USA & CANADA: Berkley / Penguin Random House
WORLD ARABIC: Arab Scientific

USKOLLINEN LUKIJA – THE WITCH HUNTER
Jessica Niemi #1

Tammi, 2019, 400 pp

Reading materials:
English edition

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
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji (2-book-deal)
LATIN AMERICA (World Spanish): Editorial Maeva/Maeva Noir
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
UKRAINE: Family Leisure Club
UNITED KINGDOM: Welbeck Publishing UK (2-book deal)
UNITED STATES: Berkley/Penguin Random House (2-book-deal)

TV RIGHTS: Stampede Ventures

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck