Leena Lehtolainen

Leena Lehtolainen is Finland's bestselling female crime author - all of Lehtolainen's crime novels have reached the top ten of the Finnish bestseller list. Lehtolainen first reached international acclaim for her hit detective series starring Maria Kallio, which she began with My First Murder in 1993. Her distinctively down-to-earth heroine brought a woman's perspective to the male-dominated detective genre. The twelfth book in the series, Rautakolmio (Iron Triangle), was published in Finland in August 2013. In 2009 Lehtolainen started a trilogy of tongue-in-cheek international thrillers starring Hilja Ilveskero, a female bodyguard.

In a mere twenty years, Lehtolainen has become a classic of Nordic crime literature. She's been called "Finland's answer to Henning Mankel" (Brigitte), while her Maria Kallio series has been ascribed "cult status" (Bunte). Lehtolainen has twice won the Finnish Whodunit Society's annual prize for the best Finnish crime novel (1997, 1998) and has been nominated for the prestigious Glass Key award for the best Nordic crime novel (2003). Readers as well as critics around the world have discovered Lehtolainen's detective novels--to date, her titles have sold over 2 million copies in 29 languages including German, French, Italian, Russian, Czech, Dutch, Hebrew, and Chinese, and the Kallio series has been adapted for television.

In addition to her career as a crime writer, Lehtolainen has worked as a literary researcher, columnist, and critic. In her free time, she enjoys all kinds of music from 1970s punk to Bach--just like Maria Kallio. Lehtolainen currently lives in Finland with her husband and two sons. Besides writing, she is fond of classical singing, her beloved cats, and--her greatest passion---figure skating.

Learn more about Leena Lehtolainen here: http://www.leenalehtolainen.fi/

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Photo Credit: Charlotta Boucht