Maria Kallio Series by Leena Lehtolainen
Maria Kallio #2
Her Enemy
Leena Lehtolainen
After solving her first murder and leaving the Helsinki Police Department behind, Maria Kallio thought that a move to the neighboring city of Espoo would signal a fresh start—a chance to not only put her new law degree to use, but to nurture her budding romance with Antti Sarkela. But when she discovers the strangled body of a new acquaintance, old habits die hard for the redheaded sleuth—especially since the accused is not only the victim’s fiancé, but a member of Antti’s family.Though she works as a legal counselor, Kallio soon finds herself unofficially investigating the murder, now labeled a sex crime. While Antti’s relative may have some peculiar sexual tendencies, Kallio doubts that the man she’s agreed to defend is capable of the crime. To crack the case, Kallio will have to pull back the curtain on Espoo high society…and uncover a secret someone is willing to kill to keep hidden.Her Enemy, the latest addition to Lehtolainen’s bestselling crime series, sends intrepid Detective Kallio into the dark side of human passion.About the AuthorLeena Lehtolainen was born in Vesanto, Finland, to parents who taught language and literature. A keen reader, she made up stories in her head before she could even write. At the age of ten, she began her first book, a young adult novel, and it was published two years later. Besides writing, Leena is fond of classical singing, her beloved cats, and—her greatest passion—figure skating. She attends many competitions as a skating journalist and writes for the Finnish figure skating magazine Taitoluistelu. My First Murder, now translated into English, is the first installment in her bestselling Maria Kallio series, which has already been successfully adapted for Finnish television. Leena currently lives in Finland with her husband and two sons.
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Maria Kallio #3
Copper Heart
Leena Lehtolainen
Former police sergeant Maria Kallio gladly left her tiny Finnish hometown of Arpikylä without looking back. But even though Maria despises the small town and the acrid smell from its now-closed copper mine, when Arpikylä’s sheriff asks her to serve as deputy sheriff for the summer, she agrees.What should have been a quiet summer soon turns dramatic—and deadly. Meritta, an outspoken local artist, plunges to her death from the copper mine’s tower, and Maria immediately suspects someone helped her fall. Now Maria must face the harsh truth that one of the town’s residents killed Meritta, and friends Maria has known for decades all harbor their own murderous motives—even Johnny, her gorgeous former crush who almost makes her forget about her long-distance boyfriend, Antti, who is studying in Chicago.In this thrilling addition to the internationally successful Maria Kallio mystery series, the past and present of the beloved Finnish detective violently collide, leaving her future in grave danger.About the AuthorLeena Lehtolainen was born in Vesanto, Finland, to parents who taught language and literature. A keen reader, she made up stories in her head before she could even write. At the age of ten, she began her first book—a young adult novel—and published it two years later. She released her second book at the age of seventeen. She has received numerous awards for her writing, including the 1997 Vuoden Johtolanka (Clue) Award (for the best Finnish crime novel) for Luminainen (The Snow Woman), the Great Finnish Book Club prize in 2000, and more. Besides writing, Leena enjoys classical singing, her beloved cats, and—her greatest passion—figure skating. Her nonfiction book about figure skating, Taitoluistelun lumo (The Enchantment of Figure Skating), was chosen as the Sport Book of the Year 2011 in Finland. Copper Heart, now translated into English, serves as another thrilling adventure in the best-selling Maria Kallio series. Leena lives in Finland with her husband and two sons.
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Maria Kallio #4
Snow Woman
Leena Lehtolainen
When the well-known director of a women’s retreat center goes missing, Espoo Police Detective Maria Kallio is called to investigate. As the missing woman’s friends and family quickly become the pool of suspects, Maria must soften her tough interrogation style to uncover the information she needs to solve the crime. Meanwhile, a killer Maria put in prison escapes and sets out to take revenge. As the missing persons case—and Maria’s personal life—become increasingly complicated, the Espoo Police work to track down the escaped killer before it’s too late.About the AuthorLeena Lehtolainen was born in Vesanto, Finland, to parents who taught language and literature. As a child, she made up stories in her head before she could even write. At the age of ten, she wrote her first book, a young adult novel, which was published two years later. Besides writing, Leena is fond of classical singing, her beloved cats, and—her greatest passion—figure skating. She attends many competitions as a skating journalist and writes for a Finnish figure-skating magazine, Taitoluistelu. Snow Woman is the fourth installment in the bestselling Maria Kallio series, which debuted in English in 2012 with My First Murder and continued in 2013 with Her Enemy and Copper Heart. Leena lives in Finland with her husband and two sons.
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Maria Kallio #5
Death Spiral
Leena Lehtolainen
Noora Nieminen was destined to become a world champion. But when the sixteen-year-old skating sensation is found slain with her own skates, her promising career is unexpectedly cut short.
Detective Maria Kallio is seven months pregnant, but that isn’t going to stop her from putting everything she has into solving the murder. With a promotion on the line and her arrogant adversary, Pertti Ström, vying for the new job, Maria is determined to make an arrest. Could it be the deviant criminal who’s lately been terrorizing the city? Is it the former lover of Noora’s mother, who has been stalking the family since she rejected him? Or might the killer be someone even closer than that? With so much riding on Noora’s success—and so many people with motives to murder—the detective must sift through the long list of suspects before the case turns ice cold.
Death Spiral, the fifth book in Lehtolainen’s international bestselling Nordic crime series, is a chilling tale of hot tempers, high stakes, and the untimely death of a rising star.
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Maria Kallio #6
Fatal Headwind
Leena Lehtolainen
After months of maternity leave, tough-talking Espoo police detective Maria Kallio is ready to return to work. But before assuming her new post as head of the Violent Crime Unit, she vacations with her husband and daughter on the island of Rödskär. There Kallio learns that, one year earlier, her ex-boyfriend Harri had mysteriously fallen to his death from the isle’s steep and treacherous cliffs.
On the anniversary of that event, Harri’s boss, the CEO of an allegedly nontoxic paint company, loses his life on those very same rocks. In light of such a coincidence, Kallio searches for the link between these two tragedies and is soon convinced that they weren’t accidents—they were murders. As the Finnish nights grow longer, so too does the list of suspects. Was the CEO’s disillusioned wife involved? His environmental-activist son? Or perhaps his rebellious daughter? Or might the culprit be his half brother, an adventurous sailor whom Kallio finds altogether a little too intriguing?
From internationally bestselling Finnish author Leena Lehtolainen comes the sixth book of the gripping Maria Kallio Mystery series.
**About the Author
Leena Lehtolainen was born in Vesanto, Finland, to parents who taught language and literature. At the age of ten, she wrote her first book, a young adult novel, which was published two years later. Lehtolainen has a passion for figure skating, attending many competitions as a skating journalist and writing for a Finnish figure-skating magazine, Taitoluistelu. Fatal Headwind is the sixth installment in the bestselling Maria Kallio Series, which debuted in English in 2012 with My First Murder and continued with Her Enemy, Copper Heart, Snow Woman, and Death Spiral. She is also the author of the romantic suspense Bodyguard Trilogy. Lehtolainen lives in Finland with her husband and two sons.
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Maria Kallio #7
Before I Go
Leena Lehtolainen
A fierce detective risks everything to unravel a tangle of secrets and corruption protecting a killer in this spellbinding seventh mystery in the tension-filled Maria Kallio series.
When Petri Ilveskivi is murdered in the street on his way to a city-planning meeting, Maria Kallio, commander of Espoo’s Violent Crime Unit, and her team are first on the scene. Almost immediately, her focus is on the band of skinheads who brutally attacked the Finnish commissioner and his husband three years earlier. Did they finally finish the hate crime they started? But the trail soon reveals a web of lies—secrets Petri was keeping from even those closest to him—and a long list of suspects.
As she juggles her obligations as a wife, mother, and detective, Maria suggests to her superiors that what first appears to be a random assault may actually be something more sinister. When she’s met with silence and higher-ups take her off the case, she disobeys orders and investigates on her own, putting both her family and herself at risk. In this captivating tale in the Maria Kallio series, someone is protecting a killer. Can Maria track them down before the next victim falls?
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Maria Kallio #8
Below the Surface
Leena Lehtolainen
When a woman’s body turns up in a lake—a bullet to the back of her head—Violent Crime Unit commander Maria Kallio, freshly back from maternity leave, is fast to get on the case. The victim is ID’d as Annukka Hackman, wife of a prominent publisher and author of an upcoming unauthorized tell-all book on Sasha Smeds, Finland’s celebrated racing rally driver.Almost as soon as the inquiry starts, it goes off the rails, as those connected to Annukka—and to Smeds—seem to have more secrets than they have alibis. Was the journalist about to reveal a bombshell that someone was desperate to keep quiet? Or will it take some reading between the lines? The clues may be few, but the list of suspects is long. As she struggles to balance her home life, run a department tainted by career-threatening allegations, and catch a killer, Maria is shocked to find just what someone was willing to do in the name of love…or revenge.
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Maria Kallio #9
The Nightingale Murder
Leena Lehtolainen
Award-winning author Leena Lehtolainen’s heart-stopping series continues as investigator Maria Kallio’s hunt for a killer gets dark, dangerous, and dirty…
A grievously mutilated young woman arrives at the hospital in Espoo, Finland—only to vanish without a trace. Though the victim refused to identify herself, Violent Crimes Unit Commander Maria Kallio suspects she’s connected to the city’s sex-worker underworld. The next day her suspicions grow when celebrity call girl Lulu Nightingale is murdered during a live television broadcast.
The victim’s clients included some of the top names in Finnish society, but the list of suspects is even longer: her infatuated bodyguard, a suicidal TV producer, and a talk-show host with political aspirations. But how is Lulu’s murder connected to the tortured woman’s disappearance?
As the body count keeps rising, Maria plunges into the dark demimonde of the sex trade. And this time, searching for answers may shatter all that she has.
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Maria Kallio #10
Derailed
Leena Lehtolainen
Detective Maria Kallio investigates a doping scandal turned murder in award-winning author Leena Lehtolainen’s pulse-pounding thriller.
After surviving a terrifying assault during her last investigation, Maria Kallio traded in her badge for a comfortable desk job. But when the head of social affairs for the Finnish Athletics Federation is murdered—the victim of an apparent poisoning—Maria is drawn back into a race against more than murder. A series of crimes has unfolded, and to Maria’s trained eyes, they look like the makings of a conspiracy.
As Maria follows the track to a doping scandal, a money-laundering scheme, domestic abuse, and explosive death threats leveled against a sports reporter, she collects the pieces of a baffling puzzle. Now, to run down the killer and save the next victim, all she has to do is make them fit.
So far only one thing is for certain: Maria Kallio is rediscovering the thrill of the chase.
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Maria Kallio #11
